U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NATIVE AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT
AND TRAINING COUNCIL

BIOGRAPHIES

Mr. Darrell Waldron
Mr. Waldron is re-nominated to represent Region I (Boston). He is a Narragansett/Wampanoag. He has experience in several training and employment related positions in the Providence, Rhode Island area. Besides his directorship of the Rhode Island Indian Council, he is founder and President of the American Indian Community Development Corporation, with its mission to implement economic development strategies for the Rhode Island Indian Council. He is a past Vocational Skills Instructor for the SER Jobs for Progress, Inc., which provided skills training for Indian youth and adults in Providence. He is a member of the Steering Committee, American Indian Health Care Association, and the Minority Health Program Advisory Board.

He has been appointed several times to serve on the Council.

Ms. G. Anne Richardson
Ms. Richardson is re-nominated to represent Region II (Philadelphia). She descends from a long line of Rappahannock Chiefs. She has been a grassroots organizer since 1988 and participated in the formation of the United Indians of Virginia (UIV), an intertribal group comprised of tribal leaders representing seven of Virginia's recognized Tribes. She has a degree in business and has extensive experience in community and economic development. She served as the Executive Director of the Mattaponi-Pamunkey-Monacan, Inc., from 1991-1994 and has recently been rehired as the Executive Director. Ms. Richardson previously served on the Native American Employment and Training Council for the Department of Labor as its Chair and served as a member of the Virginia Board on Aging.

Mr. Elkton Richardson
Mr. Richardson is re-nominated to represent Region III (Atlanta). He is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. He was an original appointee to the Council on July 1, 1993, and was also a member of the former JTPA, Native American Programs' Advisory Committee. He has served as Project Director for the North Carolina Commission for the past several years with the responsibility for managing the JTPA and WIA grants for 59 counties in North Carolina. Mr. Richardson has served as the Vice President of the Southeastern Indian Manpower Planners and Administrators Association.
He has been appointed several times to serve on the Council.

Ms. Kim Kaniatobe Carroll
Ms. Carroll is nominated to represent Region IV (Dallas). She is a Choctaw Tribal member and grew up in Southeastern Oklahoma. She has been employed with the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for the last 20 years, most of the time working with the Cherokee Nation's employment and training programs. She has served on many workgroups on employment and training issues, including as Secretary of the Oklahoma Tribal Grantees Group. She is currently the Secretary of the Public Law 102-477 Tribal Work Group.
Ms. Carroll actively participates with the National Congress of American Indians and has served on its election and resolutions committees. She has completed the Tahlequah Leadership Program, which is sponsored by the Tahlequah Chamber of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Citizen's Academy, which is sponsored by the Oklahoma Community Institute. She has also served as a field reader for the Department of Education.
In her current position, Ms. Carroll is responsible for compliance and reporting for the Career Services Group, which administers the WIA programs. She supervises the Central Records, Data Entry, Intake, and Compliance offices. She is also the Project Director for the Native American Career and Technical Education Program under the Department of Education.
This will be her second appointment to the Council.

Rodney Stapp, D.P.M.
Dr. Stapp is re-nominated to represent Region IV (Dallas). Dr. Stapp is a member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he majored in Biology and Chemistry and was the Chair of the Native American Alliance student organization. He was accepted into medical school in 1993, attended the New York College of Podiatric Medicine, graduating in 1997 with his Doctorate of Podiatric Medicine (DPM). He completed his residencies at Peninsula Hospital and Governor Hospital, both in New York City, New York.
Dr. Stapp has simultaneously established a strong and varied track record in the fields of both management and medicine. He previously served as an Account Executive for AT&T for 9 years and served effectively in the telecommunications industry. Dr. Stapp more recently dedicated a full 1 1/2 years of pro bono services as a Podiatrist to the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas, assisting American Indians with diabetes. He was also a consulting podiatrist with NIKE on the NIKE Air Native N7 shoe, which was recently rolled out.
Dr. Stapp currently serves as the Clinic Director for the Dallas Urban Indian Health Center. He also serves as Chair of the Texas American Indian Information Resource Network, a collaboration of the three federally-recognized Texas tribes and numerous Indian organizations across the State. This organization is charged by the Governor's Task Force on Health Disparities, "to address and overcome health disparities suffered by American Indians in the State of Texas."
This will be his second appointment to the Council.

