LuAnn Leonard

LuAnn Leonard is the Executive Director of the Hopi Education Endowment Fund (HEEF), which provides educational opportunities for the Hopi people. Prior to her work with HEEF, Regent Leonard spent more than 22 years working with the Hopi Tribe in positions ranging from Higher Education Counselor, Higher Education Director and Director of Youth Affairs, to serving as an Assistant to the Chairman of the Tribe focusing on health and human service issues. Leonard participates in several academic and professional organizations such as the Arizona Tri-Universities for Indian Education (ATUIE), Native Americans in Philanthropy, and the Arizona Women’s Forum.

In January 2008, Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed LuAnn Leonard to an eight-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents, making her the first Native American to be appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents. She currently chairs the Regents’ Award Selection Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee. She is also a member of the Executive Committee. She graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1983. Regent Leonard resides in Polacca, Arizona; a community in Navajo County on the Hopi Reservation. She is a descendant of the Tohono O’odham Nation and is of the Alwungwa (Deer) Clan from the Village of Sichomovi. Leonard’s husband, Bernard, is an elementary school teacher, and they have two children. [Source: Arizona Board of Regents]