NARF - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Boulder, CO
Ada Montague Stepleton joined NARF in 2021 as an attorney with eight years of experience practicing land use and water law. Ada comes to NARF with a solid reputation in achieving collaborative outcomes and for diligence in the practice of law.
After graduating cum laude from Vassar with a BA in Urban Studies, Ada began her professional career as a land use planner in Bozeman, Montana. She earned a law degree from the University of Montana, where she was honored to receive the Margery Hunter Brown fellowship. Concurrent with her law degree, she earned an MS in Environmental Studies, focusing on watershed ecology, and a certificate in natural resources conflict resolution. She also served on the Public Lands and Resources Law Review.
Upon graduating, she focused her practice in water law while working for the boutique law firm of Franz & Driscoll, PLLP as a senior associate, where her practice consisted almost entirely of state based adjudication cases. She next worked for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) monitoring drought, serving as a water rights hearings examiner, acting as a state spokesperson in the Fort Belknap Water Right Compact, representing school trust lands, and gaining experience in federal court as amicus in various forestry related cases.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Boulder, CO
Alice Walker is a highly experienced advocate for Tribal Nations who joined NARF after thirty-two years in private practice at Meyer, Walker & Walker, P.C., located in Boulder, Colorado. She has accrued a long and successful career representing Tribes in all aspects of federal Indian law, including the litigation and negotiation of Tribal water rights, natural resource disputes, treaty rights, regulatory and jurisdictional issues, and matters related to Tribal gaming and federal acknowledgment.
At NARF, Alice is working as part of the Tribal Water Institute team and her practice focuses on the litigation and negotiation of tribal water rights, treaty rights, natural resource disputes, and resource regulatory issues. When she isn't championing Tribal water rights, Alice enjoys hiking with her dog and traveling.
Job Titles:
- Tribal Member
- Tribal Water Institute Fellow
Alyson White Eagle joined NARF in September 2024 as an inaugural Tribal Water Institute Fellow based in the Boulder office. As a Tribal Water Institute Fellow, Alyson will work on a variety of Tribal water issues.
Alyson brings with her a variety of experience working with both Tribal Nations and federal agencies. Prior to joining the NARF team, Alyson worked as a research assistant for the Northern Arapaho Business Council, where she provided research and support for testimony before the Wyoming Select Committee on Tribal Affairs on implementing a tuition waiver for Native students at the University of Wyoming. She also interned at the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs. She has also worked with the University of Wyoming's Art Museum where she researched international laws surrounding repatriation.
As a Tribal member, Alyson feels a responsibility to protect and promote Tribal sovereignty and rights, and she looks forward to working at and with Tribal Nations to achieve these goals.
Job Titles:
- Media Relations & Communications Manager
Job Titles:
- Tribal Water Institute Fellow
Ashley Dawn Anderson joined NARF in September 2024 as an inaugural Tribal Water Institute Fellow based in the Boulder office. As a Tribal Water Institute Fellow, Ashley will work on a variety of Tribal water issues including the Klamath Basin Adjudication.
During law school, Ashley's studies focused on both Tribal Nations Law and Environmental Law. During her two semesters with UCLA's Tribal Legal Development Clinic, she worked on the Tribal Intangible Property Toolkit and supported the Hualapai Nation Court of Appeals. She also developed policy recommendations for California's 30×30 initiative in UCLA's California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic. Ashley spent her first summer with the Natural Resource Defense Council's litigation team and her second summer with the Environmental Law Institute. In the spring of her third year, Ashley externed with Judge Joseph J. Wiseman of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Court.
Ashley is from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In her free time, Ashley enjoys traveling, yoga, and birdwatching.
Beth Margaret Wright re-joined the NARF team as a staff attorney in 2022, having previously served as a NARF summer law clerk. Throughout her education and career, Beth has focused on advancing Indian Country's next generation. Her work is inspired by a desire to uplift Indigenous joy, strength, and success. At NARF, she devotes much of her attention to Indian Boarding School healing, history, and policy, but she also tackles issues related to Indian child welfare and Indigenous methods for dispute resolution (through the Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative).