Ms. Jessica James
Ms. James is re-appointed to represent Region V (Chicago) on the Native American Employment and Training Council. Ms. James is an enrolled member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nixon, Nevada and was raised on the Shoshone-Bannock reservation in Fort Hall, Idaho. She obtained an Associates of Arts degree in Liberal Arts (2003) and a Bachelors of Arts degree in American Indian Studies from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. She also earned a Masters degree (2008) in Indigenous Nations Studies, with an emphasis in Cultural Preservation Management and Indigenous Museum Studies from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
Currently, she is employed with the Indian Center, Inc., located in Lincoln, Nebraska, as the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Program Director, administering the adult and youth programs. She also serves on the Greater Nebraska Workforce Board and the Greater Lincoln Workforce Investment Board. Her occupational duties include: writing grants, implementing and coordinating program services, and collaborating with other organizations to create opportunities in which participants can be positively influenced. Ms. James mentors and advises youth and adults on multiple levels of education and empowers them to become educated leaders through encouraging cultural values and achieving academic and employment success.
This will be her second appointment to the Council.

Ms. Christine Molle
Ms. Molle is re-nominated to serve as a representative from Region V (Chicago). She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She began at the American Indian Council (AIC) in 1981, and has been the Executive Director for the past 20 years. Since beginning her employment with AIC, Ms. Molle has held various positions of increasing responsibility including, Bookkeeper, Payroll Clerk, Administrative Assistant, Program Director, and currently, Executive Director.
The AIC is responsible for operations at seven employment and training offices located in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa. In these locations, AIC administers adult WIA programs and a youth grant for the Meskwaki Indian Settlement in Tama, Iowa. As the Executive Director of AIC, Ms. Molle coordinates information and policies and works with Indian grantees through-out the Region V Midwest service area to implement them. She confers with private industry and other organizations to develop opportunities, assess needs, provide services to clients, and promote AIC goals.
She also recommends new policies and procedures to the AIC Board, as needed, and directs and monitors the allocation of funds and cash management for AIC. She is a member of several professional organizations including: Co-founder and Board Member of the Native American Heartland Cancer Network; Member, Board of Directors, Workforce Investment State Grant for the Full Employment Council of Greater Kansas City; and Member, Site Board Decision Making Team.
She participates on the Support Group for Parents with Attention Deficit Disorder.
This will be her fifth appointment to the Council.

Ms. Julia Davis-Wheeler
Ms. Davis-Wheeler is nominated to serve as one of the representatives from Region VI (San Francisco). She was born and raised on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho. Her life's experiences have made her a strong advocate for alcohol/substance abuse prevention, social services and health disparity issues, and community involvement. She was recently elected, once again, as Vice-Chairperson of the Nez Perce Tribal Council. She previously served on the Tribal Executive Committee in 1988. In this role, she is also the Chairperson of the Human Resources Subcommittee, which has oversight of many of the Tribe's community-related programs. In her terms of service, she has gained extensive experience in the area of Tribal consultation and what it means to Tribes and Tribal organizations. She has actively participated on national and state level initiatives for Indian Country. One example includes her work with the Idaho Congressional Delegation, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Indian Health Services, seven Tribal governments, and the Department of Health and Human Services to acquire land and construction services to construct the North-west Portland Regional Youth Treatment Center, or Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations. She also initiated the re-development of the National Indian Health Board, with the support of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and California Rural Indian Health Board, to serve as the advisory committee to the Director of Indian Health Services on matters regarding budgets, methodologies on Contract Health and Support funding, and various health issues involving Tribal governments, Tribal organizations, and Urban health issues affecting Native Americans. She has served as Chairperson of the National Indian Health Board.
This will be her second appointment to the Council.

