The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the appointment of Ernest T. Moran as superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Agency at Lame Deer, Montana and Roland E. Johnson as the first superintendent of the recently established Laguna Agency, Laguna, New Mexico.
The Laguna Pueblo to be served by Johnson has a land area of about 400,000 acres and a membership of about 6,000. It was formerly part of the Southern Pueblos Agency, which included nine other smaller pueblos. The BIA announced in April, 1980 that a new agency was being established to serve Laguna.
Johnson, director of Indian children's programs for the Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a former governor of the Laguna Pueblo. He was formerly a deputy area director and area tribal operations officer for the BIA's Albuquerque Area Office.
An alumnus of the New Mexico State University, Johnson, 42, came to work for BIA as a personnel management specialist in 1965. He later became personnel officer and chief of staffing in the Bureau's central office in Washington, D.C. He has completed the Department of Interior's Administrative Training Program. In 1975 he was given the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award.
Moran, who is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, officially assumed responsibilities at the Northern Cheyenne Agency on April 5. He had been functioning as the acting superintendent since last September. He was the administrative manager at the agency.
A former Marine, Moran, 41, worked at BIA agencies in Montana, California, Nevada and New Mexico. He was also the executive director of the Indian American Foundation, Billings, Montana 1972-73; director/consultant for Tri-State Tribe, Inc., Missoula, Montana, 1970-71 and credit manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe at Dixon Montana, 1697-70.