Beth's dedication to the Native American community extends beyond her work at NARF. She is an avid runner who feels that running is what keeps her closest to her community. She is a repeat Boston Marathon finisher, and told Indian Country Today:
Job Titles:
- Alternate Executive Committee
- Director and Project Coordinator for Ko‘Ihonua at Hanakēhau
Camille Kalama, Native Hawaiian, is a kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) from O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Ms. Kalama currently serves as Director and Project Coordinator for Ko‘ihonua at Hanakēhau, the land base for the organization's Hawaiian carving revitalization and land restoration programs. Ms. Kalama currently serves as a board member for the Native American Rights Fund and the NDN Collective.
Ms. Kalama worked as a staff attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation for 15 years after clerking for Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon at the Hawaii Supreme Court. She has represented clients seeking access to their kuleana lands, assisting kalo farmers in seeking the restoration of stream water to protect their traditional and customary rights, protecting iwi kupuna, and assisting Department of Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiaries in resolving various legal issues to preserve their homesteads for themselves and their families. She now puts these experiences to practice in restoring aina and supporting cultural practitioner development with Koʻihonua.
Ms. Kalama is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi. She was involved in the Polynesian Voyaging Society and in 2001 was named NCAA Woman Athlete of the Year for the state of Hawaii.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
Job Titles:
- the Implementation Project Coordinator
Job Titles:
- CO Managing Attorney
- Pawnee / Choctaw / CO Managing Attorney / Boulder, CO
David Gover (Pawnee/Choctaw) joined the Native American Rights Fund as a Staff Attorney in May of 2005. Since joining NARF's Boulder office, David has worked in wide variety of legal arenas, including water rights, treaty rights, repatriation, Indian child welfare, and tribal trust fund matters. David currently serves as the Managing Attorney of NARF's Colorado office and sits on the organization's Case Selection Committee.
Prior to joining NARF, David served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and as Legislative Counsel for the Navajo Nation Council.
Education
University of Oklahoma College of Law, J.D.
Job Titles:
- Director of Development / House Counsel
Job Titles:
- Alaska Office Administrator
Gayla Hoseth, Curyung Tribal Council, is an Alaska Native woman and a mother of two living on her ancestral lands in Dillingham, Alaska.Ms. Hoseth serves as a tribal chief for the Curyung Tribal Council, Director of Natural Resources for Bristol Bay Native Association, Native Co-Chair on the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council, tribal representative on the EPA National Tribal Operations Committee and EPA Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee, At-Large Representative on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Nushagak Advisory Council.
Gayla has a passion for protecting the rights of Alaska Natives and Native Americans and protecting the environment for future generations.
Job Titles:
- Technical Services Librarian
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Senior Staff Attorney
Senior Staff Attorney Jacqueline De León is an enrolled member of the Isleta Pueblo. She co-led field hearings across Indian Country on Native American voting rights and co-authored the subsequent report, Obstacles at Every Turn: Barriers to Political Participation Faced by Native American Voters. She has testified before Congress on multiple occasions detailing voting rights issues in Indian Country and serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee of American Bar Association's bipartisan Standing Committee on Election Law.
Jamie Azure, Kitagasi Kinew (Spotted Eagle), Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is Chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (TMBCI). Chairman Azure attended the University of Minnesota and has degrees in Business Management, Advertising and Promotion, and Political Science. He has served on the TMBCI Tribal Council since December 2016 and as the Chair since January 2018. In April 2019, Chairman Azure was unanimously elected Chair of the United Tribes of North Dakota, United Tribes Technical College, and United Tribes Gaming Association.
In January 2019, Chairman Azure spoke to the masses assembled in front of the Lincoln Memorial (Washington, DC) as part of the Indigenous Peoples March. His focus was on Native Nations voting rights and the vision of unification of all tribes across this great country.
Chairman Azure owns J. Azure Construction, and as an entrepreneur, he is involved in the community through philanthropic efforts on behalf of his company. J. Azure Construction was one of the first companies to dedicate a percentage of profits to youth organizations in the Turtle Mountains. His involvement with the youth led him to becoming a leader in the community.
