The Nixyaawii Governance Center in Mission, Ore., on April 30, 2024
Antonio Sierra / OPB
The top employee for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is stepping down.
The tribes announced that the CTUIR Board of Trustees voted Monday to accept executive director Don Sampson’s resignation effective May 10, ending his second stint as the administrative head of the government for the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes.
Travis Snell, a spokesperson for the CTUIR, said Sampson resigned for “personal reasons” but did not elaborate further.
“We thank Don for all his time and service he dedicated to the CTUIR and its people,” Chairman Gary Burke said in a statement. “During his most current stint as executive director Don not only kept the departments performing at a high level, but he also contributed to the success of the tribe in areas such (as) adoption of the Climate Adaptation Plan, ongoing housing projects and several other important Board priorities. We wish Don nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”
Sampson has a long history of tribal leadership. He served as the elected chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1993 to 1997 and later worked as executive director from 2003 to 2010. Between those two roles, Sampson was the director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, an organization that advances tribal rights and salmon conservation in the Columbia River Basin.
The tribes rehired Sampson in 2021, taking over the job after a series of interim directors, a group that included Chuck Sams, who would go on to become the director of the National Park Service.
The Board of Trustees appointed deputy director JD Tovey as the interim executive director during the search for Sampson’s permanent replacement.
“The CTUIR has a lot of ongoing and very important projects and priorities, and I look forward to working with the CTUIR staff on completing them,” Tovey said in a statement.
Before ascending to the deputy position in 2023, Tovey was the tribes’ planning director, where he worked on tribal housing projects and Kayak Public Transit, the tribes’ regional public transportation system. Gov. Tina Kotek appointed Tovey to the state’s Housing Production Advisory Council last year.
