Bryan Mercier will be the next director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department officials announced Friday.
Mercier has spent the last six years as director of BIA’s Northwest regional office. He is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and has worked in government for the last 20 years.
“I’ve had the privilege of serving in four federal agencies, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture and Interior, each with unique missions,” Mercier said in a news release. “None have a mission as important and fulfilling as BIA’s.”
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As BIA director, Mercier said that he will work to strengthen tribal sovereignty and self-determination and hopes to make BIA an “employer of choice” for Native American people.
