NIGA Trade Show 2021

Jeannie Hovland
Commissioner
National Indian Gaming Commission


Jeannie Hovland (Flandreau Santee Sioux) is the Associate Commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). She is one of three commissioners responsible for regulating and ensuring the integrity of the more than 527 Indian gaming facilities, associated with over 250 tribes across 29 states. Hovland began her three-year term at the agency on January 17, 2021, after being appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. Before joining NIGC, Hovland served as Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans providing oversight of a $57 million annual operating budget to promote self-sufficiency for American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. She also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a $58 billion operating division under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Hovland chaired the HHS Secretary’s Intradepartmental Council on Native American Affairs (ICNAA), serving as an advisor to the Secretary. Hovland helped bring national awareness to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Native American’s through her role on the ICNAA as well as through her participation on the Presidential Taskforce, Operation Lady Justice. Under Hovland’s leadership, as chair of the ACF Native American Affairs Advisory Committee, the ACF Missing and Murdered Native Americans - A Public Health Framework for Action was published in October 2020. In her previous role as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. Hovland’s extensive knowledge and experience on Indian Affairs includes her many years serving Native American communities in South Dakota where she worked for Senator John Thune for nearly 13 years as Native American Outreach Coordinator and Tribal Affairs Advisor.

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