Michael S. Black, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs

Office of Bureau Director

About the Bureau Director

Michael S. Black was named the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on April 26, 2010.  Prior to that, he was the Regional Director for the BIA’s Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, South Dakota, which oversees 12 agencies that together serve 16 Federally recognized tribes in three states (Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota). Mr. Black was named to his position in July 2008 after having served since January 2004 as the Deputy Regional Director for Indian Services in the Bureau’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Billings, Montana, during which time he also served a period of eight months as the acting Great Plains Regional Director. Mr. Black began his Federal career in 1987 with the BIA’s Aberdeen Area Office (now the Great Plains Regional Office) as a General Engineer in the Branch of Facilities Management. He went on to hold regional facility and engineering management positions in the Billings Area Office (now the Rocky Mountain Regional Office) until being named the Deputy Regional Director. Mr. Black is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

Office of the Deputy Bureau Director, Field Operations

About the Deputy Director

Michael R. Smith is the Deputy Bureau Director, Field Operations, for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Washington, D.C. He became the Deputy in November, 2004 and had previously served in senior management positions as the Regional Director, Southern Plains Region in Anadarko, Oklahoma and Director of the Office of Tribal Services in Washington, D.C.

Bryan Rice, Deputy BIA Director, Trust Services

Office of Trust Services

About the Deputy BIA Director - Office of Trust Services

Bryan Rice, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, was appointed the Deputy Bureau Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Trust Services (OTS) in the U.S. Department of the Interior on October 23, 2011. Reporting directly to the BIA Director, the OTS Deputy Bureau Director is responsible for all headquarters activities associated with the management and protection of federal Indian trust and restricted lands, real estate services and natural resources programs, including dam safety, irrigation and power systems, forestry and wildland fire management, land, title and records, and the probating of Indian trust estates.

Mr. Rice began his career with the BIA in 2002 as a timber sale officer with the bureau’s Yakama Agency in White Swan, Wash., where he was responsible for timber sales, forest management and wildland fire suppression operations. In January 2004, he joined the U.S. Forest Service in Petersburg, Alaska, as a forester and assistant fire management officer. In addition to his forest management and wildland fire suppression responsibilities, he performed the duties of a forest protection officer and developed cooperative fire management agreements between the Forest Service and local tribal governments. 

Mr. Rice remained with the Forest Service until July 2005, when he returned to the BIA as a Forest Management Planning Inventory Forester with the bureau’s Alaska Regional Office in Juneau. As such, he oversaw various aspects of managing and protecting timber resources on Alaska Native allotments. He also chaired a panel in the national interagency 2009 quadrennial fire review. 

From April to May 2008, Mr. Rice served as a Program Analyst with the Office of Human Capital Management in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., where he worked with senior managers on a variety of personnel issues. 

In August 2009, Mr. Rice was promoted to the post of Assistant Director for Resource Protection, where he advised the Chief of the Forestry Division and the Deputy Bureau Director for Trust Services on an array of trust areas including forestry, wildland fire management, geographic information systems, biomass, aviation, science and administration. 

Prior to his career with the BIA, Mr. Rice served as a hotshot crew member with the U.S. Forest Service in Helena, Mont., from June 1995 to October 1997, and as a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Specialist with the Peace Corps in Sunsari District, Nepal, from September 1998 to February 2002. 

Mr. Rice speaks fluent Nepali and is a licensed pilot. He holds an Associate’s degree in Business Administration from Illinois Central College in East Peoria (1992), a Bachelor’s degree in Forestry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1995) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau (2007).

Darren Cruzan, Deputy BIA Director, Justices Services

Office of Justice Services

About The Deputy BIA Director - Office of Justice Services

Darren A. Cruzan was named Deputy BIA Director Office of Justice Services effective September 27, 2010.

