OPA

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced the BIA Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., will hold the 8th Annual Great Plains Region/Tribal Economic Development Summit on April 26-27, 2006 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The theme for this year’s summit is “Building Human Capital: Identifying Challenges and Creative Solutions in Indian Country.” It will focus on breaking down barriers that exist in business and workforce development by bringing together resources that can be utilized to overcome them. The summit is expected to draw 500 attendees from tribes, businesses and state and federal agencies from the Northern Plains and Midwest.

“The BIA Great Plains Regional/Tribal Economic Development Summit is an exciting and highly informative venue for doing business in Indian Country,” Ragsdale said. “For seven years this event has successfully carried out the BIA’s mission to promote economic opportunity for tribes, and I anticipate this year’s summit will continue that trend.”

Among the featured speakers from the tribal, public and private sectors will be South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds, Lynn Jensen, State Director, USDA Rural Development, Chairman Harold Frazier, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Mark Allen, President, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Karen Atkinson, Executive Director, Native American Contractors Association, Lance Morgan, CEO, Ho Chunk Inc., Tex Hall, Chairman, Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and Cecilia Fire Thunder, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe.

A tradeshow, receptions, panel discussions and workshops will address the needs of Indian entrepreneurs by providing attendees with opportunities to discuss start-up financing, marketing strategies, business plan development, contracting and other small business topics with representatives from state and federal agencies, private industry and academia. Finalists representing two categories will participate in the 2nd Annual Business Plan Competition for Native American youth from the Great Plains Region. The twenty finalists come from Junior / Senior High and college age students who have been selected to attend the summit, all expenses paid, where they will give an oral presentation for the judges, who will also conduct a question-and-answer session with the students.

For more information on the 8th Annual Great Plains Region/Tribal Economic Development Summit, contact Onna LeBeau in the BIA Great Plains Regional Office Branch of Economic Development at 605-226-7381.

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WASHINGTON – Former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr., will join Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 27, 2006, at a ceremony to officially dedicate the Bureau of Indian Affairs Manuel Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building and to open DOI’s National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC). They will be joined by All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Amadeo Shije and Governor Roland Johnson of the Pueblo of Laguna.

Lujan, a former congressional representative from the State of New Mexico who served as Interior Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, has been a supporter of the Pueblo Tribes of New Mexico for many years. The building is being named in his honor.

The Bureau’s newest facility sits on land formerly occupied by the Albuquerque Indian School, a BIA boarding school that was razed in the 1980s. Groundbreaking for the Lujan building took place on October 27, 2004. The 44-acre site is owned by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and was developed by the Indian Pueblo Federal Development Corporation. The Lujan building is connected to the BIA’s Pete V. Domenici Indian Affairs Building, which was dedicated to the United States senator from New Mexico in 2004.

In addition to NIPTC, both buildings house Indian program offices and personnel including the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office, Office of Indian Education Programs, Office of Management Support Services, Law Enforcement, Information Technology, and from the DOI Office of Hearing and Appeals.

The afternoon portion of the program is dedicated to the opening of a permanent exhibit in the Lujan building of historic photos of the Albuquerque Indian School. The photos are from the collection of University of New Mexico Professor Theodore Jojola, a Regents’ Professor and past Director of UNM’s Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning. He will give a presentation on the exhibit in conjunction with its opening.

Invitees to the day-long event include state, local and tribal representatives, as well as former students and faculty.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to this event.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) will sponsor the conference “Accessing Capital: Lending Opportunities in Indian Country” to be held May 1-3, 2006, on the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians reservation in Minnesota. The conference will take place at the tribe’s Shooting Star Casino Hotel and Event Center in Mahnomen, Minn.

“This conference is the first of its kind in the Midwest,” said Cason. “It will educate regional lenders about how IEED’s Capital Investment Program can help them finance Native American businesses and create new jobs in Indian country.”

Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the American Indian Economic Development Fund of St. Paul, Minn., the conference will feature nationally renowned financial experts and tribal entrepreneurs who will explore the opportunities that IEED’s Capital Investment Program, also known as the Loan Guaranty and Insurance Program, provides to tribal businesses and entrepreneurs in obtaining credit and investment capital. The conference will be attended by tribal business leaders, lending institutions and investment brokers in the region.

The keynote speaker for the event will be Gerald P. Carmen, former ambassador to the U.N. Mission in Geneva and vice chairman of the Trade and Development Board. Ambassador Carmen was formerly the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Asset Disposition Association (the predecessor to the Resolution Trust Corporation) and has been a board member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. From 1981 through 1984, he served as head of the General Services Administration.

Other conference speakers include Pam Nesius, Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending, Native American Bank of Denver; Lance Morgan, President and CEO, Ho-Chunk Corporation, Winnebago, Neb.; Jim Ladner, President, Laducer & Associates, Mandan, N.D.; Patty Pourier, CEO, Muddy Creek Oil & Gas, Inc., Pine Ridge, S.D.; Dick Levine, Executive Vice President, Palm Desert National Bank, Palm Springs, Calif.; Sue Woodrow, Managing Project Director, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Helena, Mont., branch; Stephanie Caputo, Community Development Expert, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; and Bill Largent, National Director, Office Native American Programs, Small Business Administration (SBA).

The conference also will feature presentations by the American Indian Economic Development Fund; Department of Agriculture; Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Department of the Treasury; SBA; and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development was established to provide high-level support for the Department’s goal of serving communities by providing access to energy resources and by stimulating job creation and economic development. The Office assists economic development on Indian lands by identifying economic opportunities, assisting development of workforce capacity, providing low cost loans for business development and facilitating partnerships between tribes and the Federal or private sector. The Office also supports the President’s National Energy Policy by fostering development of domestic energy resources to reduce this country’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

For additional conference information, contact Mike Luger, Economic Development Specialist, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, U.S. Department of the Interior, at (202) 219-0005.

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ALBUQUERQUE – An estimated audience of almost 1,000 guests and dignitaries today watched as Interior Department officials formally dedicated the Bureau of Indian Affairs gleaming modern office building at 1011 Indian School Road N.W. in Albuquerque, N.M., to former Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., and officially opened DOI’s new National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC), a major occupant of the facility. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer were joined at the dedication by state, local and tribal officials, including All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Amadeo Shije and Pueblo of Jemez Governor and New Mexico State Representative Roger Magdalena.

“The Manuel Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building is a remarkable achievement of the partnership between the Interior Department and the All Indian Pueblo Council,” Cason said. “As the new home for the Department’s Indian programs in Albuquerque, the Lujan Building carries on the ideals of its namesake who has worked tirelessly throughout his career on behalf of Indian country.”

Lujan represented the State of New Mexico in Congress from 1969 through 1989 where he was senior Republican on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and vice chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush as the 46th Secretary of the Interior, Lujan sought to improve the BIA’s administration of programs and services to Indian people.

“I’m honored to have it named after me because many, many other people have worked in the background to get it built,” Lujan said. “It’s been a long time coming and badly needed by Indian country.” As Secretary, Lujan established education as a BIA priority, launched a series of education mini summits and regional meetings to expand economic development on Indian reservations, held the first Indian Tribal Leaders Conference and created a task force to make the Bureau a more efficient, effective organization. His administration also promoted tribal self-governance, Indian child welfare, and the preservation and protection of sacred Indian objects and human remains on Federal lands. In 1993, Lujan’s efforts led to the transfer of the BIA’s Albuquerque Indian School property into trust status for the benefit of the Pueblo people. Naming of the newest BIA building after him honored his long-standing support for the state’s Indian tribes.

