The National Native American Hall of Fame announced on Thursday it appointed E. Sequoyah Simermeyer to their board of directors. Simermeyer will work to bring greater awareness to the significant contributions of contemporary Native people by supporting the National Native Hall of Fame and its innovative approaches that help the organization continue to grow its ability to recognize and promote the inspiring stories of tribal leaders and role models.
Simermeyer is the former chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, the federal regulatory body for Indian gaming’s over $40 billion industry. He led the federal regulatory perspective on tribal gaming at the national level during significant federal agency regulatory reform, throughout COVID's historic impacts on the gaming industry, amid unprecedented increases in cybersecurity threats to national industries, and during policy formation soon after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. In his current role as a Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at FanDuel, Simermeyer helps lead FanDuel’s efforts to build sustainable commercial relationships across the United States with a focus on promoting economic development that supports tribal sovereignty.
“In the sports world, I would say that we have added a first-round draft pick to our already loaded board of directors,” stated James Parker Shield, founder and CEO of the National Native American Hall of Fame.
Simermeyer’s professional and academic experience in the field of federal Indian law and policy has made him a respected leader in sustaining tribal gaming’s role as a powerful governmental tool for strengthening tribal economic development, as well as tribal governmental capacity to serve tribal citizens. He has advised members of the U.S. Senate, advocating for Indigenous Peoples’ rights in international fora, and facilitating a national collaboration project aimed at improving the effectiveness of inter-governmental negotiations and partnerships between state legislators and elected tribal leaders.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to support a national organization with an important purpose—honoring Native American achievement in our modern society,” said Simermeyer. “As a Native person and a parent, it is important that we acknowledge the success of Native people and allow those successes to be inspirational stories that instill pride and confidence in future generations who will lift the quality of life for Native people across the nation.”
Simermeyer is an enrolled member of the Coharie Indian Tribe in North Carolina. He graduated from Cornell Law School, Vermont Law and Graduate School, and Dartmouth College.
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