Tadd M. Johnson
Vice Chair
Tadd M. Johnson is on the Board of Regents for the University of Minnesota. He retired from the University of Minnesota system after serving as the first Senior Director of American Indian Tribal Nations Relations for the University of Minnesota, a full Professor, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the University of Minnesota – Duluth’s Department of American Indian Studies. He is currently serving as a senior advisor on government affairs for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians. An enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Tadd is a licensed attorney and graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. He previously served as a tribal court judge for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians, Prairie Island Indian Community, the 1854 Authority, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and Leech Lake Appellate Courts. He also has served as the Solicitor General (General Counsel) and the Director of Government Affairs for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, and he was appointed by President Clinton in 1997-98 as Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Federal agency which regulates Indian gaming nationwide. Tadd was the creator, cohost, and coproducer of PBS’s “Native Report” for 10 years; the founding senior partner for Johnson, Hamilton, Quigley, Twait and Foley law firm; and from 1990-95, the Staff Director and Counsel for the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Native American Affairs. In 2017, he was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Udall Foundation.