Finance director brings worldwide perspective to Ho-Chunk Nation
By Ken Luchterhand
Ikrom S. Mamatmuminov is relatively new to the Ho-Chunk Nation, having crossed the ocean for this opportunity in America.
Ikrom, better known as “Ike,” is the director of finance in the Ho-Chunk Department of Business. He began in April 2016.
Ike was born in central Asia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to be exact. He studied and worked there until he was 25, then began his journey across the world for his education.
During his childhood years in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the countries were part of the former Soviet Union.
“We lived surprisingly well,” Ike said. “We had 100 percent free education with a 100 percent graduation rate. We had free healthcare and everyone was employed.”
They were rich in natural resources, producing oil and grain and cotton. During harvest time, usually around September and October, everyone stopped what they were doing, workers and school children, to help with the harvest. They got paid for their work and no one was lacking in any need.
The only downside to the socialism is that Moscow would make all the government decisions instead of locally.
But when they got their independence in 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, they had to move to a market economy, which was a shock to the people.
“It was a rocky transition,” he said. “We went through many different currencies in the first few years. Inflation hit a record high. During the first 10 years, our currency changed two to three times because if inflation. It took a suitcase of money to buy a car.”
They stopped using the 5 SOM currency because the minimum for anything was 10 SOM.
But now that he is with the Ho-Chunk Nation, he is exploring his prospects.
“I’m enjoying my time here,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with the future of the Ho-Chunk Nation. I’m excited about the opportunities of the Nation, both gaming and non-gaming.”
He learned English when he was in eighth grade. They were required to learn another language and they could either choose English or French and most of the children chose English, he said.
Since moving to the United States, he has enjoyed the diversity and uniqueness of each of the locations he has lived.
He previously worked with Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado where he was the Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to that, he worked with the Columbia Sussex Corporation, Tropicana Entertainment Company from August 2001 to August 2005 as the regional director of finance.
He has a law degree from Eastern Europe University, a Masters of Business Administration in finance from India and a Masters of Public Administration from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.
He has four sisters and three brothers, along with his father, who is 86.
One of his passions, besides numbers, is the need to seek adventure, which is obvious when considering he came from halfway around the world to work here.
“I like traveling and skiing,” he said.
All of his brothers are also accountants, with one brother even owning his own accounting firm. Many of his extended family are involved with number crunching as well, with the lone exception of his father.
“He was a physics teacher,” he said.
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