WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Weldon “Bruce” Loudermilk as Regional Director of the BIA’s Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D. Loudermilk, an enrolled member of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, had been serving as the acting regional director since March 18, 2010. The Great Plains Regional Office oversees 12 agencies serving 16 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. His appointment became effective on June 20, 2010.
“I am pleased that Bruce Loudermilk has joined my regional management team as the Bureau of Indian Affairs Great Plains Regional Director,” said Black. “His substantial knowledge of BIA tribal programs, his expertise in trust management and his private sector experience make him well-suited to carrying out the BIA’s mission of service to the tribes.”
“I am very honored to become a part of BIA Director Mike Black’s and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk’s regional directors team,” said Loudermilk. “I am looking forward to working with them in their efforts to improve the BIA’s delivery of services to the tribes throughout the Great Plains Region and across Indian Country.”
Prior to becoming the acting regional director, Loudermilk had served since March 2, 2008, as the Great Plains Deputy Regional Director-Indian Services where he provided programmatic oversight in the areas of self-determination, human services, tribal government, transportation, housing, environmental, safety and cultural resource management.
Loudermilk began his 20-year federal career in May 1990 in the transportation division of the Bureau’s Billings (Montana) Area Office (now Rocky Mountain Regional Office). Prior to becoming the deputy regional director, Loudermilk served in the Interior Department’s Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) as a Financial Trust Services Officer (May 1998-June 2005) and as a Fiduciary Trust Officer (July 2005-March 2008), both of which were also located in the Rocky Mountain Regional Office.
During his tenure with the OST, Loudermilk helped carry out the Department’s responsibility for Indian trust management by providing fiduciary trust oversight for tribal and individual Indian money accounts (IIMs). He also assisted in defining OST’s fiduciary trust management roles and responsibilities through the development and implementation of regulations, policies and procedures at agency, regional and national levels.
Loudermilk also brings with him private sector experience from the financial services, energy (oil and gas) exploration and petroleum technology industries.
Loudermilk holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from what is now Montana State University-Billings (1989). He is a graduate of the DOI’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, Class #14 (May 2006).
Also in 2006, Loudermilk received his designation as a Certified Indian Fiduciary Trust Specialist from the Cannon Financial Institute of Athens, Ga., a provider of professional development and training to the financial services industry.
