1st Vice President - Profile
Jacqueline Pata was elected to serve a two-year term as 1st Vice President on Tlingit & Haida's Executive Council in 2022. Her Tlingit name is Ku.seen and she is a member of the Lukaax.adi clan (Raven/Sockeye) in Haines, Alaska.
Jacqueline is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority (THRHA). Prior to her appointment at THRHA in April 2019, Jacqueline served as the Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) - the oldest and largest American Indian and Alaska Native advocacy organization in the United States (2011-2019), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where she was responsible for the implementation of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), and Executive Director of THRHA (1989-1998).
In addition to serving as 1st Vice President, Jacqueline chairs the Tribal Assembly's Governmental Affairs (State and Federal) committee and serves as a member of the Investment and Audit committees.
Among other positions she holds, Jacqueline serves as a Vice President for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, on the Native American Advisory Council for Boys & Girls Club of America and is a board member for the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Jacqueline served as a member of the Sealaska Board of Directors from 1999-2019.