General Counsel, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
Diandra is the first female general counsel of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, a former special assistant U.S. attorney and former staff attorney with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice. She has also served on the National Native American Bar Association, the Native American Bar Association of Arizona and the Navajo Nation Bar Association.
Professor of Practice, ASU Law and Chief Administrative Officer, Ho-Chunk, Inc.
An enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Ann Marie Bledsoe Downes is the Chief Administrative Officer of Ho-Chunk, Inc. She brings extensive experience in tribal affairs, law, and public policy, along with a deep commitment to advancing Native communities.
Ann Marie most recently served as Principal Deputy Solicitor at the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Biden-Harris Administration, where she also held the role of Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs. Prior to her time in Washington, she was Executive Vice President of Community Impact and Engagement at Ho-Chunk, Inc., leading initiatives that directly benefited the Winnebago community.
Her career includes serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development for Indian Affairs and as Interim Director of the Bureau of Indian Education during the Obama Administration. She has also held leadership roles as Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program at Arizona State University, President of Little Priest Tribal College, and as Tribal Affairs Advisor to the Governor of Arizona.
Ann Marie holds a B.A. from Wayne State College and a J.D. from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. She is passionate about creating opportunities that strengthen tribal sovereignty, education, and economic growth.
Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence; Charles M. Brewer Professor of Trial Advocacy; Faculty Director, Indian Legal Program; Director, Indian Legal Clinic, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Patty Ferguson-Bohnee has substantial experience in Indian law, election law and policy matters, voting rights, and status clarification of tribes. She is a clinical professor of law, the faculty director of the Indian Legal Program and the director of the Indian Legal Clinic at ASU.
Professor Ferguson-Bohnee has testified before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Louisiana State Legislature regarding tribal recognition, and has successfully assisted four Louisiana tribes in obtaining state recognition. Professor Ferguson-Bohnee has represented tribal clients in administrative, state, federal, and tribal courts, as well as before state and local governing bodies and proposed revisions to the Real Estate Disclosure Reports to include tribal provisions. She has assisted in complex voting rights litigation on behalf of tribes, and she has drafted state legislative and congressional testimony on behalf of tribes with respect to voting rights’ issues.
Before joining ASU in 2007, Professor Ferguson-Bohnee clerked for Judge Betty Binns Fletcher of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was an associate in the Indian Law and Tribal Relations Practice Group at Sacks Tierney P.A. in Phoenix. As a Fulbright Scholar to France, she researched French colonial relations with Louisiana Indians in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Professor Ferguson-Bohnee, a member of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian tribe, serves as the Native Vote Election Protection Coordinator for the State of Arizona.
General Counsel, NCAI
Leonard “Lenny” Fineday serves as General Counsel for the National Congress of American Indians and is a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. A longtime tribal attorney and governance leader, he brings more than two decades of experience advancing tribal sovereignty, justice, and self‑determination across Indian Country. Fineday has held senior roles with the Leech Lake Band—including Secretary/Treasurer, Legal Director, Executive Director, and Government Relations Attorney—and has also served the White Earth Nation and Red Lake Nation as Tribal Attorney, General Counsel, and Tribal Court Judge. A Bush Foundation Native Nation Rebuilder, he is widely recognized for his work on federal appropriations, reservation restoration, and strengthening tribal‑state and tribal‑federal relationships.
Chief Investment Officer, Sovereign Finance
Mr. Early has nearly a decade of experience working in Indian Country and has responsibility for managing investment priorities for the firm. Prior to his engagement with SIA, Mr. Early held numerous investment leadership roles to include, Managing Director of Institutional Services with the Colony Group, Director of the Nonprofit and Institutional Division at Edelman Financial Services and previously Vice President of Institutional Services at Trusco Capital Management/SunTrust Bank. For more than fifteen years Mr. Early has specialized in supporting the strategic investment priorities of tribes, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and municipal entities. Mr. Early holds a BA from the Virginia Military Institute and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He has also completed Executive programs at MIT, the Harvard School of Business, and New York University. Mr. Early is an industry veteran with an established expertise in fiduciary investment management, and holds both the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst® and Global Financial Steward® designations. He has also assisted numerous entities in achieving fiduciary certification through CEFEX.
Arizona State Representative
Representative Brian Garcia was born and raised in Arizona by parents from El Salvador and Mexico. He is a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Currently, Brian is a Representative for the Arizona House of Representatives.
Brian has held roles with the U.S. House of Representatives, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, the Arizona Secretary of State, and the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project where he represented unaccompanied children. He worked with children who often have suffered abuse, abandonment, neglect, or other emotional and physical trauma.
More recently, he worked at All Voting is Local where he managed special projects around democracy defense, election legal issues, and pro-voter advocacy.
