Washington, D.C. – The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has announced the recipients of the organization’s prestigious Indian Country Leadership Awards. Senator Patty Murray (D – WA), The National Taskforce to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, Andrew Lee of the Seneca Nation, and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate will be honored at the organization’s Indian Country Leadership Award Banquet held this Tuesday March 5, 2013 in conjunction with NCAI’s 2013 Executive Council Winter Session.

The organization’s Indian Country Leadership Awards celebrate the outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations to Indian Country in four categories: Congressional Leadership Award, Native American Leadership Award, Governmental Leadership Award, and Public Sector Leadership Award.

As a champion for tribal sovereignty and Native women, Senator Patty Murray was instrumental in the recent passage of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization. Senator Murray has advocated passionately for families and upheld her commitment to Indian Country by ensuring that life-saving assistance for victims of domestic violence extends to Native communities. Senator Murray is a key Indian Country partner in the Senate having served as the first female Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee during the 112th Congress and currently serving as the first female Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women (“NTF”) is focused on the development, passage and implementation of effective public policy to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. NTF is a national coalition made up of thousands of civil rights organizations, labor unions, advocates for children and youth, anti-poverty groups, immigrant organizations, women’s rights leaders, faith organizations, education groups, and others. The Task Force stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Indian Country to secure the passage of a comprehensive Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization that provided safety and justice for Native women.

Andrew Lee (Seneca) has dedicated himself to advancing innovations that build a stronger future for Indian Country. He is currently Vice-President at Aetna and has also served as Chief-of-Staff to the President and Head of Aetna's Office of Public Policy. Before joining Aetna in 2005, Lee was Executive Director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, where he founded the Honoring Nations awards program. In 2011, Lee was the first American Indian named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is a Trustee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

Craig Fugate has served as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since May 2009. As a former state emergency management director, he has credibly emphasized the importance of intergovernmental collaboration with tribal nations. He has overseen a significant strengthening in FEMA-tribal relations, consistently advocating for our nation-to-nation relationship and instituting a FEMA Headquarters Office of Tribal Relations Liaison and appointing a tribal legal advisor in the FEMA Office of the Chief Counsel. He was the lead Administration champion for the amendments to the Stafford Act that were signed into law by President Obama in January 2013.