2nd Vice President - Profile

Rob A. Sanderson Jr. was elected to serve a two-year term as the 2nd Vice President on Tlingit & Haida’s Executive Council in 2022. His Haida name is Gu’usuwaa and he is of the Eagle moiety, Stuts Clan.

Rob has been a Tlingit & Haida Delegate since 2000 and represents the Tribe on the Gulf of Alaska Coastal Communities Coalition (GOAC3) and serves as alternate to VP Ralph Wolfe on the Indigenous People’s Council for Marine Mammals (IPCoMM) and United States Forest Service (USFS) Sea Otter Steering Committee.

He also serves on the United States Forest Service (USFS) Alaska Tribal Leaders Committee, Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission, Region 10 Tribal Leaders Summit Committee, and Statewide Suicide Prevention Council; is Alaska Area Vice President for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI); and Chair of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC). He also participates on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and is a member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 14.

Rob was born in Ketchikan and raised in Hydaburg. He is the son of Romay D. (Edenshaw) Sanderson and Robert A. Sanderson Sr. His maternal grandparents are the late James and Bertha (Lee) Edenshaw; paternal grandparents are the late Edward and Helen B. Sanderson; and biological paternal grandfather is the late Robert A. Cogo, Sr. He worked as a longshoreman for 17 years, is a lifelong fisherman, and enjoys playing basketball, fishing, and working with children and elders.