Stephen Roe Lewis

Stephen Roe Lewis is the Governor of the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Arizona. Mr. Lewis graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelors of Science and pursued graduate studies at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mr. Lewis has served the Community as a Gaming Commissioner for the Gila River Gaming Commission, as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Telecommunications, Inc., and most recently, as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Healthcare Corporation.

Mr. Lewis has long been an advocate for Native American issues nationally. In the area of Indian Education, Mr. Lewis was selected to serve as a Board member for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), and Delegate to the White House Conference on Indian Education.

In the area of Indian gaming, Mr. Lewis was selected to the National Indian Gaming Commission's (NIGC) Task Force on Minimum Internal Controls for Indian Country, served as a trainer for the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), and served as a teaching assistant for the National Judicial College's Tribal Commissioner Training.

In the area of mass media, Mr. Lewis organized and staged the first ever showing of Native films and documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and was an Associate Producer for the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed six-part documentary, "The Native Americans."

Currently Mr. Lewis serves on the Board of Directors for the Children's Action Alliance (CAA), a non-profit group working to improve children's health, education and security through advocacy. Mr. Lewis is also active in the parents' group for St. Peter's Indian Mission School in Bapchule. (Source: Gila River Indian Community)