NaCRI Board
Maria Cardenas
Manchester Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians/ Michoacán/Latina, Associates Degrees in Human Services: Advocacy and in Human Services: Alcohol and Drug, NaCRI Board Secretary
Administrative Assistant, Indian Child and Family Preservation Program, Santa Rosa, California, including implementation of its Tribal Opioid Preservation Grant;
Working on Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work;
Former Substance Use Disorder Counselor with SUD Counselor Education Certification from the California Association of DUI Treatment Programs (CADTP);
Former Chair, Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education, Inc., Forestville, California
Former President, Native American Student Council, Santa Rosa Junior College
Gregg Castro
t’rowt’raahl Salinan/rumsien Ohlone
Board member, Salinan T’rowt’raahl, a Salinan advocacy group (1993-present);
Founding member and past Chair, Salinan Nation Tribal Council (1993-2002)
Principal Cultural Consultant to the Ramaytush Tribal Chair, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (2018-present)
Chair, Native American Programs Committee, Society for California Archaeology (1993-present)
Founder and Advisor, California Indian History Curriculum Coalition (2014-present)
Past Advisor, California Indian Storytellers Association (1996-2002)
Volunteer CIC Co-Facilitator (2010-present)
Published author (1993-present)
Beverly R. Ortiz
Ph.D. (Cultural Anthropology, UC Berkeley), NaCRI Board Chairperson
Ethnographic Consultant (1996-present)
Retired Cultural Services Coordinator, and former Naturalist, Ohlone Intern Program Coordinator, Docent Coordinator, and Founder and Coordinator, Gathering of Ohlone Peoples, East Bay Regional Park District (1980-2019)
Published author (1978-present), including service as Contributing Editor and Columnist (Skills and Technology and Elders), News from Native California (1988-present)
Member, board member, chair, president, advisor, and/or founder of varied commissions, task forces, committees, organizations, and nonprofits (1985-present)
Volunteer CIC Co-Facilitator (2010-present)
Kanyon “Coyote Woman” Sayers-Roods
Mutsun Ohlone and Chumash, B.S. (Web Design and Interactive Media, Art Institute of California)
CEO, Kanyon Konsulting, and Cultural Director and COO, Costanoan Indian Research (2018-present)
“Indigenous Generalized Specialist,” including service as an activist, educator, artist, and published author, and catalyst of decolonizing conversations (2013-present)
Founder, Indian Canyon Two-Spirit Society (2012-present)
Cultural representative, Most Likely Descendant, and Native Monitor, Indian Canyon Mutsun Band of Costanoan Ohlone People (2013-present)
Facilitator, Integrated Water Resource Management Program for Association of Ramaytush Ohlone and Him.re-n of Ohlone, Bay Miwok and Delta Yokuts (2018-present)
Sherrie Smith-Ferri
Ph.D. (Anthropology, University of Washington), Dry Creek Pomo/Bodega Miwok, NaCRI Board Vice-Chairperson
Consultant and/or Exhibition Curator for national, state, and regional museums; parks and other public agencies; and varied organizations and nonprofits (1995-present)
Retired Director and one-time Curator, Grace Hudson Museum and Sun House, Ukiah, including the founding of its outdoor education project, “The Wild Gardens” (1995-2020)
Board Member, Council for Museum Anthropology, National Collaborative of Women’s History Sites, and Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology’s Native American Advisory Council
Published author (1993-present)