The Albuquerque Indian School’s 44-acre site was developed by the Indian Pueblo Federal Development Corporation (IPFDC), the for-profit development arm of AIPC, a coalition of 19 New Mexico Pueblos. The IPFDC constructed the new facilities which comprise over 300,000 square feet within two structures – the Pete V. Domenici Indian Affairs Building (dedicated in 2004) and the 144,000 square foot Lujan Building, which was designed by DCSW Architects and built by the Dekker/Perich/Sabatini company, both of Albuqerque.

The buildings are connected by an interior hallway and house Indian program offices and personnel from the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office, Office of Indian Education Programs, Office of Management Support Services, Law Enforcement, and Information Technology; the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians; probate staff from DOI’s Office of Hearings and Appeals; and the National Indian Programs Training Center, which occupies the Lujan Building’s entire second floor.

“The opening of the National Indian Programs Training Center is an exciting step in our work of enhancing and reforming services for all Indian people,” Swimmer said. “NIPTC is vital to the continued development of a highly effective Interior and tribal workforce to fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities.”

Note to editors: A photo of the Manual Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building/National Indian Programs Training Center may be viewed via the Interior Department website at www.doi.gov.

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(Washington, D.C.) – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announced today that the BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES), in conjunction with the Indian Country Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police will hold its 15 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Service on May 4, 2006. The service is to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice made by American Indian law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will begin at 10:00 A.M. (local time) at the BIA Indian Police Academy in Artesia, New Mexico.

“Each year we add another name of a fallen officer to pay tribute to the sacrifice they made in the line of duty,” Associate Deputy Secretary James W. Cason said. “It honors them and reminds us that freedom from crime is not free.”

This year, Senior Patrol Agent (SPA) Nicholas D. Greenig from the U.S. Border Patrol will have his name added to the granite memorial. On March 14, 2006, Agent Greenig was involved in a fatal, one car accident while serving in an undercover operation on the Tohono O’Odham Nation in Arizona. Born in 1978 in Sheridan, WY, Special Agent Greenig grew up near Billings, MT. In December 2002 he joined the U.S. Border Patrol with the 535th Academy session. He graduated second in the class and was assigned to the Ajo Station Disrupt Unit in Arizona. He is credited with apprehending 20-30 alien smuggling loads and 3-5 narcotics loads per month. SPA Greenig is the first Border Patrol Agent to have their name engraved on the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial bringing the total number of names to eighty seven.

The keynote address will be delivered by W. Patrick Ragsdale, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs who has had a long history of involvement with Indian Country law enforcement. David Aguliar, Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol will be a special guest speaker. John Chavers, Ph.D., Chief of the Indian Police Academy will serve as the Master of Ceremony. Dewayne and Darla Greenig, parents of Special Agent Greenig will attend the service and will be presented with a plaque and traditional Indian Star Quilt by the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Committee.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial site is constructed with Native American symbolism and traditional plants incorporated into the design. The three granite stones are surrounded by a cement/aggregate surface forming a circle around the vertical slabs with an opening to allow for access. Sage, a plant with spiritual significance, is planted in the four directions to consecrate the hallow ground. Four planter areas are filled foliage surrounded by white, red, yellow, and black stones to signify the four colors of mankind on the Earth.

The original Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial was dedicated on May 7, 1992 at the BIA’s Indian Police Academy (IPA), in Marana, Arizona. The Memorial was later moved to Artesia, New Mexico and re-dedicated on May 6, 1993 when the BIA Indian Police Academy was relocated to New Mexico.

A 750 person department, the BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services provides uniformed police services, detention operations, and criminal investigation of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country.

For specific information or directions to the event call 505/748-8151 ext. 5751.

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 9:45 a.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 10:00 a.m.

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WASHINGTON – Today at the 63rd Departmental Honor Awards Convocation held in the Sydney R. Yates Auditorium at the U.S. Department of the Interior, it was a time for the Department to honor its own – those who have served with sudden seconds of valor and long years of excellence. At the ceremony a private citizen and three Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were among the many to be awarded for their bravery, outstanding contributions and dedicated service to the Department. Edward D. Marsette of Auburn, WA, a private citizen was awarded the Citizen’s Award for Bravery he was the only person to receive that honor from the Department this year. Mr. Wayne Nordwall, Phoenix, AZ was given the Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Wayne Sumatzkuku, Phoenix, AZ received the Meritorious Service Award, and Pierre Cantou, Phoenix, AZ was awarded the Meritorious Service Award.

