John Tahsuda III, a member of the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (PDAS). Mr. Tahsuda served as PDAS from September 3, 2017 to January 20, 2020. Tahsuda also became an Advisor to the Secretary at the end of his tenure at Indian Affairs.
Mr. Tahsuda came to the Department from Washington, D.C.-based Navigators Global, LLC, where he was a principal. Navigators Global is a company that specializes in and offers a wide range of political services to multiple industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, energy, health care, defense, emergency management, American Indian tribal affairs, and high tech/telecommunications.
Before joining Navigators Global, Tahsuda had served since 2002 as staff director of the U.S. Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee, where he directed policy and legislative efforts relating to Indian tribes. He also was directly responsible for federal policy and legislation affecting gaming, federal recognition, self-governance, and Indian health care.
From 1991 to 2001, he served as general counsel and legislative director of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), the Indian gaming industry’s trade association, where he monitored legislation and policy issues affecting the organization’s 180 member tribes and assisted them in their lobbying efforts. From 1997 through 2001, he also served as an adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School where he taught courses on federal Indian law, policy and history.
Tahsuda received a juris doctorate from Cornell Law School in 1993 and a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University in 1990.
