Our Commissioners

Walter Lamar, Chairperson

Commissioner Walter Lamar is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana and a descendent of the Wichita Tribe of Oklahoma.  His storied law enforcement career included 19 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where he served as a Special Agent/Supervisory Special Agent until 2000.  Upon his departure from the FBI, he was appointed U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Law Enforcement Services.  In 2001,  Commissioner Lamar was appointed DOI Senior Advisor to the Director-Office of Law Enforcement and Security to ensure protection of the Nation’s dams, monuments, and icons.  Upon his 2005 retirement he founded Lamar Associates, a consulting firm he continues to manage that focuses on Indian Country safety and security.  In 2015, he served as a Senior Advisor to the Director Pentagon Force Protection Agency.  Commissioner Lamar has received numerous awards over the years, including two FBI Shields of Bravery, Anadarko American Indian Exposition American Indian of the Year in 1998, Southwestern Oklahoma State University Distinguished Alumni in 2008, and National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development American Indian Business Owner of the Year in 2012.  He also served on the Board of Directors for the Native Forward Scholars Fund, as well as the President of the Board of Directors for the National Native American Hall of Fame. 

Jordan Ann Craig, Vice Chairperson

Commissioner Jordan Ann Craig is a Northern Cheyenne artist living and working in Pojoaque Valley, New Mexico. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received her B.A. from Dartmouth College.

In 2017, Commissioner Craig was awarded the H. Allen Brooks Traveling Fellowship as well as the Eric and Barbara Dobkin Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research SAR). In 2019, she was awarded artist residencies at the Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) and the Roswell Artist-in-Residence (RAiR) Program. Her work is shown nationally and internationally. Currently, Commissioner Jordan is painting in Northern New Mexico.

Jamie Okuma, Commissioner

Commissioner Jamie Okuma is Luiseno, Shoshone-Bannock, Wailaki, and Okinawan who is also an enrolled member of the La Jolla band of Indians in Southern California where she lives and works. She specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces that are hand-executed exclusively by the artist herself in all details of process, while also designing ready to wear fashions. 

As early as Commissioner Okuma can remember her life has been in the art world in one way or another. 

After high school Commissioner Okuma took graphic design classes at Palomar college in San Marcos, California before attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  

From the age of 18 she has been a professional artist completely devoted to her art. Exhibiting her work at the Heard Indian Art Market in Phoenix, Arizona and at the Santa Fe Indian Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has garnered a total of seven Best in Show awards. Four from the Heard, and three from the Santa Fe Indian Market. One of only two artists to achieve this distinction. 

Since that time her work has been shown in Germany, Australia, France and many art institutions and museums throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

Commissioner Okuma has work in the permanent collections of The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

Betsy Richards, Commissioner

Commissioner Betsy Richards is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Commissioner Richards is the Abbe Museum’s Executive Director and Senior Partner with the Wabanaki Nations in Bar Harbor, Maine. For over 25 years, she has been dedicated to building cultural and narrative power for Indigenous

peoples and other BIPOC communities. She brings to her role a wealth of experience in museums, philanthropy, social justice, and the performing arts. During her seven years as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, she led a $30 million grantmaking effort for Native American and place-based cultural

communities, initiated the creation of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and served as the global chair of its Committee on Indigenous Peoples.

For the last decade, Commissioner Richards has led The Opportunity Agenda’s national cultural strategy initiatives with artists, influencers, and advocates to shift narrative, culture, and policy towards greater economic and racial justice. In addition, she has run two theater companies, served as a Fellow at the

New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, and has developed and directed plays by Native playwrights on stages in New York, Los Angeles, and Canada.

Robert Kinneen, Commissioner 

Commissioner Robert Kinneen “Chef Rob” is the Outreach Director for North American Indigenous Food Systems, and an Alaska born and raised chef recognized as an authority on Alaska regional cuisine. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Commissioner Kinneen began his cooking career at NOLA in New Orleans which he followed with chef positions at several restaurants in North Carolina, and Alaska.  Additionally, he has staged in Chicago, New York City, Charleston, SC and beyond.  It was during this time that Commissioner Kinneen established his philosophies of sourcing product locally and seasonally.

Commissioner Kinneen has also worked across Alaska and the country, promoting Alaska “indigenized” cuisine through guest chef appearances, speaking engagements, cooking demonstrations, and private caterings.  A career highlight was cooking for President Obama in Anchorage to highlight the Indigenous bounty of Alaska.

His webisode series features the State of Alaska as well as cooking with fresh indigenous and farmers’ market-based ingredients. Commissioner Kinneen has contributed to several cookbooks and has recently released his own cookbook featuring a compilation of recipes, artisan profiles, and stories of living in the Last Frontier.  

At NATIFS he collaborates in cooking demos, feasts, presentations and events that have brought him across the nation from Eugene, OR, Menominee, WI, Pembroke, NC and across Mexico. He has also worked with the USDA-OTR to feature Indigenous chefs, indigenous culinary students, and all pre-contact traditional food. A particularly proud event was coordinating a two-day feast of lunches for 500 people a day at the White House Tribal Summit in 2023.