“Each of our employees honored today distinguished themselves with either an act of bravery or a long rewarding career that made a difference in peoples lives,” Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason said. “They exemplify the type of employees we have working at the BIA and the individuals that live in reservation communities across the country.”

Accompanied by family and the Tribal Chairman of the Muckleshoot Tribe, Mr. Edward D. Marsette of Auburn, WA was awarded the Citizen’s Award for Bravery, which is awarded to private citizens for heroic acts or unusual bravery in the face of danger. Recipients have risked their lives to save the life of a Departmental employee or the life of any other person while on property owned by or entrusted to the Department of the Interior.

On Wednesday, March 15, 2006, at 1:00 a.m., a vehicle occupied by six Muckleshoot Tribal members traveling on the Auburn/Enumclaw Highway on the Muckleshoot Reservation flipped, crashed into a utility pole, and caught fire. Mr. Marsette, a Chippewa Cree from the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana, awoke when he heard the crash. Mr. Marsette ran from his home to the top of an embankment where he could see an overturned automobile, in flames. Without regard for his personal safety, Mr. Marsette plunged fifteen feet down a steep embankment toward the highway to help the victims. Mr. Marsette repeatedly reached into the burning vehicle to assist the remaining occupants, receiving burns on his hands, legs, and forearms. Mr. Marsette was able to pull three of the five passengers trapped in the vehicle to safety; unfortunately two occupants of the vehicle did not survive. Mr. Marsette remained with the victims until law enforcement and emergency medical personnel arrive before seeking treatment for his own injuries.

Mr. Wayne Nordwall, the former Western Regional Director, a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding contributions, commitment, and dedicated service to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior. Mr. Nordwall began his Federal career in 1977 with his appointment to the Rights Protection Office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1981, he transferred to the Office of the Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs and worked with Departmental representatives, Indian leaders and members of Congress to fashion a legislative solution that led to the passage of the Indian Land Consolidation Act of 1983. In November 1997, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and accepted the most challenging role of his career as the Regional Director for the Western Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Phoenix, AZ. Mr. Nordwall oversaw the jurisdiction of 13 million acres for tribal and individually owned land in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Southern California. He took an active role in working on trust reform initiatives for the Bureau, including the American Indian Probate Reform Act.

Mr. Wayne Sumatzkuku, a Realty Specialist, Office of Realty Services, Western Regional Office in Phoenix AZ, a member of the Hopi Tribe received the Meritorious Service Award for his dedicated career to the administration of the United States’ core trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and individuals, primarily with land titles and conveyances. Early in his career he served as the Bureau’s top archivist and title research specialist in the Office of Real Estate Services. Since 1990, Mr. Sumatzkuku has been at the Western Regional Office in Phoenix, AZ where he has been solely responsible for implementing the land components of some of the largest settlements enacted by Congress, including a complex claims settlement act involving two Nevada tribes, land claims settlement acts for the Hopi and San Lucy Tribes, and various statues enacted to resolve litigation between tribes and states, local communities, and third parties.

Mr. Pierre Cantou is a Para Legal Specialist with the Office of Realty Services, Western Regional Office in Pheonix, AZ. He received the Meritorious Service Award for 32 years at the Western Region, where he has worked on regional rights protection and real estate programs providing key documents and analysis in support of various litigation and legislation. Mr. Cantou has been recognized as a leading expert on all matters relating to surveys, land and water rights claims. With his institutional knowledge he has proved invaluable in successful, decades long efforts to resolve land and boundary disputes involving the Hopi, Hualapai, San Carlos, Colorado River, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Western Shoshone, and Unitah and Ouray Tribes. He has recently headed up the Regional Office’s response to data calls and records-related trust reform initiatives arising form the Cobell litigation. Note to editors: A photo of the Department Honor Award Recipients may be viewed via the Interior Department website at www.doi.gov.

