James Colombe is a former synthetic organic chemist who transitioned to working on Native American policy issues at the Federal Reserve. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and pursued further studies towards a Ph.D. at The Scripps Research Institute. Colombe completed his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Harvard University after attending Todd County High School and ResMed.

Currently, James is the Project Manager at the Center for Indian Country Development within the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His past experiences include serving as the Tribal Organizing Director at the South Dakota Democratic Party, working as a Development Associate at Panda Power Funds, and being a Graduate Student at MIT.