Tribal Affiliation: Pamunkey, Chickahominy, & Cherokee ancestry – not enrolled.

Bio: (Written in third person all by myself.) Born and raised in a large, diverse family, Luke was educated and molded equally by each of his parents who both obtained their Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University and placed a premium on education as a means to social advancement. Unfortunately, Luke didn’t listen to his parents very well and wound up going through three different high schools and taking five-and-a-half years to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Rutgers University (1991). Along the way, Luke traveled the East coast debating with the Model United Nations Club (1985-1990), spent his Junior Year Abroad at the University of Haifa, Israel (1988-1989). founded the Rutgers Organization for Native American Culture (1988-1991), and was appointed to the Rutgers Organization for the Healing of Racial Prejudice (1991). A 1991 Washington, DC internship got Luke started on his career working to improve cooperation between Federal and Tribal government institutions. Luke’s first post-college job was to help the US Department of Energy develop government-to-government relations with tribes concerned about environmental impacts from DOE activities. He then got a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indian University’s School of Public & Environmental Affairs (1994-1996), worked for the National Tribal Environmental Council in Albuquerque (1996-1997), Native American Consultants, Inc. in Washington DC (1997-1999), and entered Federal service by joining the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste (OSW) tribal program in 1999. Luke moved from OSW to the American Indian Environmental Office in 2003 to work on EPA’s Strategic Plan and the Office of Management & Budget’s Performance Assessment Rating Tool evaluation of EPA’s tribal program. Luke moved from Washington DC to Chicago in 2005 and now serves as Director for the US EPA Region 5 Indian Environmental Office supervising nine employees who oversee the delivery of EPA programs and services to 35 federally recognized tribal governments in the Great Lakes region. Luke chairs the American Society for Public Administration Section on Intergovernmental Administration & Management Tribal Relations Work Group, holds a lifetime membership to the National Congress of American Indians, and is a member of the American Political Science Association’s Indigenous Studies Network Coordinating Council.

Past SAIGE Activities:
Early e-mail discussions on SAIGE-L, episodic conference calls, identification of conference speakers, and making presentations at various SAIGE conferences.

Why I Want to Serve on the SAIGE Board:
Federal, state, and local/municipal government employees who do not understand the role of Tribes as governments are a threat to tribal government institutions and undermine the delivery of programs and services to American Indian communities. I would bring to the Board a firm belief that we can improve how federal government institutions relate to tribal government institutions and that this effort will produce agencies with career opportunities attractive to American Indians. Rather than spending our recruitment and retention efforts in a vacuum, I would pay close attention to how each agency mission can support the development of tribal government institutions and find ways for us to support that development. I am convinced that having a focus on how federal agencies can best support American Indian communities will lead to career opportunities for American Indians to join federal service and for current American Indian employees to advance.