AAIA's Board of Directors

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President Faith Roessel (Navajo) Click picture for more information
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Vice President Alfred R. Ketzler, Sr. (Athabascan)
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Treasurer Brad Keeler (Cherokee) Click on picture for more information
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Secretary Frank Ettawageshik (Odawa) Click on picture for more information
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Nominating Committee Chair DeeAnn DeRoin, MD (Ioway) Click on picture for more information
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Board Member Elke Chenevey (Omaha) Click on picture for more information
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Board Member John Echohawk (Pawnee) Click on picture for more information
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Board Member Sarah Kastelic (Alutiiq)
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Board Member Jonathan Perry (Wampanoag)

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Board Member Cheriena Ben (Choctaw)

AAIA's Staff

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Betsy Detlefs is the Finance and Payroll Manager for the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA). She moved to the DC area in early 1989, leaving Tulsa, Oklahoma, to begin a life with her husband Peter Detlefs. She worked at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in Chevy Chase, MD, for 12 years, starting in the roll as an Administrative Assistant, to the Assistant Controller. While at the Institute, she held various financial positions throughout her career. Leaving In 2001, she stayed home to raise her 3 daughters, and finish her degree. She graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts, in Business Administration, from Columbia University.
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​Honor Keeler (Cherokee Nation) is the Director of the International Repatriation Project, which she brought to the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) through a grassroots effort by the Working Group on International Repatriation, composed of Native Nations, tribal members, and others seeking to bring their Ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony home. Prior to working at the AAIA, Keeler was a Visiting Assistant Professor and Repatriation Coordinator at Wesleyan University where she taught classes centered upon tribal and federal Indian law, Indigenous international law, cultural resources protection, American Indian youth, and repatriation. She has also worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Indian Law Center, and Blackwell Sanders. Keeler received her A.B. from Brown University with Honors in Anthropology, and her J.D. and Indian Law Certificate at the University of New Mexico School of Law where she was graduated with clinical honors. In 2010, Keeler founded the International Repatriation Blog, and authored Indigenous International Repatriation (2012), an ASU law journal article, and A Guide to International Repatriation: Starting an Initiative in Your Community (2015). She has worked extensively with Indigenous Nations and others on the tribal, national, and international levels.

AAIA's Council of Advisors

​In 2013, AAIA was pleased to expand its Advisory Board into a Council of Advisors.  The Council is comprised of individuals who are interested in furthering the work of the Association.  They hold a wealth of knowledge and various interests, and are prominent in their own fields.  The Council’s primary initiatives consist of raising the profile of the AAIA's work, assisting in planning our fundraising events, and supporting AAIA to network with individuals who can assist AAIA programmatically and financially.  AAIA is grateful for the support of its Council of Advisors.

  • Howard B. Teich, Chair
  • Nadema Agard, Cherokee
  • Gail Bruce
  • Kimberly Guerrero, Colville/Salish-Kootenai/Cherokee
  • John Haworth, Cherokee
  • Dennis Hirschfelder
  • Peter Johnson
  • Alli Joseph, Shinnecock
  • Hattie Kauffman, Nez Perce
  • Kerry Kennedy
  • Dr. Francesca Kress
  • Mary Kathryn Nagle, Cherokee
  • Jody Naranjo
  • Martha Redbone
  • Gloria Steinem
  • Lynn Taylor-Corbett
  • Curtis Zunigha, Delaware