Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta | LLC Board Vice Chairman | Since 2008

Ben is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and is the current Director of Indian Studies for the St. Francis Mission. 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 early Director of the Lakota Language Department at Siŋté Glešká College, he has been involved with various aspects of the Lakota language teaching for five decades. He has set out to produce language materials to be used to document and teach the Lakota language and after five decades of work he has accomplished what he has intended to do.

Oglála Lakȟóta | Board Member | Since 2021

Richard is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and serves as adjunct faculty for the Oglala Lakota College. He has served on the Board of Directors of KILI Radio and for the former Wakanyeja Pawicayapi, Inc. (“The Children First”), a nonprofit culturally-based children’s and family mental health organization. He performs volunteer service on the Board of Directors of the Tiyospaye Sakowin Education and Healing Center, Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Organization and also with Tasunke Wakan Okolakiciye (Medicine Horse Society). For more than three decades he has provided Lakota cultural services to many tribal nations in the United States and Canada. He has extensive experience in development and training in the areas of Lakota mental health and wellness, Lakota language revitalization, cultural competency, child and family development and individual/family healing.

Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna and Mnikȟówožu | Board Member | Since 2010

Travis Condon, PharmD, joined the LLC board in 2010. 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. His youngest son’s first spoken word was Lakota.

Dakhóta iápi Okhódakičhiye | Board Member | Since 2010

Šišóka Dúta is an enrolled member of the Lake Traverse Reservation. He is a Dakȟóta language instructor at University of Minnesota (UMN) and is currently the board chair of Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye (DIO), a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to revitalizing the D dialect. He has spent the last 23 years learning the Dakota language and has grown up hearing the words and phrases from his grandparents and those around him. His curiosity as a teenager lead to his passion in Dakota language that encouraged him to enroll in Dakota language classes at the UMN. His early curiosity has inspired a strong relation to UMN encouraging students who sat where he once was as a learner. His job allows him to increase his knowledge and fluency through daily use of the language in classes.

Cheyenne River | Board Member | Since 2011

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.

Wičhíyena Dakota and Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta | Board Member | Since 2022

Tipiziwin is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Tipiziwin is currently a graduate student in the Master’s of Indigenous Language Revitalization at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is a substitute teacher in the Pullman School District in Pullman, Washington, as well as the co-owner of “Haipazaza Phezuta”. She is dedicated to bringing tribal language and culture to the forefront of conversations regarding public health disparities and social health determinants for indigenous communities and families with her position on the National Academies of Medicine’s Culture of Health Program Advisory Committee. Within her lived experience as an Indigenous scholar, Tribal Language Revitalization & Lakota Language Advocate and former Lakota Language immersion instructor, she is a living witness that Tribal Language & Education rooted in Indigenous Pedagogy, are the key and leading social determinants of health for tribal members and tribal communities across the United States.

CEO and Board Member | Since 2004

Wil Meya has committed decades to supporting the revitalization of the Lakota language. His journey began in 1994 when, as a college student, he relocated to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, with the intention of pursuing a BA in Lakota Studies at Oglala Lakota College.

Throughout the late 1990s, Meya maintained his involvement with Lakota school systems, particularly with language projects such as those at Loneman School, while he pursued a Master’s degree at the University of Arizona. Later, as a Ph.D. student at Indiana University, he became instrumental in organizing Lakota language teachers affiliated with the Oglala Nation Education Coalition (ONEC) and initiated early collaborative efforts among multiple schools to create educational materials for the schools in Pine Ridge.

The culmination of these endeavors gave rise to the establishment of the Lakota Language Consortium. In 2004, Meya, alongside Ullrich, Little Finger, Rood, Broken Nose, and Holy Rock, served as a founding member of the board. Meya continues to provide guidance to the organization providing strategic direction, crafting language materials and organizing events. Through his dedicated service, he has significantly contributed to the growth of LLC — positioning it as one of the most prominent initiatives for revitalizing indigenous languages in the United States. At the core of both Meya and the LLC’s philosophy is the belief that language serves as a beacon of hope and a means of healing.

Linguistic Director and Board Member | Since 2004

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.