OH-AH-HAY Lakota
Oahe
Oahe is a Lakota word meaning base or foundation. It is what we build with data: a firm base for the decisions you make and the actions that follow.
- Majority Native owned
- Independent
- Missouri River, South Dakota
OUR STORY
Data is a resource to be protected.
Organizations, especially those in underserved communities, often sit on top of rich data they cannot use, because the tools to use it were never built for them.
Oahe Data builds the foundation. We make data visible, navigable, and actionable. Let the data tell the story. We transfer the capability so our clients can keep surfacing what the data says and steer their own decisions from it.
- Visible
- Navigable
- Actionable
FOUNDERS
Founded by Guthrie Ducheneaux and Jeff Lumpkin
Guthrie Ducheneaux
Co-founder and CEO
Guthrie is Lakota and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. He brings lived experience as a tribal member and years of work in Indigenous economic development. He knows how decisions get made, where trust is earned, and what the data actually represents, and that insider knowledge shapes how Oahe Data frames problems, which questions it asks, and who it builds for.
For more than 30 years he has built technology infrastructure in and for Indian Country, including as CTO of Missouri Breaks Industries Research. That work showed him how often research and data were taken from Native communities without those communities deciding how it was used or who benefited. Oahe Data is his answer: data infrastructure built with insider knowledge and accountable to the communities it serves.
Highlights
- Founded the first tribally chartered computer company on Cheyenne River
- Established the first industry-certified networking academy on a reservation
- Led data systems and security for the Indian Health Service
- Founded the Native BioData Consortium
Jeff Lumpkin
Co-founder
Jeff grew up in Seattle but was drawn early to the wider world. He has lived in Kazakhstan, Singapore, and Germany and traveled widely through Europe, Asia, and the former Soviet Union. Those years gave him a lasting appreciation for cultural diversity and a deep regard for history, social justice, and environmental preservation.
He brings the view from outside Indian Country: more than 20 years in the software industry, learning how data tools are built, sold, and scaled. He sees data as a tool that can strengthen sovereignty and improve outcomes in health, education, social welfare, and cultural cohesion. In Guthrie, he found a partner who shares his drive to turn data into information that improves people's lives.
Highlights
- Spent more than 20 years at one of the world's largest software companies
- Helped grow one of the world's leading data visualization tools as its product manager
- Founded Veritas Maps, a data visualization platform for decision makers
- Built the business behind data products, from licensing to market launch
HOW WE CAME TOGETHER
Two kinds of knowledge that rarely share a table
Guthrie
Lived experience
Thirty years of lived and professional experience inside the communities we serve.
Jeff
Technical and market capability
Proven data visualization infrastructure, AI capability, and the business architecture to deliver it at scale.
Neither is sufficient alone. Together, they are the foundation.