Leadership

William (Billy) Kirkland, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is the 15th Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7, 2025. The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs assists the Secretary of the Interior in fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities to American Indian and Alaska Native Trib ...

Janel Broderick serves as the principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. Born and raised in Alaska, Janel is passionate about people, heritage, and culture. She worked for the late-Sen. Ted Stevens, a key player in the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. She has advanced policy initiatives in numerous leadership roles, having di ...

Scott Davis, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. He has dedicated much of his career to public service and tribal leadership. From 2009 to 2021, he served as the executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commiss ...

Kennis (Ken) Bellmard, an enrolled member of the Kaw Nation in Oklahoma, is the Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development. Mr. Bellmard has been a practitioner of Native America law since 1990, practicing as a tribal attorney representing tribes and tribal entities, as well as helping develop tribal economic ventures. H ...

Dan Galvan, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, serves as the Indian Affairs acting deputy assistant secretary for management, providing executive leadership for budget, finance, facilities, information technology, and human capital, and advising the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. Dan is a senior federal leader with extensive experience advanc ...

Bryan Mercier is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. Prior to his appointment as Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on September 30, 2024, he served as the regional director of BIA’s Northwest Region. He has spent 20 years working in public service, starting as a Morris K. Udall Foundation Intern and M ...

Tony Dearman, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the director of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Bureau of Indian Education implements federal Indian education programs and funds 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools serving approximately 48,000 students. As the dire ...

Margaret served as Senior Advisor to the Principal Deputy Special Trustee, a position that she's held since August 2018. She began her federal career in 1992 as an Accountant for the Branch of Investment Accounting in the Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM) when it was still under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Margaret brings a 30+-year history and compr ...