Professor Angelique EagleWoman
Angelique EagleWoman (Wambdi A. Was’teWinyan) is a law professor, legal scholar, Chief Justice on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Supreme Court, and has served as a pro tempore Tribal Judge in several other Tribal Court systems. She is the director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty (NALS) Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of Native American Law: Tribal Nations and the United States Relations Cases and Materials (1st ed. 2025) and the co-author of Mastering Native American Law (3rd ed. 2024) (with Dean Stacy Leeds, Cherokee Nation). As a practicing lawyer, one of the highlights of her career was to serve as General Counsel for her own Tribal Nation, the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation. She has taught in the areas of Indigenous Legal Traditions, Tribal Nation Economics & Law, Native American Law, Native American Natural Resources Law, Contracts, The Business of Law, and Civil Procedure. She presents and publishes on topics involving Tribal-based economics, Indigenous sovereignty, international Indigenous principles, and the quality of life for Indigenous peoples. At the University of Idaho College of Law, she established the Native American Law Emphasis program and graduated 33 students over seven years. She also served as dean of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University and was the first Indigenous law dean in Canada. She has received numerous awards in legal academia and has been a frequent speaker on issues of diversity, inclusion, and professionalism.
Professor Angelique EagleWoman is a proud enrolled member and citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and is a citizen of the United States.
Leonard Fineday
Leonard “Lenny” Fineday serves as General Counsel for the National Congress of American Indians. He also serves as a member of the Cass Lake-Bena School Board. He earned his BA in Political Science from Bethel University and his JD from Marquette University Law School.
Lenny has worked with Tribal governments for more than 20 years, previously serving as Secretary/Treasurer for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and as General Counsel to both the Leech Lake Band and the White Earth Nation. He has also served the White Earth Nation as Tribal Court Conflicts Judge and the Red Lake Nation as Juvenile Court Judge for several years. He is a former President of the Minnesota Native American Bar Association.
Throughout his time in Tribal government, Lenny served in various leadership roles in regional and national intertribal organizations, including as Treasurer for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Treasurer for the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, and Recording Secretary for the National Congress of American Indians. He has also served as an attorney member on the Minnesota Judicial Selection Commission, as a member of Federal Reserve Bank’s Center for Indian Country Development Leadership Council, and on the Minnesota Bar Association’s General Assembly. Passionate about child well-being, Lenny also served on the Minnesota Supreme Court Council on Child Abuse and Maltreatment Prevention, the Minnesota State-Tribal Partnership on Child Protection, and the Minnesota Children’s Justice Initiative Statewide Advisory Board.
Lenny is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
Benjamin Swankier ’23
Benjamin “Ben” Swankier received his B.S. from the University of North Dakota and J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in 2023. Ben received a certificate from the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute and served as the Public Relations Officer and Vice-President of the Native American Law Student Association. Ben participated in the NALSA Moot Court twice and drafted codes in the Tribal Code Drafting Clinic.
During law school, Ben served as an extern for Anishinaabe Legal Services and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. After graduation, Ben stayed on with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and took a position as an Associate General Counsel. He served as the Deputy General Counsel and is now the General Counsel for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
Ben has spent most of his life on the Leech Lake Reservation and is a first-generation college graduate. He is grateful for the opportunity to work for Indian Country and to serve his community.
Ben is a direct descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and a descendant of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.
Professor Sherri Thomas
Professor Sherri Nicole Thomas is Director of the Law and Indigenous Peoples Program (LIPP) and Assistant Director of the Law Library at the University of New Mexico School of Law (UNMSOL), where she also serves as co-Faculty Advisor for the Tribal Law Journal and as a member of the Law School’s Admissions Committee. She teaches Legal Research, Applied Legal Research, Indian Law Research, Advanced Topics in Native American Law, and Indigenous Peoples and International Law. She has also taught Copyright Law and developed the specialized Indian Law Research course. She regularly leads workshops and presentations on Federal Indian Law, Tribal Law, Intellectual Property, Copyright, Legal Research, and Advocacy. Also, she frequently teaches Advocacy in the American Indian Law Center’s Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI), where she has sometimes taught Federal Indian Law.
From 2019 to 2024, Professor Thomas served as Associate Dean of Institutional Culture and Equity. She has played leadership roles in major university initiatives focused on equity and policy reform and continues her service on the UNM Policy Review Committee and Liaisons for Excellence, Innovation, and Development (LEID) Council.
Her contributions have been recognized nationally, including the Society of American Archivists’ C.F.W. Coker Award, the American Indian Law Center’s PLSI Champion honor, and acknowledgment by the editors of The Bluebook, 22nd edition, for her contributions to Rule 22, which addresses citation of Tribal legal materials.
Professor Thomas is an enrolled member of Taos Pueblo and grew up on the Diné (Navajo) Reservation.
Howard D. Valandra
Howard D. Valandra returned to the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) in 2025 to serve as President. Howard served as Vice President of Grants and Programs at ILTF from its inception in 2002 until 2009. Raised on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, he is a graduate of the St. Francis Mission and the University of South Dakota. Valandra began his career in banking with Northwestern National Bank in Sioux Falls, SD, before returning home to support his family’s business ventures. He later served the Tribe as a Senior Accountant and was an Education Specialist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In 1983, Valandra launched a technology company on the Rosebud Reservation which grew to have locations across the country. After selling the business in 1995, Valandra transitioned into Tribal land management as Executive Director of Tribal Land Enterprises at Rosebud. In 1999 he became a community liaison with the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, which played a key role in the founding of ILTF. In 2010 Howard joined the Department of the Interior’s Office of Special Trustees for American Indians. Since 2019 he has served as a Senior Consultant for Jorja and Partners, LLC, where he works with Tribes and organizations on strategic planning, land use and economic development.
Howard is a proud grandfather to Dylan (14) and Genevieve (20 months) and remains deeply committed to giving back to his community. He actively serves on several boards and committees, including the Department of Interior Federal Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names.
Howard is a Sicangu Lakota, and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.