Ms. Lorenda Sanchez
Ms. Sanchez is re-nominated to serve as one of the representatives from Region VI (San Francisco). She is a member of the Northern Paiute Tribe of Nevada and has dedicated over 30 years to the administration of Indian job training programs. Ms. Sanchez began her distinguished career in 1972 with the Public Employment Program Neighborhood Youth Corps and Operation Mainstream programs. She continued through the CETA and JTPA programs to the current WIA program. Her involvement in the local community includes work on the Minority AIDS Advisory Committee, San Juan Unified School District Design Team, and Advisor for the California Indian Youth Leadership Council. Ms. Sanchez has served as the Executive Director of CIMC, Inc., since 1977 and has been an active member of numerous local, State, and regional boards and organizations. She currently serves as the Chairperson for the INA Advisory Council.
This will be her tenth appointment to the Council.

Ms. Roselyn Shirley
Ms. Shirley is appointed to represent Region VI (San Francisco) on the Native American Employment and Training Council. Ms. Shirley is the Navajo Nation’s Department of Workforce Development’s WIA Program Manager and has served in this capacity for the past 8 years. Her duties include oversight of 5 agency offices in the States of Arizona and New Mexico, with one field office in the State of Utah. Previously, she has served as the program’s Management and Information System Unit Supervisor in addition to various levels of experience with the Navajo Nation’s former Job Training Partnership Act and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act programs spanning over 30 years.
Ms. Shirley recently served as the Chairperson of the 33rd National Indian and Native American Employment and Training Conference (NINAETC) and has served several terms as the Executive Secretary for the NINAETC for previous conferences.
Ms. Shirley is actively involved in many workforce system capacities since her Department also administers State WIA, Title I-B programs, including the Dislocated Workers program, and the U.S. Health and Human Services Native Employment Works program, in addition to the WIA, Section 166 programs. She actively participates with the State of Arizona’s Association of Workforce Developers, a consortium of state Local Workforce Investment Area professionals advocating for the state service delivery and One Stop systems.
This will be her first appointment to the Council.

Ms. Winona Whitman
Ms. Whitman is re-appointed as the Hawaiian representative on the Native American Employment and Training Council. She is a Hawaiian Native. She has a Masters and Bachelor Degree in Business Education from Morehead State University (Kentucky). She has extensive experience in the field of vocational education, both in curriculum development and classroom instruction.
She has been a dedicated member of the Native American Employment and Training Council since its inception in July 1993. She has also served as a member of the Council's predecessor and the JTPA Native American Programs' Advisory Committee since its inception in October 1989.
Ms. Whitman has served as the administrator of the former JTPA grant for Alu Like, Inc., since 1979 and continues to serve as the Statewide Director of Employment and Training on the island of O’ahu in Honolulu, Hawaii. Alu Like, Inc. consists of a statewide system of five Island Centers and a centralized statewide management system. Local Advisory Councils guide their Island Centers located on Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Lanai’i, Maui, Moloka’I, and O’ahu.

Ms. Carla Bowlan
Ms. Bowlan is appointed as a representative of the Oklahoma Region on the Native American Employment and Training Council. She is Choctaw/Chickasaw and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Ms. Bowlan is a graduate of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma and currently serves as the WIA, Section 166 Program Director for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma administering the adult and youth programs.
Prior to working for the Seminole Nation, she worked for the East Central Workforce Investment Board in Central Oklahoma as a Case manager and One-Stop Operator. She has also worked for the Wichita, Caddo and Delaware tribes for the Woman, Infant, and Children program, as the Nutrition Coordinator counseling Native American mothers and families on health and nutrition.
As Director for the WIA Program for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Carla is involved on a daily basis working with the Native American Indians residing within the Seminole Nation Jurisdiction of one county and most recently covering a five county area for Department of Labor’s National Emergency Grant for Dislocated Workers.
Carla is currently serving as the Assistant Chairperson of the Oklahoma Employment Advisory Council, which consists of all of the Native American Programs in Oklahoma receiving WIA funding. This Advisory Council is responsible for coordinating efforts and sharing of best practices within the Native American Tribes in Oklahoma. One of the major efforts of this council is coordinating and providing a one day Youth Leadership Conference in central Oklahoma focusing on the unique needs of the Native American youth in Oklahoma.
This will be her first appointment to the Council.