Office of Indian Services

About the Deputy BIA Director - Office of Justice Services

Regional Directors

The Regional Directors report to the Deputy Director-Field Operations. They are responsible for carrying out the mission and goals of the BIA and the Interior Department in their regions. They provide overall leadership, direction and technical assistance in the implementation of BIA programs operated for the benefit of the Federally recognized tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives who are eligible to receive services from the Bureau. These include protecting Federal Indian trust assets through effective natural resources management, supporting tribes in building sustainable tribal economies, strengthening tribal governments by protecting and preserving tribal sovereignty, and improving the quality of life in tribal communities. They also work with other Federal and state, local and tribal governmental entities to improve and strengthen interagency relations and intergovernmental cooperation and coordination. Each Regional Director is supported by a Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services and a Deputy Regional Director for Indian Services.

Alaska Regional Office

Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office

Eastern Regional Office

M. Franklin Keel is the Regional Director for the BIA’s Eastern Regional Office in Nashville, Tennessee, which oversees four agencies that together serve 27 Federally recognized tribes in 11 states (Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina). Mr. Keel was named the regional director in 1997 after having served as deputy director for the BIA’s Office of Trust Responsibilities (now the Office of Trust Services) in Washington D.C., where he was responsible for overseeing and managing the Bureau’s natural resources and trust programs. During the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Keel held several management positions with the BIA including Director of the Office of Trust Responsibilities, Director of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Programs, and Chief of the Division of Energy and Minerals. His Federal service also includes serving as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency in Athens, Greece, and as an administrative assistant with the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory. Mr. Keel is a citizen of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Nations of Oklahoma.

Great Plains Regional Office

Midwest Regional Office

Navajo Regional Office

Northwest Regional Office

Stanley M. Speaks is the Regional Director for the BIA’s Northwest Regional Office in Portland, Oregon, which oversees 15 agencies that together serve 45 Federally recognized tribes in six states (southeastern Alaska, Idaho, western Montana, Oregon, northern Utah, and Washington). Mr. Speaks’ Federal career began when he joined the BIA following graduation from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. During his tenure, he has served in a variety of management positions with the Bureau including boarding school superintendent, agency superintendent, area director, and acting deputy commissioner. Mr. Speaks is a Native of Oklahoma.

 Pacific Regional Office

Rocky Mountain Regional Office

Edward F. Parisian is the Regional Director for the BIA’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Billings, Montana, which oversees six agencies and one field office that together serve eight Federally recognized tribes in two states (Montana and Wyoming). Mr. Parisian was selected in April 2007 after having served as the acting regional director since May 2006. He has over 25 years of experience in the fields of Indian health and education. His current position followed service as Director of the Interior Department’s Office of Indian Education Programs, a post he had held since August 2003 after having served as deputy director since April 2002. From 2000 to 2002, he served as an education line officer with the BIA’s Northern Pueblos Agency in Espanola, New Mexico. In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Parisian held tribal health and tribal school superintendent positions in Montana. And from 1990 to 1992 he served as the OIEP Director in Washington, D.C. Mr. Parisian is an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe in Montana.

Southern Plains Regional Office

Dan Deerinwater is the Regional Director for the BIA’s Southern Plains Regional Office in Anadarko, Oklahoma, which oversees five agencies that together serve 24 Federally recognized tribes in three states (Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas). He has served as the regional director since May 2005. Mr. Deerinwater began his Federal career as a Loan Specialist for the Bureau’s Talihina (Okla.) Agency in January 1975. He has held several management positions within the BIA culminating in his selection as the regional director. Mr. Deerinwater was raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, and joined the United States Marine Corps after graduating from high school. Upon release from the military, he attended Midwestern State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. He is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation.

Southwest Regional Office

William T. “Bill” Walker is the acting Regional Director for the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which oversees nine agencies that together serve 25 Federally recognized tribes in three states (Colorado, New Mexico and west Texas). Mr. Walker has been serving as the acting regional director since September 2008. His career with the BIA began in 1992 as a soil conservationist at the Bureau’s Fort Apache Agency in Arizona after having served seven years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service in Oklahoma. He eventually moved to the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office in May 2000 as Regional Environmental Scientist. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Mescalero Agency superintendent in New Mexico, after which he was selected as the Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services for the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix. In October 2008, he returned to Albuquerque to assume the same post for the Southwest Regional Office. He continues to serve as the deputy regional director and as the acting regional director for the Southwest Region. Mr. Walker is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Western Regional Office

 About The Western Regional Director