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 A. David Lester (Muscogee Creek)
has served as the Executive Director of the Council
of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), based
in Denver, Colorado, since 1982. Under the direction
of the elected leadership of the 49 federally recognized
US Tribes and four First Nation Treaty Tribes of
Canada, CERT has dramatically restructured the federal-Indian
relationship with respect to minerals, mining, taxation,
and Tribal jurisdiction over environmental regulation
on Indian lands. CERT, through its energy forums
and conferences helps build understanding between
Tribal interests and those of the companies operating
within Tribal jurisdiction or doing business with
Tribes. A CERT priority is building understanding
of Tribal values with federal agencies and private
industry to enable Tribes to exercise their rights
of self-government and to use their energy resources
to build stable, diversified Tribal economies. CERT
has also contributed to the development of Tribal
competencies in energy and environmental resource
management through technical assistance, training
and education.
More recently CERT has taken a lead in helping Tribes,
government and private industry understand the opportunities
that Tribal status may provide for successful Tribal
energy enterprises and joint ventures. Electric
power market restructuring coupled with growing
Tribal economies and populations has led CERT to
develop in cooperation with the National Intertribal
Energy Network the National Indian Energy Vision
of Tribal Energy Sufficiency. This doctrine of energy
sufficiency provides the framework for federal power
allocations to Indian Tribes, development of Tribal
utilities and for development for Tribal use of
Indian conventional and renewable energy resources
as well as for Tribal-industry partnerships.
David is also president of the CERT Education Fund.
Under a special CERT education board, David provides
executive direction to the CERT Comprehensive Indian
Education Program that encourages through its activities
the development of Tribal human resources in science,
engineering and business. Nearly 1,000 Indian students
have benefited from the CERT Education Program.
Nearly 80% of the students who participate obtain
college degrees, one of the higher success ratios
for Indian students in the US. CERT also operates
an intern program and provides its program participants
financial assistance. The major support for the
CERT Education Fund’s programs comes from
private industry and voluntary contributions from
CERT member Tribes and individuals. Through the
annual American Spirit Award Dinner, CERT has raised
over $8 million since 1981. And the CERT member
Indian Pueblo Tribes each year sponsor with the
University of New Mexico the Pueblo Challenge golf
tournament that has raised since 1994 nearly $500,000.
Prior to joining CERT in 1982, David served as the
Commissioner for Native Americans in the Department
of Health and Human Services, a position to which
he was first appointed under President Carter in
1978 and later re-appointed by President Ronald
Reagan in 1980. While at the Administration for
Native Americans, David restructured its program
of “core administration” for Tribes
and urban centers into a development agency funding
projects that implement locally developed social
and economic development strategies (SEDS). This
innovative program design, still in use today, has
allowed Native communities and Indian Tribes to
greatly improve social service delivery, address
issues of environmental justice and builds Tribal
codes in taxation, environmental protection and
commerce. It has also provided vital funding support
to community and Tribal enterprise and job creation
as well as for protecting valuable cultural assets
including Native languages.
In 1970, David became the first president of the
United Indian Development Association in Los Angeles,
the predecessor organization to the National Center
for American Indian Enterprise Development. The
National Center is the leading Indian business ownership
program in North America, having assisted thousands
of Indian business owners obtain financing and contracts
with large companies and government agencies. David
until recently served as chairman of the board for
the National Center.
David graduated from Brigham Young University in
1967 with a degree in Political Science after serving
a mission for his church in South America. As an
undergraduate, he served as president of the Indian
student organization, The Tribe of Many Feathers.
Upon graduating, he joined the California Federal
Savings and Loan as a savings section head. In 1968-9
David, under the presidency of Mescalero Apache
leader, Wendell Chino, served as Economic Development
Specialist for the National Congress of American
Indians.
He serves the Institute of American Indian Arts
in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a member of the Board
of Trustees, is a Board Member of Americans for
Indian Opportunity and is a member of the National
Coal Council..
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