Beverly Morris (Aleut) is producer, director, and owner of Chain Reaction Productions. She has been associated with the IAIA since 1988 as a student, staff member, producer, and director. Morris received her BFA from Stephen F. Austin State.

Andrea Akalleq Burgess (Yup’ik) is the Global Director of the Conservation in Partnership with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities program at The Nature Conservancy. In Burgess’ role at The Nature Conservancy, she helps transform the way land and waters decisions are made by strengthening the voice, choice, and action of Indigenous peoples and local communities to shape and manage natural territory in ways that improve lives and drive conservation. The Nature Conservancy plans customized cultural competency trainings for philanthropy staff and donors in Canada. From New York to Alaska, Oregon to the Great Plains, and elsewhere, The Nature Conservancy is committed to taking the steps needed to effectively work with Indigenous Peoples in the pursuit of shared conservation goals.

She received her BA in government from Georgetown University.

Charles Galbraith (Navajo Nation) is Co-Chair of the Native American practice at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, DC, focusing his practice on litigation and Native American Affairs. Prior to joining the firm, Galbraith was the White House Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, where he managed the relationship of the White House with 566 Tribal Governments and Native American people.

Jane Semple Umsted is an artist who has spent a lifetime working in a variety of media, which includes oils, acrylics, watercolor, sculpture, and the unique media of batik. She is a descendant of two Choctaw Chiefs, and her art exudes the spirit of her Native roots. Since childhood, Semple Umsted has been inspired by the themes and visual images of the Choctaw culture, which have become the inspiration for her artwork. Emphasis on vibrant color and dramatic design is one of the strongest and most dramatic elements of her work, and these qualities consistently permeate all aspects of the art she produces. Semple Umsted serves as the curator of the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She received a BFA from the University of Oklahoma in 1969 and an ME from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1989. She retired from the Durant Public Schools, where she was the art teacher for the Durant Middle School in 2007. She is a proud member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma and has been a professional artist for over 50 years. Semple Umsted is the owner of the Indian Territory Art Gallery in Durant, Oklahoma.

Born and raised on the Navajo Nation, Manuelito Wheeler is currently the Director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. Since becoming Director in 2008, he has worked with staff to see the completion of numerous exhibits that are 100% Native built from concept, curation, and creation. Along with this, he has led his team in creating innovative projects that influence and preserve Navajo culture. Some of these projects include a Navajo collaborative project with Ai Weiwei and Bert Benallie, dubbing the movies Finding Nemo and Star Wars into the Navajo language, and most recently, facilitating the donation of one of three copies of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 to the Navajo Nation Museum. He is married to Jennifer Jackson-Wheeler, Ph.D., and they have two sons. 

Loren Kieve (Cherokee) practices law in San Francisco. He previously practiced in Washinton, D.C. and New York. He is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” and, for the twentieth year in a row, as a San Francisco “Super Lawyer.” He is a past chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area, San Francisso, and was an elected trustee of the State Bar of California. He serves on the board of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He is a 29-year trustee and three-time (and current) chair of the Institute of American Indian Arts, appointed by United States Presidents Clinton and then Obama. He was inducted into Stanford’s multicultural alumni hall of fame. The University of New Mexico gave him its Bernard S. Rodey Award (to an individual who has “devoted an unusual amount of time in a leadership capacity and whose efforts have contributed significantly to the field of education”). He was given the ABA’s John H. Pickering Award for a lifetime of public service. He attended Stanford University and has law degrees from Oxford University and the University of New Mexico.

Karl Duncan is the Executive Director of the Poeh Cultural Center at the Pueblo of Pojoaque and a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). A proud member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and San Carlos Apache tribes, Karl’s work is deeply rooted in his heritage and commitment to Indigenous culture.

He serves as Chair of the City of Santa Fe’s Arts Commission, President of the Buffalo Thunder Incorporated Board, and Vice President of the Continuous Pathways Foundation. Duncan’s achievements include establishing the Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival, a premier showcase of diverse and top-quality artworks by admired Indigenous artists. In 2022, the Poeh Cultural Center was recognized as a Model Native Museum & Cultural Center by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). Duncan also facilitated the return of 100 pieces of Tewa Pueblo pottery from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, demonstrating his commitment to cultural repatriation. He has spoken at Yale University on museum collections engagement and cultural sensitivity, sharing his expertise in collections stewardship.

Duncan is a dedicated mentor for the Pueblo of Pojoaque Youth Council and the Pueblo of Pojoaque Youth Hoop Dancers, where he coordinates and teaches Native American hoop dancing. He remains committed to advancing the preservation and celebration of Indigenous cultural heritage. His vision is to continue empowering future generations through mentorship and leadership in the arts and culture. 

Lily Hope was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska to full-time artists. She is Tlingit Indian, of the Raven moiety. Following her matrilineal line, she’s of her grandmother’s clan, the T’akdeintaan.  

She learned Ravenstail weaving from her late mother Clarissa Rizal, and Kay Parker, both of Juneau. She also apprenticed for over a decade in Chilkat weaving with Rizal who, until her untimely passing in December 2016, was one of the last living apprentices of the late Master Chilkat Weaver, Jennie Thlanaut. Lily feels the pressure to leave honorable weavers in her place.   

Lily’s contemporary works in textile and paper collage weave together Ravenstail and Chilkat design. She is one of few designers of dancing blankets. She teaches both finger-twined styles extensively in person (and virtually since COVID-19), in the Yukon Territory, down the coast of SE Alaska, into Washington and Oregon. She demonstrates internationally and offers lectures on the spiritual commitments of being a weaver.  

Committed to co-creating as her mother was, she’s constantly looking for ways to collaborate with other artists, often spearheading multi-community projects, or managing huge campaigns, like the Weaving Our Pride and The History & Future of Yeil Koowu, which highlighted over 20 indigenous artists and brought these artforms to the forefront.  

She owns the only public-facing Northwest Coast weaving studio in Southeast Alaska, where she demonstrates, educates, collaborates, assembles teaching kits, and sells fine woven art. Hope’s work incubates in the Portland Art Museum; the Houston Museum of Natural Science; Museum of Man and Nature in Munich, Germany; The Eiteljorg Museum; The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture; The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art; The Hood Museum of Art; the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe; Sealaska Heritage Institute; the Smithsonian American Art Museums, and many private collections.    

She is Assistant Professor of Northwest Coast Regalia Arts at University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau (UAS). She holds a BLA in Communication and Theatre from UAS, and a Business and Entrepreneurship Certificate from the Institute of American Indian Arts.  

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Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983, Santa Clara Pueblo, NM) has an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her works are in many museum collections, including the Hirshhorn, Washington, DC; Guggenheim, New York; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; ICA Boston; Princeton University Art Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; MCA Chicago; Denver Art Museum; Portland Art Museum; LACMA, Los Angeles; Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA; and SFMOMA. Simpson has enjoyed solo shows at ICA Boston; the Nevada Art Museum, Reno; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA; Pomona College Museum of Art; the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe; and The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Her work has recently been included in group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Cleveland Museum of Art; SFMOMA; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Berkeley Art Museum, CA; and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY. Simpson lives and works in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. She is represented by Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. In 2022, Simpson debuted Counterculture, a twelve-figure public work at Field Farm, MA, which is now on view at the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI. In 2023, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian Art by President Biden.

Dr. Robert Martin became President of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) on July 1, 2007. He has led the development of a comprehensive strategic plan and a campus facilities master plan resulting in academic program expansion, growth in student enrollment, construction of five new buildings on campus and the launch of a successful capital campaign. Prior to joining the IAIA community, Dr. Martin was the Associate Head for the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona. He also served as President of Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque for eight years and president of Haskell Indian Nations University for ten years. Under his guidance, Haskell made the transition from junior college to a university offering baccalaureate programs. In addition, he served as the President of Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) in Sells, Arizona. During his tenure, TOCC achieved accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and was designated as a 1994 Land Grant Institution by the U.S. Congress.

Dr. Martin is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and received his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Kansas and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Appalachian State University.

He currently serves on the boards of American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Lensic Performing Arts Center and the Higher Learning Commission—a regional accreditor for colleges and universities. Dr. Martin was awarded the Liberty Bell Award by the Douglas County (Kansas) Bar Association, bestowed on Law Day USA to recognize individual contributions to human rights. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate from Baker University and in 2010 he received the Tribal College President of the Year Award.

Identified by Time Magazine as “one of the sharpest minds in the House,” Tom Cole is currently serving in his tenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the outset of his service in Congress, Cole was named one of the “Five Freshmen to Watch” by Roll Call. In 2016, he was recognized by Newsmax as the “hardest working member in Congress.” He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2017.

Cole is recognized as a tireless advocate for taxpayers and small businesses, supporter of a strong national defense and leader in promoting biomedical research. He is considered the foremost expert in the House on issues related to Native Americans and tribal governments.

Since 2009, Cole has served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he is currently Vice Chairman of the full committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Cole was appointed to the House Rules Committee in 2013 and has remained on the panel since then. He currently serves as Chairman, the top Republican leadership position on the committee. Cole also serves as a Deputy Whip for the Republican Conference and sits on the House Republican Steering Committee.

Cole is a fifth generation Oklahoman and an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation. He is one of only five Native Americans currently serving in Congress. Since 2009, he has served as the Republican Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus. The National Congress of American Indians has recognized Cole’s distinguished service with the Congressional Leadership award on three different occasions (2007, 2011 and 2017), more than any other Member of Congress in the history of the organization. He was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 2004.

Cole’s late mother, Helen, was also a member of the Chickasaw Hall of Fame and served as a state representative, state senator and the Mayor of Moore in her native state of Oklahoma. Cole’s late father, John, served 20 years in the United States Air Force and worked an additional two decades as a civilian federal employee at Tinker Air Force Base.

Tom and his wife, Ellen, have one son, Mason, and reside in Moore, Oklahoma.

Read Congressman Tom Cole’s full biography on his web page.