Genevieve Giaccardo

Genevieve Giaccardo was appointed the Deputy Bureau Director – Office of Indian Services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on September 24, 2023. She previously served as the BIA Chief of Staff from August 2020, where she provided leadership support and coordination for a broad range of national and agency activities. She joined the BIA in April 2018 as the bureau’s first Communications Coordinator, acting in the capacity of Indian Affairs Director of Public Affairs from October 2019 to May 2020. Her prior work included serving in the Department of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire, coordinating the national federal inter-agency wildland fire management program communications beginning in January 2017. From August 2013 through December 2016, she served as a Senior Advisor-Tribal Relations with the DOI Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, supporting the implementation of the Cobell Settlement between federal and Tribal partners on data exchange and outreach initiatives. She has also supported the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Indian Education Study Group’s Bureau of Indian Education evaluation and reorganization in 2015. She began her federal career in July 2011, assisting the acting Special Trustee in the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, and has contributed to several departmental special projects, such as the Trust Administration System Assessment for the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform. Prior to federal service, she worked for over 15 years with Tribal, state, and local governments and organizations on comprehensive and strategic planning initiatives. A Tribal member of the Pueblo of San Felipe in New Mexico, she holds a BA in English, and a Master of Community and Regional Planning: Physical Planning/Inter-cultural Communication from the University of New Mexico. Giaccardo is a historical place/space enthusiast, enjoying cultural preservation and land stewardship activities (e.g. storytelling, collecting historical references, and creating traditional foods and crafts).