Chairman Azure resides in Belcourt, North Dakota, with his wife Denise and two daughters, Ashlyn and Sophia.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Boulder, CO
At NARF, Jason has worked to defend sacred places , secure protections for Indigenous knowledge, and increase tribal jurisdictional independence from states and the federal government. With his efforts on issues like the Bears Ears National Monument, he is helping Tribal Nations defend their traditional lands-and the vital natural and cultural resources therein-from the harms of extractive industries, vandalism, and looting. Jason also assists in bringing public attention to unaddressed human rights injustices of the federal Indian boarding school era. To this end, Jason is helping represent Tribal Nations seeking to repatriate relatives from grave sites of federal Indian boarding schools.
Prior to joining the NARF team, Jason was a senior attorney at the Navajo Nation Department of Justice. During law school, Jason clerked at NARF's Alaska Office. Jason also clerked for the Honorable Judge Allie Greenleaf Maldonado at the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Court. In his free time, Jason enjoys mountain biking and spending time with his dog, Remy.
Job Titles:
- Information / Gift Processing Manager
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Staff Attorney
- Santo Domingo Pueblo / Attorney / Boulder, CO
Joe M. Tenorio is a staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on tribal water rights. Joe joined NARF in August of 2017. Currently, Joe represents the Klamath Tribes in the Klamath Basin Adjudication, a general stream adjudication of the Klamath River located in southern Oregon.
From 2002-2017, Joe served as an attorney for Chestnut Law Offices in Albuquerque, NM and primarily represented various New Mexico tribes, and their tribally owned agencies and businesses, in all facets of federal Indian Law.
Joe received his J.D. from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2001 and his B.A. from Princeton University in 1998. In 2007, Joe received his M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Joe is admitted to practice law in New Mexico, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Pueblos of Acoma, Nambe, San Felipe, Santa Clara, and Ohkay Owingeh.
Joe is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Vice - Chair of the Board
Kenneth Kahn, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, was first elected to serve on the Business Committee of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in March 2003. He was elected Tribal Chairman in April 2016.
Chairman Kahn was employed by the Chumash Casino, where he worked in the auditing department.
Lacey Horn, Cherokee Nation, is the CEO of Native Advisory LLC, a strategic and financial consulting firm serving tribal leaders. She previously served as Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation from 2011-2019. In that capacity, she managed the finances of the largest federally-recognized tribe in the United States.
In 2015, Ms. Horn was appointed to the US Department of Treasury's Tribal Advisory Committee of which she serves as Chairwoman. The Native American Finance Officers Association selected Ms. Horn as "Executive of the Year" in 2014 and she appeared in Oklahoma Magazine's 40 Under 40 list in 2012.
In 2017, she received the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Distinguished Alumni Emerging Leader Award for her achievements, outstanding character, and good citizenship.
Ms. Horn earned her bachelor's degree in business administration in 2004 and Master of Science in accounting in 2005 from SMU and began her career with Hunt Oil and KPMG Chicago as an auditor.
Lenny Powell is an experienced litigator and advocate. Prior to becoming an attorney, Lenny served for three years on the Tribal council of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indian. Driven by his dedication to advancing tribal sovereignty, Lenny now provides specialized legal support to Tribal Nations in high impact cases, such as Haaland v. Brackeen, the landmark Supreme Court case upholding the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and McGirt v. Oklahoma, the case recognizing the continued existence of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation, which The New York Times called "potentially one of the most consequential legal victories for Native Americans in decades." At NARF, much of his work is focused on protecting Native American voting rights, which provide the underpinnings for all other legal rights.
Lenny was recognized in 2023 by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development's Native American 40 Under 40. He also earned the Outstanding Young Attorney Award from the California Indian Law Association in 2022.
Media experience includes "Should Trump Get Kicked Off the Ballot? Plus Indian Law Cases with Lenny Powell," Law of the Land with Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, WBAI Radio (Nov. 21, 2023); TV Interview, Supreme Court to Hear Case on Navajo Nation Water Rights, GRAY TV (Mar. 17, 2023); Supreme Court Hears Case on Native Americans and Adoption, GRAY TV (Dec. 2, 2022); Native American Cases To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2022, Law360 (July 18, 2022); Biggest Native American Rulings From The 1st Half Of 2022, Law360 (July 15, 2022); and Experts Split on Gorsuch's Power to Uphold Tribal Rights, Law360 (July 8, 2022)
Job Titles:
- Social Media and Design Manager
Job Titles:
- Tribal Water Institute Fellow
Job Titles:
- Member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Lori Madison Stinson, a member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, has served her tribe as Attorney General and Chief Legal Officer since January 2014. As Attorney General, she leads a team of in-house attorneys who provide legal services and representation to the tribe, the Tribal Council, Tribal government, PCI Gaming Authority (D/B/A Wind Creek Hospitality), and Creek Indian Enterprises Development Authority. Lori is most proud of the role she has played in protecting her tribe's lands and sovereignty. In addition to her work with the tribe, Lori serves on United Bank's Board of Directors and other committees within her community. Her favorite role is being a mom to her daughters. Lori stays busy year round cheering them on in their many sports activities.
