Forrest J. Gerard, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, has been appointed Legislative Liaison Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Robert L. Bennett, BIA Commissioner, announced today.
Gerard had been chief of the Tribal Affairs Division of the Public Health Service's Indian Health Division. In his new position he will be an advisor to the Commissioner and Bureau officials on legislative matters and will analyze pending legislation which would affect Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
A graduate of Montana State University, Gerard is an Air Force veteran and served with the Montana and Wyoming Tuberculosis and Health Associations before joining the Public Health Service in 1957.
Gerard received the Indian Achievement Award of 1966 from the Indian Council Fire, a Chicago based Indian interest organization, for his work in improving Indian health.
Last year he won a Fellowship in Congressional Operations sponsored by the American Political Science Association and the Civil Service Commission. Gerard, 41, lives with his wife and five children in Bowie, Md.
Assisting Gerard will be Larry M. Wheeler, recently appointed to the post of Deputy Legislative Liaison Officer. Wheeler had been the Executive Clerk of the United States Senate.
A Marine Corps veteran, Wheeler is a native of Georgia and a graduate of the University of Georgia. He came to Washington in 1957 as an administrative clerk for Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia.
Wheeler, 33, lives with his wife and daughter in Alexandria, Va.
