SEATTLE — Mark Macarro was re-elected as 25th president of the National Congress of American Indians executive committee at the national organization’s annual convention this week.
Macarro, tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Indians from California, ran for president against Jacqueline “Jackie” Pata and Nez Perce Tribal Chairman Shannon Wheeler. Pata serves as the 1st Vice President of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes from Alaska and led NCAI for 18 years as its executive director until her 2019 resignation.
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Brian Weeden was also re-elected as the first vice president. Ashley Cornforth, the secretary and treasurer for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota, will be the treasurer. Christie Modlin, secretary of the Iowa Tribe in Oklahoma, will serve as the new recording secretary.
During the first round of voting, Macarro garnered 49 percent of the vote while Pata received 33 percent, and Wheeler got 18 percent of the votes.
This led to a run-off vote where Macarro won with 60 percent of the votes by the organization’s members.
Macarro was formally sworn in to another two-year term Friday, Nov. 21.
“I am truly humbled by the opportunity for the continuation of another term, and will do my best, as I swore in this oath I just took, to do my best to serve the best interest of NCAI and of Indian Country,” Macarro said. “So let’s all do this together.”
Maccaro is a graduate of the University of California in Santa Barbara. He has sat on the boards of the Indian Gaming Association, the Native American Rights Fund, and California’s Truth and Healing Council. He has also served on the Pechanga Tribal Council since 1992.
Macarro was nominated for president by Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma.
“As I stand here looking out at all of you, I am reminded of our strength when we stand together as a unified voice on the issues and battlefronts that we face today in the Congress, in the courts, and at the ballot box,” Macarro said Wednesday, Nov. 19. “We are strongest when we speak with that unified voice.”
Pata was nominated by Bridgett Sorenson, a board member from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan.
“I’ve spent my career working for tribes across the country, large and small, rural and urban, from every region,” Pata said. “I know the diversity of our nations. I also know the strength of our unity.”
An Alaska Native has not been elected as president of NCAI since its founding in 1944.
NCAI is the oldest and largest tribal organization representing American Indian and Alaska Native nations. The nonprofit defends tribal sovereignty in Washington, D.C., advocating for the human, economic, social, environmental, and cultural needs of Native communities.
Wheeler was nominated by Gary Burke, chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon.
“If we need to be in your state capitals to talk to your governors, then that’s where we’re going to be,” Wheeler said. “If we need to be in the White House, that’s where we’re going to be.”
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