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Anchorage, AK
Megan is a staff attorney in the Native American Rights Fund's Anchorage, Alaska office. She joined the Anchorage office as the Alaska fellow in 2018. Her work at NARF focuses on protecting tribal natural, cultural, and subsistence resources.
Megan received her J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law and B.S. in Natural Resources Management from Colorado State University. During law school, Megan clerked in NARF's Boulder, Colorado office. She was the Article Editor for the Wyoming Law Review and a clinical student in the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resources Clinic. After graduation, Megan served as a law clerk for the Honorable Gregory A. Phillips, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
She is admitted to practice in Alaska and Colorado, as well as the United States District Court for the District of Alaska and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Job Titles:
- Tribal Water Institute Fellow
Melissa Kay joined NARF in September 2024 as an inaugural Tribal Water Institute Fellow based in the Boulder office. As a Tribal Water Institute Fellow, Melissa is working on a variety of Tribal water issues, including the Idaho v. EPA Clean Water Act Tribal reserved rights rule case and multiple federal administrative permitting and relicensing processes affecting Tribal water rights.
Melissa brings a broad range of specialized experience that she accumulated during law school, where she focused on environmental/energy justice and Tribal sovereignty/federal Indian law. Through Yale's Environmental Protection Clinic, Melissa spent one year working with Kanji & Katzen on the Bad River Band's Enbridge Line 5 litigation. She also served as a student researcher on the NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project, supporting an amicus brief for Arizona v. Navajo Nation, and through Yale Law and Yale School for the Environment's Tribal Resources & Sovereignty Clinic she worked with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Melissa spent her first summer working for Forest Peoples Programme, and during her second summer, she interned at the Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Indian Resources Section.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Cherokee / Attorney / Boulder, CO
Melody joined the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) as a staff attorney in 1986. At NARF, Melody has worked primarily in the areas of jurisdiction in Indian country, tribal rights in education, tribal intellectual property rights, and tribal trust funds.
Melody is a past Co-Chair of the Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference, 1990-1992. She served as President of the Colorado Indian Bar Association from 1990-1992, and a Board Member of the American Indian Bar Association (now the National Native American Bar Association) from 1990-1991. She was a member of NARF's Litigation Management Committee (LMC) from 1992-1995 and again from 2007-2019.
Melody received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University (1981) and law degree from the University of Michigan (1986). She is admitted to practice law in Colorado and Massachusetts. She has practiced before all levels of tribal and federal courts, including arguing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Melody is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Job Titles:
- Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
Michael Petoskey, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, served both as the founding Chief Judge for the Grand Traverse Band and on the bench for each of seven federally-recognized tribal communities in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. He has served as the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians first Chief Judge since his appointment in February 2002. He also is a member of both the National Indian Justice Center Board of Directors and the American Indian Law Center, University of New Mexico, Board of Directors.
Chief Judge Petoskey began his judicial career with the planning and implementation of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians Tribal Court while he was a staff attorney for Michigan Indian Legal Services. Assisting newly affirmed tribes to develop their tribal court systems became one of his career-long interests. Today, he continues to connect Michigan tribal courts with peacemaking concepts and serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Native American Rights Fund's Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative.
Chief Judge Petoskey has been recognized by the Michigan Bar Journal as a Citizen Lawyer (1992) for his contributions in law to the tribal community and was named 1997 Lawyer of the Year by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. In 2000, the American Indian Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan jointly honored Chief Judge Petoskey and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael Cavanagh with the section's annual Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award for their leadership in moving State of Michigan courts and tribal courts away from conflict and toward cooperation. Additionally in 2013, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National American Indian Judges Association in its inaugural year of making awards.
