Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith announced today that Maurice W. Babby, an Oglala Sioux, has been named director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Sacramento area.
Babby succeeds William E. Finale, Sacramento area director since 1968, who has accepted an assignment as director of the Phoenix area for a period not to exceed six months. Finale, a 30-year Interior veteran, has announced plans to retire within the next year.
Babby, director of the Bureau's office of administration in Washington, D. C., the past year, worked in the Sacramento office from 1958 to 1965. He was tribal operations officer and program officer in the area. He was superintendent of the Fort Belknap agency in Montana 1967-70 and assistant area director at Billings, 'Montana 1970-79.
A graduate of Sacramento State University, Babby earned a law degree from the La Salle Extension University in 1969 and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1977. He has also completed the Interior Department's management training program.
Finale was named director of the Sacramento area office in 1968 after five years of service as deputy assistant commissioner (community affairs) in Washington, D. C.
A graduate of Western Reserve University, with a Masters' in education, Finale began his career with the Interior Department as education and training officer for of the Pacific. He was named administrative the Trust Territories Trust Territories in 1957.
Finale, 56, came to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1961 as senior program officer in Washington, D. C.
