President Biden nominates Patrice Kunesh as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission

Kunesh has replaced the outgoing acting chairwoman Sharon M. Avery.

US.- US President Joe Biden has nominated Patrice H. Kunesh as chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), according to a White House release. Kunesh currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary for Native American Affairs and commissioner of the administration for Native Americans within the Administration for Children and Families in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Kunesh began her legal career at the Native American Rights Fund and served as in-house Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota School of Law. She has also held appointments as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the US Department of Agriculture, as the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the US Department of the Interior, and as a member of the US Treasury Community Development Advisory Board (CDFI Fund) as the representative for Native communities. She established the Center for Indian Country Development and founded Peȟíŋ Haha Consulting.

See also: National Indian Gaming Commission reports record gaming revenue for 2023

Sharon M. Avery has been serving as acting NIGC chairwoman since May following the resignation of E. Sequoyah Simermeyer in February.