Washington, D.C. - Over 200 Tribes met last week at the National Congress of American Indians 52nd Annual Convention, held at the Town & Country Hotel in San Diego, to determine national policy for Indian Country and to elect new officers and members of the NCAI Executive Committee for the organization. W. Ron Allen, was elected NCAI President on Thursday, November 2, to serve a 2-year term. President Allen is Chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Sequim, Washington.

"My vision for the future is of a strengthened NCAI, with greater capacity to serve its member Tribes on issues that threaten tribal sovereignty and the future of our people. We will act methodically to protect the sovereign rights of tribes, our treaty rights, and trust assets, as we make NCAI a strong advocacy organization dreamed of 51 years ago by its founders," stated the new President.

In other balloting, Ernie Stevens, Jr., Oneida of Wisconsin, was elected First Vice President, Diane Kelley, Cherokee of Oklahoma, was elected Recording Secretary, and Gerry Hope, President of the Ketchikan Tribal Council, was elected Treasurer.

Area Vice Presidents who represent constituent tribes on the NCAI Executive Committee were elected from their area caucuses. They are: Aberdeen Area, Russell "Bud" Mason, Three Affiliated Tribes; Albuquerque Area, Joe Garcia, San Juan Pueblo; Anadarko Area, Merle Boyd, Sac & Fox Tribe; Billings Area, John Sunchild, Sr., Chippewa-Cree Tribe; Juneau Area, Edward K. Thomas, Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Alaska; Minneapolis Area, Marge Anderson, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Muskogee Area, Rena Duncan, Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma; Northeast Area, Ken Phillips, Oneida of New York; Phoenix Area, Arlan D. Melendez, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony; Portland Area, Bruce Wynne, Spokane Tribe; Sacramento Area, Juana Majel, Pauma Band of San Luiseno; and Southeast Area, James Hardin, Lumbee.

One of the most successful NCAI membership meetings in recent years, the convention drew over 1,500 participants from throughout the United States and Canada. The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, was organized as a representative congress of consensus on national priority issues, the need for unity and cooperation among Indian governments and people, for the security and protection of treaty and sovereign rights for the betterment of the quality of life for Indian people.

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