Brian holds a Bachelor in Global Studies, a Master of Legal Studies, and a Juris Doctor of Law (Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law) from Arizona State University. In his spare time, Brian enjoys vocal Jazz, hiking in the Grand Canyon, Broadway musicals, increasing civic engagement, and sharing Arizona fun facts
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CEO, National Indian Health Board
A.C. Locklear, J.D. is Chief Executive Officer of the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) and a nationally recognized leader in Tribal health policy, federal Indian law, and Tribal public health. He leads national advocacy to strengthen Tribal sovereignty and advance health outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
A.C. has helped advance landmark federal outcomes for Tribal health, including securing advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service and contributing to the first major increase to the Special Diabetes Program for Indians in over a decade. He has also provided executive leadership during periods of federal disruption, working with Tribal leaders, national Native organizations, and senior federal officials to protect Tribal health funding and ensure continuity of critical programs.
He serves in national advisory capacities across public health, including on behavioral health, health systems modernization, and population health strategy, and is a frequent congressional witness and national media voice. He is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
Senior Assistant General Counsel, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
Chris Love is the Senior Assistant General Counsel for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, bringing nearly twenty years of experience in tribal governance, Federal Indian law, and legislative affairs. She has served tribal communities across Arizona in roles spanning governmental counsel, policy development, and advocacy, and is known for her commitment to strengthening tribal sovereignty and community-centered governance.
CEO, Salt River Business Development
Former Assistant General Counsel, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
As the CEO and pioneering leader of Salt River Business Development, Michael is dedicated to upholding the founding values of SRPMIC. As an enrolled member of the SRPMIC and father of enrolled members, Michael shares a deep desire to ensure success and prosperity of SRBD to provide for future generations. His experience providing expertise on business law, corporate governance, commercial transactions, and taxations for the Office of General Counsel for SRPMIC equips him to lead SRBD with a dedication to innovation and sustainability. He demonstrates excellence in working across government departments, tribal committees, boards of directors, and multiple enterprises.
Founding Director, Gínga & Igniñ Collective
Silugngataanit’sqaq (Melissa Marton) is an Indigenous leader from Sun’aq (Kodiak), Alaska, with ancestral ties to Chignik Lagoon in the Bristol Bay region. With over 30 years of experience, she has worked alongside Alaska Native Tribes and nonprofits to strengthen self-determination, cultural revitalization, and community-based governance. Her leadership includes 14 years as Tribal Administrator for the Native Village of Afognak and senior roles at First Alaskans Institute, where she led strategic planning, racial equity dialogues, and decolonizing frameworks. Melissa’s work spans policy development, language preservation, executive coaching, grant strategy, and institutional strengthening, supporting organizations across Alaska in aligning their operations with Indigenous values. She has also served in elected and appointed leadership roles at the local, regional, and statewide levels and remains committed to building thriving, sovereign Indigenous communities through relational, equity-driven systems change.
Senior Vice President, Sovereign Finance
Mr. Monteiro began his career in May of 2006 when hired with JPMorgan’s Native American Finance group. In May of 2008, Mr. Monteiro began working with Mr. Lamb and Mr. Eden to support the development of Sovereign Finance. Since that time, he has worked across the Firm’s primary business lines with special emphasis on the development and growth of Sovereign Investment Advisors, the firm’s SEC Registered Investment Advisory line of business. Mr. Monteiro has provided investment, debt and financial consulting services to clients across the country ranging from the development of comprehensive investment programs including, but not limited to, permanent funds, minor’s trust funds, education endowments, and the removal of trust funds from Office of Special Trustee, to arranging complex financing transactions for various tribal development purposes including commercial, economic, governmental and infrastructure projects. In addition, Mr. Monteiro has served in a consultative capacity guiding clients through the comprehensive process necessary to source, evaluate and execute all manner of diversification initiatives including the requisite due diligence and analytics necessary to justify the acquisition of new assets by tribal enterprises.
Prior to joining JPMorgan, Mr. Monteiro interned with KPMG’s Tribal Advisory Services Group and clerked for several law firms, the majority of which worked exclusively with tribes and tribal members. Mr. Monteiro has a Juris Doctorate with a Certificate in Indian Law from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, a Master of Business Administration from the W.P. Carey School of Business, and a Bachelor of Arts from Colby College. Mr. Monteiro is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, Aquinnah, is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) and holds a Series 65 license.