He studied law at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Upon graduating in 1983, he returned home to Michigan to practice law. He is a Viet Nam veteran, where he served as an infantry medic.
Mitchell Forbes joined the NARF Alaska team in early 2025, but he has been an advocate for Alaska Native Tribes for a much longer time. Even before attending law school, Mitchell worked for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, a Tribal health organization in rural Alaska delivering healthcare services for 58 federally recognized Tribes in western Alaska. Then, when Mitchell went to law school, he was fully focused on practicing federal Indian law and representing Tribal governments. After law school, he joined the Native American Law and Policy Group at Dentons law firm and was active in the Native American Bar Association of Washington, DC.
As his studies and experience illustrates, Mitchell is deeply committed to helping protect and advance the sovereignty of Alaska Native tribe and is especially interested in Alaska Native lands issues. His studies and work have focused on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, self-determination contracting, federal appropriations, fee-to-trust acquisitions. At NARF Mitchell is working on protections of Tribal homelands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Depart of Interior's fee-to-trust authority in Alaska; and Bering Sea Elders Group work.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Washington, DC
Morgan Saunders is an experienced litigator who is passionate about ensuring tribes have an advocate in every room where decisions are being made, especially in Washington, DC.
At NARF, Morgan is based in the DC office. Her work has focused on protecting Native religious rights, including wearing eagle feathers at graduation. She also supports the Tribal Supreme Court Project, protecting Native interests at the U.S. Supreme Court. In this role, she helped coordinate the amicus brief strategy for Brackeen v. Haaland. Most recently, Morgan has has been supporting voting rights and election protection issues.
Prior to joining NARF in 2022, Morgan was an Associate at Covington & Burling LLP. She clerked for the Honorable Christina Reiss on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and Justice Susan Carney on the Alaska Supreme Court. During that time she gained experience in government investigations and litigation, including a voting rights trial challenging a discriminatory voter suppression law in federal court in Florida.
Education
Columbia Law School, J.D.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Muckleshoot Tribal Council
Louie Ungaro, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, is member of the Muckleshoot Tribal Council. An avid outdoorsman his entire life, Ungaro exercises tribal treaty rights as a fisherman, hunter and forager.
He is a fervent advocate for treaty rights and chairs the Tribe's Culture and Preservation committees. He serves as the Chairman of the Muckleshoot Tribal School Commission where his clear vision for culturally relevant and equitable education has helped double graduation rates in a few years. His leadership style personifies that of his ancestors-to be kind, generous, and a good friend to the land, water, and all those who live here.
Prior to his election, Ungaro fished the waters from Washington to Alaska as a commercial fisherman. As a Council member, he assists his tribe in diversifying the tribal economy sustainably to generate opportunities for tribal members.
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel of AMERIND
Geoffrey C. Blackwell, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is the Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel of AMERIND, where he serves as executive supervisor of the Legal, Finance, IT, HR, Corporate Communications, and Critical Infrastructure teams. Blackwell contributes expertise in tribal corporate development, tribal economic diversification, and tribal broadband communications infrastructure deployment.
He serves as a Co-Chair of National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Economic, Finance & Community Development Committee, and Co-Chair of the NCAI Technology and Telecom Subcommittee. Blackwell is also the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Tribal Advisors for the American Indian Policy Institute of Arizona State University. He has testified before U. S. Congress on seven occasions, both as a Tribal representative and as a senior federal policymaker, and before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 2020, Public Knowledge honored him with the IP3 Internet Protocol Award for his telecom policy advocacy on behalf of tribal nations.
He has served on the boards of the National Small Business Association, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Native Public Media (Chair), Acoma Pueblo Business Enterprises, and the Indigenous Commission for Communications Technologies in the Americas. He chaired the Regulatory Committee of the National Small Business Association and served on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age.
He is the former founding Chief of the Office of Native Affairs and Policy at the FCC and the first enrolled member of a federally-recognized tribal nation to work at the Commission. Between his two periods of federal service at the FCC, he was a Corporate Director at Chickasaw Nation Industries, Inc. Raised in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Washington, he is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Blackwell earned an executive MBA from the Tuck School of Business and an Associate's degree in Insurance. He is Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Omaha.
