{"id":40692,"date":"2024-09-10T12:56:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T16:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=40692"},"modified":"2024-09-10T12:57:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T16:57:22","slug":"bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-new-director-in-bryan-mercier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/10\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-new-director-in-bryan-mercier\/","title":{"rendered":"Bureau of Indian Affairs gets new director in Bryan Mercier"},"content":{"rendered":" <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/10\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-new-director-in-bryan-mercier\/bryanmercier\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-40693\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" data-attachment-id=\"40693\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/10\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-new-director-in-bryan-mercier\/bryanmercier\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Bryan Mercier\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Bryan Mercier&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Bryan Mercier. Photo: Office of Public Affairs \/ U.S. Indian Affairs&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpg\" alt=\"Bryan Mercier\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-40693\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Bryan Mercier. Photo: Office of Public Affairs \/ U.S. Indian Affairs<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Bureau of Indian Affairs gets new director in Bryan Mercier<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Tuesday, September 10, 2024<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/>Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a>  (BIA) has a new director for the first time in more than six years.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nBryan Mercier, a citizen of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandronde.org\">Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community<\/a>, began serving as &#8220;acting&#8221; director of the BIA on September 8, according to a <a href=#newsrelease>news release<\/a>. He will be permanently assigned to the position once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/profile\/director-bureau-indian-affairs-darryl-lacounte\">Darryl LaCounte<\/a>, the current director, retires from federal service later this year.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cBryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, and I\u2019m excited for what he brings to this role,\u201d <a href=https:\/\/x.com\/asstsecnewland>Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland<\/a>, a political appointee at the <a href=https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/>Department of the Interior<\/a>, said in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/news\/next-director-named-bureau-indian-affairs\">September 6 release<\/a>. \u201cWe 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.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMercier served as the director of the <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/regional-offices\/northwest>BIA Northwest Regional Office<\/a>, located in Portland, Oregon,  since 2018. He also has worked for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/\">Energy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/\">Treasury<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/\">Agriculture<\/a> departments during his 20 years of government service.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019s,\u201d said Mercier.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AsstSecNewland?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AsstSecNewland<\/a> announced Bryan Mercier as the new Director for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BureauIndAffrs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BureauIndAffrs<\/a> \ud83d\udea8<br><br>\ud83d\udc49<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0S7uWSgESZ\">https:\/\/t.co\/0S7uWSgESZ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NativeTwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NativeTwitter<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Leadership?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Leadership<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DPZBP0hKWi\">pic.twitter.com\/DPZBP0hKWi<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Indian Affairs (@USIndianAffairs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USIndianAffairs\/status\/1832136218248933719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<P><\/p>\r\nLaCounte, a citizen of the <a href=\"https:\/\/tmchippewa.com\/\">Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians<\/a>, began serving as acting director of the BIA in April 2018, following the <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2018\/04\/27\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-in-disarray-under-trump.asp>still-unexplained disappearance of the prior official<\/a>. He became the <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2019\/04\/29\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-a-permanen.asp\">permanent director<\/a> a year later, during the Donald Trump administration.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n LaCounte is retiring after 38 years of federal service. He has worked for the BIA  since 1988.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cIt has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the bureau for almost four decades,\u201d said LaCounte.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe BIA director oversees all of the <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/regional-offices>BIA regional offices<\/a>, along with the central office operations in Washington, D.C. The director, in the past, has been based at Interior headquarters in D.C.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe BIA director is a career-level position at Interior. It is not a political one, like the <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/as-ia>Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs<\/a>.\r\n<P><\/p>\r\n<a name=\"newsrelease\"><\/a>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?attachment_id=40702\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-40702\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" data-attachment-id=\"40702\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/10\/bureau-of-indian-affairs-gets-new-director-in-bryan-mercier\/bryanmercier-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1600,900\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Bryan Mercier\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Bryan Mercier&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Graphic from &lt;a href=https:\/\/x.com\/USIndianAffairs\/status\/1832136218248933719&gt;U.S. Indian Affairs&lt;\/a&gt; on social media&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpeg\" alt=\"Bryan Mercier\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-40702\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Graphic from <a href=https:\/\/x.com\/USIndianAffairs\/status\/1832136218248933719>U.S. Indian Affairs<\/a> on social media<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Next director named for Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/div>\r\n<div><em>The following is the text of a September 6, 2024, news release from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.<\/em><\/div><P><\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON \u2013 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.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cBryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership ability, and I\u2019m excited for what he brings to this role,\u201d Newland said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMercier 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\u2019s Community Development Financial Institution Fund. Prior to the BIA, Bryan served as the Executive Manager of Fish and Wildlife for the Bonneville Power Administration\u2019s Environment, Fish and Wildlife Program, which is the largest environmental mitigation program in the United States.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019s,\u201d said Mercier. \u201cI\u2019m truly honored to be selected as the bureau\u2019s next director and look forward to building on Darryl LaCounte\u2019s 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.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMercier 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.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMercier 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.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cDarryl taught me a lot about what it means to serve, in a way that respects those we serve,\u201d Newland said. \u201cI am incredibly grateful for the work we\u2019ve done together and for the work he has accomplished for Indian people throughout his career.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nLaCounte, 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.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cIt has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the bureau for almost four decades,\u201d said LaCounte. \u201cIn 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\u2019m proud of the diverse work our employees achieve every day to make Indian Country safer, more prosperous, and equitable for all. With Mercier\u2019s guidance, the BIA will continue striving to provide innovative and critical services to the 574 federally recognized Tribes BIA serves.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nLaCounte 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\u2019s 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).\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<EM>\r\nThe <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/as-ia>Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs<\/a> 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.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe <a href=https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/bia>Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a> 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\u2019s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes through four offices: Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations.\r\n<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a new director for the first time in more than six years.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[117,5364,625,5365,1334,118,121,63],"class_list":["post-40692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-politics","tag-bia","tag-bryan-mercier","tag-bryan-newland","tag-bryan-rice","tag-darryl-lacounte","tag-doi","tag-employment","tag-oregon","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/10\/bryanmercier.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-aAk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40692"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40706,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40692\/revisions\/40706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}