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WASHINGTON – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announces today that Grayford Payne, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Indian Affairs was one of fifteen individuals to receive the 2005 Secretary’s Executive Leadership Award at a ceremony held today at the Department of the Interior.

Presenting the awards at the ceremony was Acting Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlet. “Your leadership at the Department of the Interior and throughout your public service has helped all of us to accomplish so much more on behalf of the American public than had we not been blessed by your service,” said the Secretary. Prior to becoming the Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Gray served as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer as well as the Director of Financial Management within Indian Affairs.

“Grayford Payne is a fine example of the type of employees we have at Indian Affairs,” said James E. Cason. “His experience and expertise are valuable assets, to our efforts to bring quality services to Indian country and the American people.”

He came to Indian Affairs in 2001, and under his leadership Indian Affairs successfully implemented an Activity Based Cost/Management System. As Indian Affairs Deputy Chief Financial Officer and now CFO Gray has worked to reorganized Indian Affairs CFO operations to improve its financial management and financial accountability. Gray started his career with the Department of Defense, Naval Audit Service providing oversight of Navy National Security programs. From 1993 to 2000 Gray was the Director of Financial Management at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission where he received the Commission's award for Leadership Excellence for his leadership in transforming the Commission's Office of Financial Management into an effective and efficient CFO organization.

Gray is from Annandale, Virginia and a 1980 graduate of George Mason University with a degree in Accounting. He graduated in 1991 from the Department of Defense - Defense Systems Management College as a certified DOD Program Manager.

The Secretary’s Executive Leadership Awards were created to recognize extraordinary performance and excellence in leadership. The criteria include extraordinary accomplishment of the performance elements in the Senior Executive Service (SES) member’s annual performance agreement and demonstration of excellence in the five Executive Core Qualifications.

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WASHINGTON - Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles said today the Department is gratified by a ruling issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia - a ruling which largely reverses a U.S. District Court injunction issued more than one year ago in the long-running Indian Trust case. Today's ruling is now the third consecutive time that the circuit court has broadly reversed significant rulings by Judge Royce Lamberth in the case.

Today's appellate court ruling sharply limits the lower court's oversight role in the trust management activity of the Department. Today's opinion noted: "... the court may not micromanage court-ordered reform efforts undertaken to comply with general trust duties enumerated by the court, and then subject defendants to findings of contempt for failure to implement such reforms." The circuit court has already reversed an earlier contempt citation issued by the district court.

The ruling handed down today also sharply criticizes the district court's methods in imposing numerous compliance requirements on the Department saying "rather than acting to assure that 'agency action' conforms to the law, the [district] court has sought to make the law conform to the court's views as to how the trusts may best be run."

"The Department is pleased with today's ruling," Deputy Secretary Griles said. "This important ruling is a watershed victory for individual Indian account holders, for the Interior Department and its employees, for Congress, and for American taxpayers. With this ruling, the appellate court has recognized the Department's ongoing determination to fulfill its duties to account for individual Indian Trust funds."

"The Interior Department has invested hundreds of millions 6f dollars on this issue since this lawsuit was filed back in 1996," Griles said. "In recent years, the Department has conducted more than 30,000 intricate accountings of individual Indian money accounts, found almost no discrepancies exceeding $1, and no evidence of systemic accounting irregularities. When combined, the net of the discrepancies uncovered in this multi-million-dollar effort amounts to merely hundreds of dollars. It's no wonder, then, that the appellate court has repeated the concerns of Congress, which lead many to believe that the litigation is succeeding only in enriching accountants, lawyers and consultants while producing little benefit for actual Indian account holders."

The circuit court order vacates the district court's ruling last year which subjected Interior to a court specified historic accounting plan saying the order has no basis in current law. The order also vacates virtually all of the trust reform requirements imposed by the district court.

