The Indian Gaming Association (IGA) Wednesday filled the vacancy of its vice presidency with a member of the Oneida Nation, the same tribe that produced the late Chair Ernie Stevens Jr. IGA also filled the role of treasurer.
Tehassi Hill is the current Chairman of the Oneida Nation. He replaces David Bean, the former vice president who was elevated to chair following the death of Stevens in September.
Michell Hicks, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, was elected to serve as IGA’s treasurer. Denise Harvey of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is the outgoing treasurer who did not seek re-election.
Both Hill and Hicks were sworn into office Wednesday following the election, according to Jason Giles, IGA’s executive director.
Hill defeated Rudy Wambsgans, gaming commission chair of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. Hicks defeated Chad Marchand, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state. He has served as chair of the Colville Tribal Gaming Commission and worked for the Federal Reserve in San Francisco.
Prior to his current role, Hill served two terms as an Oneida Business Committee Council Member for the Oneida Business Committee, the elected government officials for the Oneida Nation.
Stevens served on the Oneida Nation tribal council from 1993 to 1999 and was serving his 13th two-year term as chair of the IGA when he died unexpectedly of natural causes. Stevens’s term that’s filled by Bean will be up for election in April 2027 when IGA’s annual conference returns to Las Vegas.
Through his service as an elected leader, according to the tribe, Hill has demonstrated a commitment to preservation of the environment, Oneida language, culture, and traditions with a vision of sustainability, while working to exercise and protect the Nation’s sovereignty – what the tribe called the guiding principles that drive his work with the Oneida Nation and beyond.
On behalf of the Oneida Nation, Hill serves on the Board of Directors for the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council – a consortium of 11 tribes in Wisconsin and Lac Vieau Desert of Michigan and is liaison for the National Congress of American Indians. For the state of Wisconsin, Hill serves on the Natural Resources Damage Trustee Council and is a designee to Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Tribal Operating Committee.
Hill was born and raised on the Oneida reservation and graduated from Oneida Nation High School. He studied Business Administration at the University of Green Bay and operated a painting business for six years prior to working in government. Hill and his wife, Kanatihol, have nine children and reside in Oneida.
Hicks, a CPA, previously served three terms as principal chief and is a former executive director of Budget and Finance. Michell led the 15,000-member tribe through a period of remarkable economic development and cultural advancement.
“During his time in office, Michell has displayed significant foresight and resolve in the financial and strategic progress of the tribe. He has also established himself as a national leader in Indian Country,” according to the tribal website.
Michell is a graduate of Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of North Carolina Asheville. Michell and his wife, Marsha, reside in Cherokee with their five children: Savannah, Noah, Lynsey, Amaya and Marlee.
