Kenneth Payton, Bureau of Indian Affairs deputy area director in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been detailed to Washington, D.C. for not more than 120 days to serve as the Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Payton will begin his assignment as operational head of the BIA on April 20, Interior Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, James Canan said today.
An Oklahoma Cherokee, Payton was superintendent of the Southern Pueblos Agency for 13 years before coming into his present area office position in 1979. A thirty-year career veteran with the BIA, Payton was superintendent for five years at the Mescalero Apache Agency at Mescalero, New Mexico. He was first hired by the Bureau as a soil scientist for the Hopi Agency in Arizona and subsequently worked in land operations on the Navajo Reservation and for the Consolidated Ute Agency.
Payton has served as the acting deputy commissioner during previous vacancies of the Commissioner's office.