Today's ruling points to concerns raised by a committee of the U.S. Congress that the district court rulings were out of sync with congressional intent. In its opinion, the Court of Appeals noted:

The committee "reject[ed] the notion that in passing the American Indian Trust Management Reform Act of 1994 Congress had any intention of ordering an accounting on the scale of that which has now been ordered by the Court. Such an expansive and expensive undertaking would certainly have been judged to be a poor use of Federal and trust resources." H.R. Conf. Rep. 108-330, at 118

The sharp reversal is the second such action in as many weeks from the circuit court. Last week, in vacating the district court's order disconnecting Interior's information technology [IT] systems from the Internet, the circuit court noted that "it was error to shift the burden of persuasion to the Secretary to show why disconnecting most of Interior' s IT systems was unnecessary to ensure the security of IITD [individual Indian trust data], and the error was not harmless."

The Court of Appeals has criticized the district court for attempting to "resolve the state of Interior's IT systems security without conducting a hearing on the evidence in dispute."

Deputy Secretary Griles said it was significant that today's ruling is the third consecutive occasion for the appellate court to reverse the district court in the landmark case.

"We endorse this court's clarion call for a final settlement - a settlement that would lift the cloud of uncertainty and false hope that has enveloped Indian country in the wake of this acrimonious case," Griles said.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced the selection of Thomas M. Dowd, an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and a senior Federal executive with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), as the new director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). Dowd currently holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and National Activity within ETA where he is responsible for the agency’s overall administrative activities, national activities and performance. His appointment to the OIEP Director post will become effective on June 11.

“We are very pleased that Tom Dowd has agreed to join our management team,” Cason said. “The OIEP Director’s responsibilities require an extremely high level of technical and executive expertise critical to providing quality education to the American Indian communities we serve. Tom is a seasoned, experienced administrator who will be invaluable in our efforts to improve the delivery of BIA-funded education services to Indian country.”

As OIEP Director, Dowd will oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school system, which serves approximately 47,000 students and employs 5,000 teachers, administrators and support personnel in 184 elementary and secondary schools located on 63 reservations in 23 States, and the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-100) and other applicable laws in the BIA-funded schools. He also will be responsible for directing resources and technical assistance to 122 tribally administered BIA-funded schools and 25 tribal colleges, as well as providing direction and oversight for two BIA-operated post-secondary institutions.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected for this important post,” Dowd said. “The Office of Indian Education Programs, BIA schools and tribal colleges all have important roles in the delivery of quality education to Indian communities. I appreciate having the opportunity to help lead the Interior Department’s efforts to improve its education services to Indian people.”

In his current position, which he has held since February 2003, Dowd directly supervises five Senior Executive Service (SES) executives managing ETA’s Offices of Policy Development and Research, Financial and Administrative Management, Performance and Technology, Foreign Labor Certification, and Apprenticeship, and provides leadership to 700 agency staff and 1,500 contractors. (Prior to April 2006, his responsibilities also included managing the $1.5 billion Job Corps program.) He also is responsible for the formulation and execution of the agency’s $10 billion annual budget.

In July 2002, Dowd was appointed by the Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training to establish and manage ETA’s Business Relations Group (BRG) Office to support the Assistant Secretary’s vision to develop a “demand-driven” public workforce system. His responsibilities included creating and building the new office from the ground up, and developing and expanding public/private partnerships to achieve the Assistant Secretary’s goals for a trained and prepared 21st century competitive workforce. He also oversaw and directed ETA’s 2005 National Office reorganization, which included integrating the BRG Office with the Office of Workforce Investment, and provided leadership for the agency’s activities in support of two Presidential initiatives: High Growth Job Training and Community-Based Job Training.

