Board of Directors

Maria Dadgar is an enrolled member of the Piscataway Tribe of Accokeek, Maryland. Maria has worked in the fields of Higher Education, Non-Profit Executive Management and Tribal Economic Development for more than 18 years. Throughout her career, Maria has been involved in advocating for public policies and legislation on behalf of tribal nations regarding Economic Development, Health Policy and American Indian Education. Currently, Maria holds the position as Executive Director of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona which serves 21 member tribal nations by leveraging state and federal resources on their behalf.

Previous positions include: Program Manager for American Indian Studies at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Executive Director of Atlatl National Native Arts Network, Phoenix, AZ; National Program Manager for the Kaiser Family Foundation American Indian Health Policy Fellowship at First Nations Development Institute; and Acting President/CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development in Mesa, AZ.

Maria launched her career in non-profit management as Co-Founder/National Program Coordinator of Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS) at American University in Washington, D.C. During the 1990s and under Maria’s direction, WINS was selected as one of “America’s Best Practices,” by President Clinton’s Race Relations Commission for outstanding educational/work experience opportunity for American Indian college students. In addition to working at American University, Maria volunteered with the Clinton/Gore Re-election Team in the Office of Public Liaison, the Native American Desk at the DNC, Native Vote 96 as well as, the 1996 Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Maria holds an Associate’s Degree in Journalism/Mass Communications from Prince George’s Community College in Largo, MD, a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from American University in Washington, D.C., and a MBA from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Among several organizations, Maria serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Miracle House Foundation at Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and is an active member of the Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society in Business, Grand Canyon University Chapter.

Kris Rhodes (enrolled Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and descendent of Fond du Lac Chippewa) earned a Master’s of Public Health degree in Public Health Administration & Policy and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Community Health Education both from the University of Minnesota. Her professional work has focused on improving the health of American Indian health communities always with a community-led focus. She has developed tribal and urban health programs, resources with a strong focus on evaluation and research in order to develop an evidence base for what works in Native communities. She is currently the CEO of the American Indian Cancer Foundation, a national organization dedicated to eliminating cancer burdens for American Indians. In this role, she has developed this organization from the ground up to develop the necessary capacity to address a broad spectrum of cancer issues among tribal communities.

She has developed tribal and urban health programs, resources with a strong focus on evaluation and research in order to develop an evidence base for what works in Native communities. She is currently the CEO of the American Indian Cancer Foundation, a national organization dedicated to eliminating cancer burdens for American Indians.  In this role, she has developed this organization from the ground up to develop the necessary capacity to address a broad spectrum of cancer issues among tribal communities.