Dave Beeksma brings more than 35 years of experience working for the United States federal government to his position as NNI director. He is a member of the Marten Clan of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and is also a descendant of the Saami Peoples who are Indigenous to the Scandinavian Region of Europe. 

Judge Beeksma’s professional background includes 15 years of uniformed service with the U.S. Army, where he served in communication, intelligence, and Army Special Operations positions around the world; six years as director of strategic initiatives for the Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command; two years as Director of External Affairs for the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (now the Bureau of Trust Fund Administration); three years as international program manager for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, where he established the Ministry of Defense Advisors Program in Afghanistan; and four years as superintendent of the Tohono O’odham Agency, which serves as the liaison between the second largest Native American reservation in the United States, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and Congress. Beeksma was instrumental in helping to change the name of the agency from its original moniker, which employed a racist, colonial-era term for the Indigenous Peoples it served for more than 177 years, to the name it has today. During his post at the Tohono O’odham Agency, he also led the largest restoration of federal land to Tohono O’odham control since 1937, as well as concurrently serving as superintendent of the Fort Yuma Indian Agency supporting the Yuma, Quechan and Cocopah Tribes, for close to a year.

Beeksma was born and raised on his Tribe’s reservation lands in the village of Ga-Miskwaabikaang in northern Wisconsin. He is the oldest of nine children and his entire family still lives on or very near the reservation. 

Beeksma has a Bachelor’s of Arts in history from the University of Maryland, a Master’s of Arts  in U.S. history from American Military University, and a Master’s of Arts in political science and international relations from American Public University. 

In addition to his appointment as NNI Director, Beeksma also serves as an adjunct professor at Tohono O’odham Community College; as the President of the Red Cliff Business Development Corporation; and as a Tribal Judge.  He has also taught or guest lectured at La Courte Orielles Ojibwe University, Purdue, and Texas Christian University.

Beeksma’s career has taken him all over the world, including long-term posts in Italy, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. At the time he retired from federal service, Beeksma had spent more time on the ground in Afghanistan than any other American federal employee or armed services officer in history.