Welcome to Indigenous in the News, joining us today is Shannon O’locklin, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Chief Executive for the Association on American Indian Affairs. With decades of experience in tribal law, Shannon leads the nation’s oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting sovereignty, preserving culture, and advancing the rights of Indigenous communities. Today will hear about the history and programs they provide.
INDIGENOUS IN THE NEWS WITH SHANNON O’LOUGHLIN
BIOGRAPHY
Shannon O’Loughlin, Chief Executive and Attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs, is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Shannon has been practicing law for more than 23 years and is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Shannon serves as Vice Chair of the Board at Native Ways Federation, which educates about informed giving to Native-led nonprofits. She also serves on the Board of Potawatomi Ventures, the economic development corporation of the Forest County Potawatomi Nation, and serves as their Governance Committe Chair. She is a former Chief of Staff to the National Indian Gaming Commission, where she assisted in the development and implementation of national gaming policy, and oversaw the agency’s public affairs, technology, compliance and finance divisions.
Shannon has also served Native Country in the private sector as an attorney, leading a large national firm’s Native Nations law practice group that worked to strengthen, maintain and protect sovereignty, self-determination and culture. Shannon was appointed by Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Sally Jewell to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee in 2013 and was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first Native American to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee within the State Department in 2015; she was fired by President Trump in 2019. Shannon received a B.A. in American Indian Studies from California State University, Long Beach and joint M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arizona in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy.
The Conference will be an intensive training experience and call upon our collective courage to spark resectful and collaborative repatriation practices that recognize Native Peoples as the true holders and carriers of their own diverse cultures.
This year, the structure of the annual conference has been redesigned to encourage more meaningful interactions through small group trainings and workshops. This Conference will offer comprehensive interactive training on the new Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) regulations, which went into effect in January 2024, provide strict timelines, deference to Native Traditional Knowledge, and robust consultation. Attendees will engage directly with the new regulations and learn best practices for implementation with the guidance of experts, ensuring they walk away with practical, actionable insights. The conference will also focus on international repatriation, illicit trafficking and other issues concerning the protection of Native cultural heritage.