Job Titles:
- Office Services Assistant / Receptionist
Job Titles:
- Director of Annual Giving and Digital Fundraising Strategies
Rebecca Crooks-Stratton, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC). As a member of the SMSC Business Council, she oversees the day-to-day operations of the tribal government and its relationships with its members, other governments and elected officials, and its more than 4,000 employees. Ms. Crooks-Stratton also leads Understand Native Minnesota, the tribe's strategic initiative and philanthropic campaign to improve the Native American narrative in Minnesota's schools.
Ms. Crooks-Stratton previously served one term on the SMSC Gaming Enterprise Board of Directors and chaired its Audit Committee. She also served two terms on the SMSC Gaming Commission and worked for the tribal government in administration roles from 2007-2016.
Throughout her career Ms. Crooks-Stratton has been an active member of the broader community. She is the Midwest Area Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians, where she represents tribes in the Midwest. She also serves on Governor Walz's Education Roundtable, the Minnesota Zoological Board and the University of Minnesota Foundation's Board of Trustees. Recently she served as program director at the Native Governance Center, a nonprofit that provides leadership development and governance resources to tribal nations in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
In 2017, she received a Native American 40 Under 40 award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. She also participated in the Young American Leaders Program at Harvard Business School. Ms. Crooks-Stratton has a master's degree in tribal administration and governance from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her bachelor's degree is in American Indian studies and political science from the University of Arizona.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Board
Rebecca Miles, Nez Perce Tribe, has served in several leadership positions on behalf of the Nez Perce Tribe including General Council Chairman for four terms, which preceded a successful campaign for an elected position on the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, where she served as the first woman Chairman for two terms. Since 2009, she has served as Executive Director where she provides executive level management, policy recommendations, and strategic guidance for the Tribe.
Ms. Miles has testified in both the United States Congress and the Idaho State Legislature regarding natural resources, endangered species, and treaty rights issues. She was the lead negotiator for the 2009 Federal Columbia River Power System Accords. With her strengths and background in leadership, negotiation, and communication, Ms. Miles has spent most of her adult life advocating for Indian rights.
Ms. Miles has a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Washington State University and a M.A. in Professional Studies - Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.
Rhonda Pitka, Beaver Village Council, has served as the First Chief of the Beaver Village Council in Alaska since 2011. Prior to her tenure as First Chief, she was a Tribal Administrator of the Beaver Village Council.
Ms. Pitka was a participant in a Native roundtable with President Barack Obama in 2015 where she emphasized the importance of hunting and fishing resources and tribal right tied to those resources. She seeks more tribal co-management projects and a meaningful voice in the subsistence management in Alaska.
Not surprisingly, Ms. Pitka was nominated by members of her community and recognized in 2016 by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development with a "Native American 40 under 40" award for her leadership, initiative and dedication to her community.
Ms Pitka is the former Chairwoman of the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments, where she facilitated the monthly meetings of and advocated for the ten tribal governments of the Yukon Flats.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Ak - Chin Indian Community
Robert Miguel, Ak-Chin Indian Community, is the Chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community in Maricopa, Arizona, and the Chair of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association.
He has served on the Ak-Chin Tribal Council since 2014 and was first elected as Chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community in 2016. Before serving on the Tribal Council, Chairman Miguel had an almost 30-year career working in various capacities within his Tribe. This includes working with Ak-Chin Farms, as the Director of the Ak-Chin Department of Parks and Recreation and most recently a 17-year stint as a photojournalist for the Tribe's media publication, the O'odham Runner.
As Chairman and a Council Member, Robert Miguel has focused his energies on expanding educational opportunities for Tribal members, increasing services to the Tribe's special needs community, and promoting healthy lifestyles for Community members through wellness and recreation programs. Chairman Miguel also has been a champion of growing and nurturing the Community's cultural and traditional practices.
Chairman Miguel continues a legacy of service on the Ak-Chin Indian Community Tribal Council, following in his maternal grandfather Jonas Miguel's footsteps who previously served as Chairman in the early 1970's. Chairman Miguel lives on the Ak-Chin Indian Community reservation with his wife Connie and has seven children Robert, Jasmine, Yasmin, Jordyn, Joe, Yvonne and Stella.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Director of Human Resources & Office Administration
Job Titles:
- Voting Rights Project Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Boulder, CO
Sue Noe is a Senior Staff Attorney in NARF's Boulder office.
