Maintaining your Cultural Values in the Workplace

My Anishinaabe (Indian) name is Guyaushk (Seagull). I am a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, from the Eagle Clan, have two sons, eight grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. I served on the Red Cliff Tribal Council, in 1982-1984, and from July 2010 to November 2011. In addition to being a Council member, I served as the Vice-Chairperson and Tribal Treasurer. I also worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service for 11 years.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Master’s degree in Organizational Management, and a Doctorate in Business Administration. I serve(d) as Adjunct Faculty for Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa College, St. Cloud University, DQ-University, and with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. My Doctoral Project, entitled "Native American/Indian Tribal Organization and Leadership: Understanding the Past, Living In the Present, Designing the Future For Tribal Organizations And Leadership," concentrates on the encouragement of integration of traditional beliefs and philosophies into the Tribal Organization.

New Space Force

Captain Haida Star Eagle is the Flight Commander of Target Operations Training for the 36th Intelligence Squadron, Joint Base Langley-Eutis, VA. Her Duties include overseeing and providing training guidance, policy, and reporting for 155 personnel with targeting architecture valued at $1.5M. Capt. StarEagle was awarded the SAIGE Military Meritorious Service Award in 2018.  On March 12, 2021 she was inducted into the US Space Force.

Grounding our Power and Leadership in Tradition

Bazile Panek is a proud member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and he was born and raised on the Red Cliff reservation. Bazile is heavily involved with his culture, regularly attending ceremonies and cultural events. In recent years, he has become a leader in his community by teaching others how to play Moccasin Game.
Currently, Bazile is a senior studying Native American Studies with minors in Sustainability and Entrepreneurship at Northern Michigan University (NMU). He has had the honor to serve and participate in various committees and organizations. At NMU, Bazile is the current President of the Native American Student Association, he serves as the Student Representative on the President’s Committee on Diversity, as well as on the Center for Native American Studies’ Curriculum Committee. At home, Bazile is a board member on the Red Cliff Business Development Corporation. Bazile has also served on various ad hoc committees, and he has educated many people about Native American culture, language, and history. Recently, Bazile was instrumental in advocating for the official recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day by Northern Michigan University.

USDA Veterans' Program

Mr. Ramdass has been the USDA Veterans’ Program Manager for over eight years. He sets Departmental policy and provides leadership for recruitment programs covering the authority for the hiring of veterans. This includes program guidance on the recruitment, retention, reduction in force, and utilization of Departmental employees with Veteran status.

He provides policy guidance, oversight, and leadership to agencies on employment rules, authorities and government developments for hiring Veterans. Mr. Ramdass markets the use of special hiring authorities for Veterans.

Mr. Ramdass is responsible for ensuring USDA compliance with OPM and VA requirements and initiatives to increase the hiring of veterans into the Federal workforce. Additionally, he provides reports and statistical data about veterans in the USDA workforce.

Two Spirit-Returning to the Ancestral Roots

Sadé is the retired Deputy Commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. She is now the President of First Nations, LLC, a behavioral health training and consulting organization in Delaware. For several years, she was a Senior Associate with Altarum in Washington, DC, providing training and technical assistance to Tribal Governments and other providers engaged in SAMHSA’s Access to Recovery initiative.

Ms. Ali holds faculty positions at Brown University, Temple University’s College of Health Professions and Drexel University’s School of Public Health. She has traveled North America extensively providing culturally appropriate recovery management and resilience-promoting training in both the mental health and addictions fields. She has published her thesis, other scholarly articles, and a textbook on culturally appropriate recovery/resilience services, the ending of health disparities through enhanced access to care, and the impact of inter-generational trauma on the Indigenous peoples of North America. She co-authored the Philadelphia Behavioral Health Transformation Practice Guidelines for Recovery and Resilience Oriented Treatment, a framework for the fields of mental health and addictions treatment used worldwide. She recently published “Social Healing Words-Using Language to Promote Recovery and Resilience for Individuals, Families and Communities.” Ms. Ali has been in recovery and the field of behavioral health for over 47 years.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Counseling Psychology and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Ms. Ali is First Nations Mi’kmaq from the Sturgeon Clan, the Elder and Medicine Keeper of the East Coast Two Spirit Society and a lifetime member of SAIGE.

Update on the Department of the Interior's Policy Agenda for Indian Country

Bryan Newland is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe), where he recently completed his tenure as Tribal President. Prior to that, Bryan served as Chief Judge of the Bay Mills Tribal Court. From 2009 to 2012, he served as a Counselor and Policy Advisor to the the Assistant Secretary of the Interior - Indian Affairs. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and the Michigan State University College of Law. Bryan enjoys hiking and kayaking the shores of Lake Superior, and is a nature photography enthusiast

Indians 101: Understanding the Basics

Jay is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is currently the Executive Director for the Self-Governance Communication and Education Tribal Consortium—a non-profit Tribal consortium that seeks to advance the inherent authority of all Tribal nations to self-govern. Jay also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University, developing and teaching Tribal Self-Governance courses in ASU’s Indian Legal Program. Prior to joining SGCETC, Jay spent more than a decade evaluating the effectiveness of Federal Indian Programs as a Senior Analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In addition, Jay serves as Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors for the Society of American Indian Government Employees. Jay holds a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Public Administration.