americanindian.si.edu<\/a><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\r\n The Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of the American Indian announced today six new members are joining its Board of Trustees in 2021. The board has also elected new leadership. Five members were confirmed by the Institution\u2019s Board of Regents at their Feb. 1 meeting; confirmation of the sixth is anticipated at the Board\u2019s April 12 meeting.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nThe new board members are:\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Julie Fate Sullivan (Koyukon Athabascan): Fate Sullivan is a shareholder of Doyon Ltd. and Baan O Yeel Kon, her regional and village corporations established by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. She is a board member for Covenant House Alaska, the state\u2019s largest shelter for trafficked and homeless youth, ages 13 to 21, and a founding board member of the Alaska Native Media Group, which promotes and advances Alaska Natives in journalism.\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Olivia Hoeft (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin): Hoeft is a marketing manager for Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google. She is a lead of the Google American Indian Network, an internal employee resource group that aims to improve the lives of Native Americans both at and outside of the company.\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Robbie McGhee (Poarch Creek): McGhee is vice chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council. He previously worked at the Department of the Interior\u2019s Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Senate and Troutman Sanders LLP-Indian Law Practice Group. He currently serves on the boards of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, Children First Alabama and the Center for Native American Youth.\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Ann Silverman (Ojibwe): Sullivan is president of Wilmington Trust\u2019s private banking team and a member of its wealth management leadership team. Silverman started at M&T Bank (which acquired Wilmington Trust in 2011) in 2004 as a relationship manager and a commercial lender for its commercial bank in Washington, D.C. Before joining M&T Bank, she was a project manager and exhibition developer for the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City and the National Museum of American History.\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Valerie Smith: Smith is the 15th president of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She began her career in higher education at Princeton and later joined the faculty at UCLA. In 2001 she returned to Princeton as the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and professor of English and African American studies. She was the university\u2019s founding director of the Center for African American Studies and dean of the college. She is the author of more than 40 articles and three books. (Appointment pending approval at Board of Regents\u2019 April 12 meeting.)\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u00b7 Joshua Spear: Spear is an active entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He co-founded Undercurrent, a consulting firm that applies a digital worldview to help solve some of the most complex problems facing today\u2019s corporations and their leaders. He supports numerous organizations around the world that fight injustice and poverty and give a voice to the voiceless.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nThe Board of Trustees elected Kathy Hopinkah Hannan (Ho-Chunk) to serve as its chair. Hannan is a retired executive of KMPG LLP, where she served as a global lead partner, national managing partner and a vice chairman. She is the recent past chairman and national president of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America. Hannan succeeds Bill Lomax (Gitxsan), a vice president in the investment management division of Goldman Sachs, who will finish his term on the board as chair emeritus.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nGreg Sarris, tribal chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, was elected to serve as vice chair, and Allison Hicks (Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation), vice president and co-owner of New World Environmental Inc., will serve as the board\u2019s secretary.\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u201cI am pleased to have been elected as chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian,\u201d said Hannan. \u201cMy fellow board members and I are eager to be advocates for this great national museum and to bring its work to more people across the country and around the world. We look forward to working with museum staff to build on recent successes like the opening of the National Native American Veterans Memorial.\u201d\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\u201cI am grateful to the Board of Trustees for their tireless work on behalf of the museum,\u201d said Machel Monenerkit, the museum\u2019s acting director. \u201cTheir support enables the museum\u2014and the Smithsonian\u2014to fulfill its vision of pursuing equity and social justice for Native peoples through education, inspiration and empowerment.\u201d\r\n
<\/p>
<\/ins>
![\"national](\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/nmai-1-scaled.jpg\")
\r\n