The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has a new director for the first time in more than six years.

Bryan Mercier, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, began serving as “acting” director of the BIA on September 8, according to a news release. He will be permanently assigned to the position once Darryl LaCounte, the current director, retires from federal service later this year.

“Bryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, and I’m excited for what he brings to this role,” Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, a political appointee at the Department of the Interior, said in the September 6 release. “We held a comprehensive recruitment and selection process to identify the best candidate, and Bryan stood out for his vision of the future of BIA and skills to achieve that vision.”

Mercier served as the director of the BIA Northwest Regional Office, located in Portland, Oregon, since 2018. He also has worked for the Energy, Treasury and Agriculture departments during his 20 years of government service.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving in four federal agencies, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture and Interior, each with unique missions. None have a mission as important and fulfilling as BIA’s,” said Mercier.

Today: @AsstSecNewland announced Bryan Mercier as the new Director for the @BureauIndAffrs 🚨

👉https://t.co/0S7uWSgESZ #NativeTwitter #Leadership pic.twitter.com/DPZBP0hKWi

— Indian Affairs (@USIndianAffairs) September 6, 2024

LaCounte, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, began serving as acting director of the BIA in April 2018, following the still-unexplained disappearance of the prior official. He became the permanent director a year later, during the Donald Trump administration.

LaCounte is retiring after 38 years of federal service. He has worked for the BIA since 1988.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the bureau for almost four decades,” said LaCounte.

The BIA director oversees all of the BIA regional offices, along with the central office operations in Washington, D.C. The director, in the past, has been based at Interior headquarters in D.C.

The BIA director is a career-level position at Interior. It is not a political one, like the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland today announced that Bryan Mercier has been selected to serve as the next director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mercier, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, has served as the director of the BIA Northwest Regional Office since 2018.

“Bryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, and I’m excited for what he brings to this role,” Newland said. “We held a comprehensive recruitment and selection process to identify the best candidate, and Bryan stood out for his vision of the future of BIA and skills to achieve that vision.”

Mercier has spent 20 years working in public service. His federal career started with the U.S. Forest Service, followed by a few years as a program manager at the Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution Fund. Prior to the BIA, Bryan served as the Executive Manager of Fish and Wildlife for the Bonneville Power Administration’s Environment, Fish and Wildlife Program, which is the largest environmental mitigation program in the United States.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving in four federal agencies, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture and Interior, each with unique missions. None have a mission as important and fulfilling as BIA’s,” said Mercier. “I’m truly honored to be selected as the bureau’s next director and look forward to building on Darryl LaCounte’s sound leadership to support Tribal sovereignty, strengthen Indian self-determination, and continue to improve our services by making the bureau an employer of choice for Native people.”

Mercier holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Oregon, a graduate certificate in economics from the Universitaet Freiburg in Germany, and a graduate degree in human rights and international law from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain.

Mercier will be acting BIA director effective September 8, 2024, and will be formally appointed to the position when current BIA Director Darryl LaCounte retires later this year.

“Darryl taught me a lot about what it means to serve, in a way that respects those we serve,” Newland said. “I am incredibly grateful for the work we’ve done together and for the work he has accomplished for Indian people throughout his career.”

LaCounte, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians located in North Dakota, is retiring after 36 years of distinguished service to Indian Country. He was appointed as BIA director in 2019.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the bureau for almost four decades,” said LaCounte. “In my tenure, we have placed thousands of acres into the federal trust, streamlined administrative processes, and updated federal policy to make it easier and less burdensome for Tribal governments to practice self-governance. I’m proud of the diverse work our employees achieve every day to make Indian Country safer, more prosperous, and equitable for all. With Mercier’s guidance, the BIA will continue striving to provide innovative and critical services to the 574 federally recognized Tribes BIA serves.”

LaCounte began his federal career in 1988 at the BIA Wind River Agency in Fort Washakie, Wyoming, as an oil and gas specialist in the real estate services branch of the Office of Trust Services. He then served as director of the BIA Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Billings, Montana, which serves eight federally recognized Tribes in Montana and Wyoming. He went on to serve as the acting deputy bureau director for Trust Services at the BIA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., before assuming leadership of the bureau. LaCounte received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University).

The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues; communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration; provides leadership in consultations with Tribes; and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination and liaison within the Executive Branch on matters concerning American Indians and Alaska Natives and the federally recognized Tribes in the United States.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs directly administers and funds Tribally operated infrastructure, law enforcement and justice, social services, Tribal governance, and trust land and natural and energy resources management programs for the Nation’s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes through four offices: Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations.