LLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Leaders. Educators. Visionaries.
Board
DIVERSITY AND DEDICATION
It is their mission to honor the past and protect the future of Lakota.
CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS
Wilhelm Meya
Wil Meya is the Chairman of Lakota Language Consortium. He is a national advocate for endangered languages and draws on more than 20 years of experience in higher education, linguistics, and nonprofit management. Under Meya's leadership, the Consortium has become the chief promoter of action to protect Lakota language and preserve Lakota culture.
Yvonne Russo
Yvonne Russo (Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta) is an accomplished film producer who has developed and produced content for HBO, National Geographic, Discovery/TLC, The Smithsonian Channel and PBS. Her productions, centered on Native American themes and issues, have received awards from the Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance, the American Indian Film Festival, and First Americans in the Arts.
Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich, Ph.D., brings over 30 years of experience in language documentation, language analysis, curriculum development and teacher-training to his leadership of LLC's Lakota language revitalization work. Ullrich brings these skills and specializations in curriculum development and teacher-training to his leadership of LLC's Lakota language revitalization work.
Ben Black Bear
Ben Black Bear is the Vice Chairman of the LLC Board. He is the former Executive Director of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Tribal Land Enterprise and Tribal Vice President. As a fluent native speaker of Lakota and the former chair of the Lakota language department at Siŋté Glešká College, Black Bear has been involved with various aspects of the Lakota language for four decades.
Joe Bendickson
Joe Bendickson is a Dakota Instructor at the University of Minnesota. He is Šišókaduta (Red Robin) and has put the better part of a decade into his Dakota language study. Bendickson's job allows him to increase his knowledge and fluency through daily use of the language in classes.
Iris Eagle Chasing
Iris Eagle Chasing is a Lakota language teacher at Takini School in Howes, SD, on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. A grandmother and dedicated language activist, she has recorded female-voice Lakota speech for the New Lakota Dictionary-Online Audio project.
Travis Condon
Travis Condon, PharmD, joined the LLC board in 2012. He is Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna and Mnikȟówožu and has studied Lakota for years. He speaks Lakota to his clients at the Standing Rock Health Center and to his three young children, ages 1, 3, and 4. His youngest son’s first spoken word was Lakota.