Mr. Jacob Bernal
Mr. Bernal is appointed as an Other Discipline representative on the Native American Employment and Training Council. Mr. Bernal is a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Parker, Arizona and is the Executive Director of the American Indian Association of Tucson, Inc. He has over 22 years experience in the employment and training field with the Tucson Indian Center, serving the Indian urban population in the Tucson area.
Mr. Bernal is a current member of the Pima County Workforce Investment Board and is the Treasurer for the National Council of Urban Indian Health. He has served as the Secretary and Treasurer for the Affiliation of Arizona Indian Centers, a consortium of Arizona urban Indian Centers.
Mr. Bernal has a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and in General Studies from the University of Arizona.
This will be his first appointment to the Council.

Dr. David Gipp
Dr. Gipp is re-appointed as an Other Discipline representative on the Native American Employment and Training Council. Dr. Gipp has over 30 years of expertise in the field of education and is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Fort Yates, North Dakota.

He was born in Fort Yates and was educated at the University of North Dakota (1969) and holds a Doctorate in Law and Honorius Causa from North Dakota State University (1991) for his contributions in developing tribal higher education. He has been the recipient of various national and community awards.

His professional work has been principally in the development of tribal colleges since 1972. He was instrumental in developing the first national legislation which assists “tribally controlled community colleges.” He has an extensive background in vocational and higher education.

He is the President of the United Tribes Technical College. He has been President since May 2, 1977. He worked with and served on the board of the United Tribes of North Dakota during its founding days in 1969-1972.

President Gipp is the past Executive Director (1973-1977) and President of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (1978-1980, 1991-1993, and 1999-2000) and past Chairman of the American Indian College Fund (2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005). He is the current Chairman of the INMED Advisory Council, University of North Dakota.

He was appointed by the former Governor of North Dakota, John Hoeven, to the North Dakota Workforce Development Council, the North Dakota State Commission on National and Community Service, and the North Dakota Quarter Design Selection Process Commission. He was an appointed delegate to the Secretary of Labor’s Native American Employment and Training Advisory Council on the Workforce Investment Act (1997-2004). He has been the advisor for the Great Plains tribes on the Bureau of Indian Affairs/Tribal Budget Advisory Council for seven years (2000-2007).

This will be his second appointment to the Council, following previous years of appointments.

Mr. Ryman LeBeau
Mr. Leabeau is re-appointed as an Other Discipline representative on the Native American Employment and Training Council. He was raised on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe reservation of North Central South Dakota. He is a proud citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe - Two Kettle Band. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and a Minor in Biology from Haskell Indian Nations University.
His professional career includes employment at the nonprofit organization, Native American Fish and Wildlife Society (NAFWS). Ryman worked for the organization as a biologist for five years. During his tenure with the NAFWS, he gained invaluable experience working with many Tribes in Indian Country.
Currently, Mr. LeBeau is a Tribal Council representative for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. He was elected by the most populated district on the reservation and is serving a four year term. As a council member, he serves on various committees, including those on economic development, education, health, Tribal projects, land, and tax. Respectively, he is the chairman of the Environment, Natural Resources and Loan committees.
This will be his second appointment to the Council.

David Yarlott, Jr., Ed.D
Dr. Yarlott is nominated to serve as an Other Discipline representative. He is a member of the Crow Tribe of Indians from Montana. He is the current President of the Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, Montana. Prior to his appointment, he served in several capacities at the College, including as the Dean of Academic Affairs, Department Head of Business, Business Instructor, and Curriculum Development Coordinator. He received his Doctorate of Education, Master of Science degree in Business Education, and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Montana State University- Bozeman.
Dr. Yarlott is currently appointed by the Governor of Montana to the Montana Correctional Enterprise Advisory Committee. He also currently serves as the Executive Officer At-Large on the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors. Past memberships include appointments to the American Indian College Fund Board of Directors, National Indian Education Association, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges Policy Board of Directors, and the National Business Education Association.