TUCSON, Ariz. – The Native Nations Institute (NNI) at the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy will welcome a former presidential appointee for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to speak on intergovernmental relations between Tribal governments and municipal, state, and federal government agencies at its 2025 Emerging Leaders Seminar (ELS). This will be the first time that intergovernmental relations content is included in the two-day educational program designed for aspiring, newly elected, and veteran Tribal leaders.

Donald “Del” Laverdure is the former U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. He has also served as Chief Appellate Judge and Attorney General for his tribe, the Crow Nation; as a law professor at Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin; and as a Partner at Arrow Creek Law & Mediation, PLLP in Billings, Mont.

Laverdure – who teaches a course on Intergovernmental Relations at NNI’s annual accelerated Indigenous governance education event, January in Tucson (JIT) – says he’s excited to hear from the other Tribal leaders attending the seminar about the challenges facing them on the ground. “I look forward to engaging with them and spending valuable time learning where they're coming from because what we're seeing is kind of an acceleration of information,” Laverdure says. “So much is coming at them and I'd like to hear what they're distilling, what they're experiencing, what they're viewing, and then (work to) connect my experiences to that.”

Registration for the 2025 ELS is now open. The seminar will take place on July 16-17, 2025 at Desert Diamond Casino Hotel & Conference Center on the homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Tucson, Ariz. This is the only scheduled open-registration ELS event until the summer of 2027.

2025 Emerging Leaders Lineup

In addition to Laverdure and NNI staff, this year’s ELS features a host of high-profile Tribal leaders and governance experts with more than two-centuries of combined experience working in Tribal governance, including:

• Janet Alkire – Chairwoman, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
• Jaime Azure – Chairman, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
• Regis Pecos – Former Governor of the Pueblo de Cochiti
• Keith Richotte, Jr. – Associate Appellate Justice, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians; Director, U of A Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program
• Wavalene Saunders – Legislative Chairwoman, Tohono O’odham Nation
• Corrine G. Wilson (Ft. McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe) – CPA & Tribal Finance Consultant

Naomi Tom is the Manager of NNI’s Tribal and Direct Services (TDS) team and a citizen of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Tom says she’s thrilled to see Laverdure joining the lineup for ELS.

Tom took Laverdure’s class at JIT earlier this year and says she was blown away by how much she learned in just a few days. “I wish I would have had his class way earlier in my career because it was so helpful,” Tom says of the experience, adding, “I feel like I could have been a lot further along in my professional relationships had I had the opportunity to take his class sooner in my career.”

It’s precisely that caliber of education and experience that the NNI TDS team aims to bring to leaders in attendance at the two-day summer seminar.

NNI Executive Director and citizen of the Hopi Tribe Joan Timeche says that, in addition to offering some of the only leadership and governance training available to Tribal officials today, the format of the ELS provides a safe space for leaders to learn about their roles and responsibilities. 

“This is our opportunity to share with Tribal leaders. not only what we think they need to be aware of, but what they've told us that they would like to be aware of,” Timeche says. “In this setting, it allows for peers to come to a table where they're all equals…Whatever level they're coming in at, they get to hear perspectives from peers and learn together in a room where they're not going to be judged.”

Limited press access is available at the 2025 ELS. Early bird registration ends on June 2, 2025.

Learn more about the Emerging Leaders Seminar and register to attend here.

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The Native Nations Institute (NNI) envisions a world where all Indigenous Peoples exercise their inherent sovereignty through strong self-governance. The Institute supports that vision by strengthening Indigenous governance through research, capacity building, and education. Located on Tohono O’odham Nation traditional homelands, NNI was founded in 2001 by The University of Arizona and the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation as a self-determination, self-governance, and development resource for Native nations. It is a program of the university's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.