Sue joined NARF as a staff attorney in 2012. While working in private practice, prior to joining NARF, Sue teamed with NARF to work on behalf of the Nez Perce Tribe in the Snake River Basin Adjudication in Idaho and the Klamath Tribes in the Klamath Basin Adjudication (KBA) in Oregon. Both adjudications met with success-the first ending in a Congressionally-approved settlement and the latter securing resounding victories before Oregon's Office of Administrative Hearings. Sue continues to represent the Klamath Tribes as lead tribal attorney in the Klamath County Circuit Court proceedings in the KBA.
In addition to her work in the United States, Sue also has substantial international experience. She is a former Director of the Indigenous Rights Project of the University of Denver's International Human Rights Advocacy Center. She currently represents NARF's client the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in international negotiations within the United Nations system, at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), seeking to secure protections for Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and genetic resources. Since 2019, she has authored annual updates on the WIPO negotiations for the publication The Indigenous World, and she has also been an invited speaker at WIPO-sponsored events. In 2020, Sue, in collaboration with NCAI and Prof. Kristen Carpenter of the University of Colorado School of Law (CU Law), organized two informational webinars on intellectual property issues related to protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions for tribal leaders, lawyers, and community members. She is also the NARF lead for the NARF-CU Law Project to Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States.
Sue received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating with high honors, and earned an LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, where she received several awards for scholastic excellence. Along with her former law professor, George (Rock) Pring, Sue has co-authored two book chapters on natural resource issues in international law published by Oxford University Press. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Oregon, and New York.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Boulder, CO
Tom Murphy is an experienced Indian Law practitioner with more than seventeen years of experience working on issues such as Water Law & Water Rights, Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) matters, and litigation against the United States before joining NARF in 2023. His work is motivated by the importance of protecting tribal lands and resources (water) and cultural practices and traditions in a variety of contexts. At NARF, Tom is focusing on water rights issues and is working with the Tribal Water Institute to support Tribal Nations as they assert and defend their water rights.
Before coming to NARF, Tom held various roles, often serving Tribes and individual Native Americans. Tom started his career as a college professor, and he taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Southern Utah University; and Miami University of Ohio. After leaving Miami, he moved into practicing law with the New Mexico Public Defender Department. After practicing civil trial and appellate law in Albuquerque, he worked for a small law firm in Gallup, New Mexico, primarily representing individual Native Americans. In 2006, Tom began working for the Gila River Indian Community, where he served through 2023.
Job Titles:
- Paralegal / Office Administrator
Wes Furlong is dedicated to protecting tribal cultural resources and traditional cultural places and landscapes. Wes often represents tribes, tribal consortia and organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations as consulting parties and cooperating agencies in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) decision making or National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Impacts Statements processes. Often these consultations are for large-scale and highly controversial natural resource development and infrastructure projects, such as the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, the Bureau of Land Management's development of an oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel replacement project in the Straits of Mackinac, and the construction of the Thirty-Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.
Because of this focus, Wes is nationally recognized for his expertise in all aspects of the NHPA Section 106 process, tribal consultation generally, and traditional cultural places and landscapes. He received the 2020 Partner in Preservation award from the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and currently serves as the inaugural Chair of the Public Land & Resources Law Review Alumni Advisory Board.
Wes also represents and advises Indian tribes and tribal organizations in litigation involving violations of the NHPA, NHPA-specific rulemaking, National Register of Historic Places nominations, and the development of Section 106 program alternatives. Since joining NARF in 2016 as the inaugural Alaska Fellow, Wes's practice also has included work on tribal jurisdiction, defending tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, environmental and natural resources law, voting rights and redistricting, sovereign immunity, religious freedom law, and constitutional law.
Wes grew up on Fir Island, Washington, north of Seattle, at the confluence of the Skagit River and the Salish Sea. When not working, Wes will most likely be found riding his mountain bike, fat bike, or gravel bike with his wife Carrie (when they are not debating the finer points of TCPs (Traditional Cultural Places)).
Education
Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana, J.D.
Certificates in American Indian Law and Environmental & Natural Resources Law
Davidson Honors College, University of Montana, B.A. History
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Attorney / Anchorage, AK