Attorney, DR Law PLLC
Denten Robinson, a member of the Navajo Nation, is the founder and principal attorney at DR Law. After graduating from Columbia Law School in New York City, Denten moved to Arizona to start his legal career at a national law firm. After years of practice in transactional matters at a national law firm, Denten joined a regional law firm to pursue his desire of representing Tribes and Tribal businesses. In 2018, Denten established DR Law where he and DR Law focus solely on supporting Tribes and Tribal businesses. Denten’s legal practice touches on a variety of specialty areas including: environmental, real estate, rights of way, education, family, employment, utilities, business transactions, construction, economic development, gaming, housing, water, elections, and jurisdictional disputes. Denten works tirelessly to represent the interests of his clients. His dedication to client success and passion for Tribal justice and protection makes Denten a trusted name in the Indian Law community.
Senior Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund
Brett Lee Shelton is an Oceti Sakowin Oyate member, enrolled by the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation. He is a Staff Attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, where his work focuses on cultural protection and revitalization, including responsibility for the Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, and sacred places protection and health policy work. He also serves as an appellate justice for several Tribal courts.
Brett has extensive experience representing and advising tribal governments, agencies, and enterprises in a wide variety of matters, as well as contributing legal advice and litigation support for various private individuals, businesses, tribal organizations, and development initiatives. He has also worked as a policy analyst for the National Indian Health Board, as a grassroots organizer for international indigenous peoples in biotechnology evaluation, and assisting domestic violence victims in civil court for a nonprofit based on his home Reservation.
He received his law degree from Stanford University, and a Master of Arts from the University of Kansas. While at Stanford Law School, he was honored by the Foundation of the State Bar of California with an Exceptional Merit Award for Public Service Leadership, and he received the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Award and Scholarship, the John Milton Oskison award for best graduate student paper, and was named Indian Graduate Student of the Year. He is currently licensed to practice law in various courts including California, Colorado, South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as well as multiple United States courts.
Theresa Rosier
General Counsel, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
Theresa H. Rosier serves as the General Counsel for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (“Community”). Ms. Rosier has worked in the Community’s Office of the General Counsel for over twenty-one (21) years with an emphasis on matters that relate to commercial development on Indian lands, human resources, election law, and other general tribal matters. Prior to joining the Community, from 2002-2004, Ms. Rosier served under Gale A. Norton, as political appointee at the United States Department of the Interior in the capacity of Counselor to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. From 1999-2002, Ms. Rosier served as Majority Counsel to Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the United States Senate. While at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Ms. Rosier’s emphasis was Indian economic development. Ms. Rosier obtained a J.D./M.B.A. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (1998) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder (Summa Cum Laude 1995).
Ms. Rosier is a member of the Navajo Nation and was raised in Page, Arizona. In addition, Ms. Rosier is a member of the Indian Law Section of the Arizona State Bar Association and has served as President of the Native American Bar Association of Arizona.
Owner and CEO, Wopila Consulting, LLC
A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lillian has worked in Washington, D.C. for nearly 20 years, devoting her career to supporting the educational pursuits of Native American students, protecting the rights of indigenous people, and empowering tribal communities. In 2010, Lillian was appointed by President Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to serve as the Commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans. In this role, she worked on programs and policy impacting Native languages and education, social development, and economic development for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. Prior to her service at ANA, Lillian served as the Executive Director of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), where she worked extensively on education policy and appropriations impacting American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students. A former staff attorney at the National Congress of American Indians, Lillian has received numerous awards and recognition, including being named as one of seven young Native American Leaders by USA Today Magazine, one of “40 Under 40” from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, and American Indian Woman of the Year.
Vice President, Organized Village of Kake Tribal Council
Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee, Haida/Tlingit, is from Ḵéex̱ʼ Kwáan (Kake), Alaska. She is an enrolled Tribal Citizen of the Organized Village of Kake. On her Haida side she is Eagle Tiits Gitee Nei, Hummingbird. On her Tlingit side she is Raven Kaach.adi, Fresh Water-marked Sockeye Salmon. Her maternal grandparents were Mona & Thomas Jackson, Sr. of Haida Gwaii/Hydaburg and Kake, respectively. Her paternal grandparents were Lillian and Charles Cheney of Washington. Her parents are Della and William Cheney of Kake. Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee’s heart is always at home in the village with her family and people. Integrating Native knowledge and values into organizations, governance mechanisms, and everyday life is a primary passion and responsibility she has pursued through her education and career.
Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee received her BA (BFA Equivalency) from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and her law degree from Arizona State University College of Law, graduating with a Juris Doctorate and a Certificate in Indian Law. Since coming to First Alaskans Institute, Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee has served as the Director of the Alaska Native Policy Center, Vice-President, and now serves as the President/CEO, providing a direct path for service to our Native peoples. Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee has been with FAI for 12 years, and her depth of experience and passion for our Native peoples makes her uniquely qualified to direct our organization.