From January 2000 to July 2002, Dowd served as the Regional Administrator for ETA’s Philadelphia Regional Office where he had the primary administrative responsibility for public workforce resources managed by the Mid-Atlantic States. Dowd managed a staff of 110 career Federal workforce development professionals, approved the provision of technical assistance resources to support state and local workforce development strategies, ensured the proper use of Federal resources and program accountability, and established and maintained effective working relationships with State officials and career employees responsible for workforce development.

From May 1998 to January 2000, Dowd served as Associate Regional Administrator and Regional Administrator for ETA’s Denver Regional Office where he had the primary administrative responsibility for the public workforce resources managed by the Rocky Mountain Region States. There he managed a staff of 75 career Federal workforce development professionals. It was during this time that he also completed DOL’s SES Program.

From August 1994 to May 1998, Dowd served as Chief of the Division of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP) where he oversaw the reorganization and revitalization of ETA’s Indian and Native American Employment and Training Programs. There he managed a staff of 20 career Federal employees responsible for the oversight and administration of over 200 grants managed by Indian, Native American and Hawaiian Native grantees. He also was responsible for approving the provision of technical assistance resources to support state and local workforce development strategies. Dowd has received numerous Federal service awards including the DOL Secretary’s Exceptional Achievement Award (1997 to 2000, 2002 and 2005), the Senior Executive Service Exemplary Performance Award (2000 to 2005) and the Presidential Rank Award, Meritorious Executive (2004).

Dowd graduated from Grand Canyon High School, Grand Canyon National Park, in 1973. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of New Mexico in 1979 and has completed several hours of graduate work at UNM. Dowd also garnered international experience starting as a Rotary exchange student in Denmark (1971), then as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa (1979 to 1981), and later as a teacher and consultant in Hamamatsu, Japan (1990 to 1994). More recently, he served as a Labor Department delegate to the U.S./E.U. Conference on Outsourcing in Brussels, Belgium (December 2004) and to the U.S./E.U. Conference on Competitiveness in The Hague, Holland (May 2005).

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WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that Allen J. Anspach, acting Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz., has been confirmed in that position effective May 23. Anspach, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and a certified Senior Executive Service (SES) administrator, had served in an acting capacity since January 2006. The Western Regional Office serves the federally recognized tribes located in Arizona (except the Navajo Nation), Nevada and Utah.

“Allen Anspach is a solid Bureau of Indian Affairs manager who brings 28 years of tribal relations and policy experience to his new post,” Ragsdale said. “I am pleased that he has joined our regional senior management team.”

Anspach’s federal career began in 1978 when he joined the BIA’s Phoenix Area Office (now Western Regional Office) as a tribal operations officer intern, a position he held until 1981 when he became a tribal operations specialist. He served in the Phoenix Area Office until 1985 during which time he spent 10 months during the years 1982 to 1983 at the Interior Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., as a trainee in its Departmental Management Development Program. His training assignment included helping to develop, as a member of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs staff, President Reagan’s Indian policy and a stint at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

After his training assignment, Anspach returned to the Bureau where, in January 1985, he was appointed superintendent of its Pawnee Agency, which services the Kaw Nation, the Otoe Missouria Tribe, the Pawnee Nation, the Ponca Tribe, and the Tonkawa Tribe who live in north central Oklahoma. He went on to serve as superintendent at three BIA agencies in Arizona: the San Carlos Agency on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation (appointed November 1988); the Colorado River Agency on the Colorado River Indian Reservation (appointed June 1993); and the Fort Apache Agency on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation (appointed September 2005).

“I am honored to have been given this tremendous opportunity to serve the tribes in the Western Region,” Anspach said. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to support tribal self-determination and economic prosperity.” Anspach received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Arizona-Tucson in 1975. While attending UA he worked as a seasonal wildland firefighter, helitack crew member and helitack foreman at the San Carlos Agency. After graduation, he taught vocational agriculture on the Navajo Nation Reservation at Ganado High School in Ganado, Ariz., and on the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation at Baboquivari High School in Sells, Ariz. Note to Editors: The photograph of Allen J. Anspach that accompanies this release may be viewed at www.doi.gov.