Dorma Sahneyah Departs NIWRC
Congratulations! New Executive Director for the Hopi Tribe
It is with great sadness that we must say goodbye to Dorma Sahneyah as the Director of Technical Assistance/Training within NIWRC. Dorma has been a part of NIWRC since the beginning. She started as one of our founding Board members in 2010, representing the Southwest region. In early 2011, she resigned as a Board member to apply for a position as Program Specialist. In 2015, she was promoted to the Director of TA/Training when NIWRC reorganized, while also maintaining an important role on our Policy team and OVW Tribal Coalitions TA project. Her wisdom and vision has been instrumental in guiding NIWRC’s ability to provide culturally relevant assistance and training to Indian tribes throughout the country.
We wish her the best in the next steps of her professional career. She leaves NIWRC to serve as the Executive Director for her home community, the Hopi Tribe in northern Arizona. This new challenge will offer her the opportunity to use the knowledge and skills gained throughout her prestigious career to oversee the Hopi Tribe’s 13 administrative departments and technical services/programs, providing leadership, strategic direction, and vision in managing operations of the Hopi tribal government.
Although we will miss Dorma as part of our NIWRC family, we acknowledge that all organizations go through change. If we are doing our job right, we will eventually see our own employees grow and eventually advance to the next level of their work, as Dorma is now doing to help build the movement, using what she has gained from her time at NIWRC toward a more holistic vision for her home community.
In Dorma’s own words, she says, “The past seven years have been very rewarding. I’ve enjoyed working for NIWRC, being a part of the movement on a national level to end violence against Native women has been worthwhile and gratifying. I have established a positive sisterhood with many and will always think kindly of the entire NIWRC family.” We echo these sentiments and then some.
With love and respect for our sister,
Lucy Simpson
Executive Director
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
