Institute for Tribal Government

About Us

Policy Board

Nearly all members of the Institute Policy Board are enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. The Policy Board meets regularly and provides the Institute for Tribal Government with curriculum guidance, policy direction, and establishes priorities for programs, education and training. The members of the Policy Board with their tribal affiliations and titles are as follows:

W. Ron Allen (Jamestown S’Klallam)
Chairman / Executive Director,
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Sequim, Washington

Edward T. Begay (Navajo)
Former Speaker of Navajo Nation legislature
Gallup, New Mexico

John Echohawk, Esq. (Pawnee)
Director, Native American Rights Fund
Boulder, Colorado

Antone Minthorn (Cayuse)
former Chairman, Board of Trustees,
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Mission, Oregon

Mike Williams (Yupiaq)
Chief of Yupiit Nation, Secretary/
Treasurer of Akiak Native Community,
Former Chairman, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council,
Akiak, Alaska

Kathryn Harrison (Molalla)
Former Tribal Chairwoman
Conf. Tribes of Grand Ronde
Sheridan, Oregon

Gay Kingman (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Former Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians
Rapid City, South Dakota

Andrew Lee, Esq. (Seneca)
Former Executive Director of the Harvard Project
on American Indian Economic Development
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Robert Miller, Esq. (Eastern Shawnee)
Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School
Portland, Oregon

Alan Parker, Esq. (Chippewa-Cree)
Director, NW Indian Applied Research Institute, The Evergreen College
Olympia, Washington

Olney Patt, Jr. (Warm Springs)
former Executive Director,
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Portland, Oregon

Samuel Penney (Nez Perce)
Former Chair, Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee
Lapwai, Idaho

Roy Hunter Sampsel (Choctaw and Wyandotte), Emeritus
Former Special Assistant to the Secretary of Interior,
Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Policy,
Department of Interior,
Director for the Institute for Tribal Government.
Portland, Oregon

Don Sampson (Umatilla)
Former Executive Director, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Mission, Oregon

Sue Shaffer (Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians), Emeritus
Former Chairwoman, Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians
Roseburg, Oregon

Stanley Speaks (Chickasaw)
Northwest Regional Director,
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Portland, Oregon

Ernest Stensgar (Coeur d’Alene)
Former Tribal Chairman, Coeur d’Alene Tribe
& Former President, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
Plummer, Idaho

Eddie L. Tullis (Poarch Band of Creek Indians)
Former Tribal Chairman, Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Atmore, Alabama

Charles Wilkinson, Esq.
Moses Lasky Professor of Law
University of Colorado School of Law
Boulder, Colorado