Board of Directors

Mary L. Smith
President

Mary Smith is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and the former chief executive of the Indian Health Service, which is the $6 billion agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for providing federal health services to over 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives across the country. Mary also serves as the national secretary of the American Bar Association and is a past president of the National Native American Bar Association.  She was also previously responsible for Native American policy in the White House. Her undergraduate degree is in mathematics and computer science, and she worked as a systems programmer prior to attending law school at the University of Chicago.

Ruth A. Bahe-Jachna
Treasurer

Ruth Bahe-Jachna is a principal shareholder with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, in their Chicago office.  Ruth has been at Greenberg Traurig for 18 years, and represents clients in a wide variety of litigation matters, including class actions and multi-district litigation.  Ruth also regularly takes on litigation matters on a pro bono basis to ensure that legal services are available to those who may need it most but are least able to afford it.  She has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer in Illinois since 2011, and in 2012 and 2018 was recognized as one of the top 100 Women Business Lawyers in Illinois by Leading Lawyers.  Ruth has been active in the American Bar Association Section of Litigation leadership for over 20 years, and also serves as a member of the Board of Regents at her alma mater, Wartburg College, where she and her husband endowed scholarships in honor of her parents.  Ruth received her B.A. in journalism and philosophy from Wartburg College, and her J.D. degree from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.
 

Jacqueline Pata
Board Member

Jacqueline Pata is the President/CEO at Tlingit and Haida Regional Housing Authority in Juneau, Alaska. She previously served as the Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians. She is a member of the Raven/Sockeye Clan of the Tlingit Tribe (pronounced – Kling-get) and is the 6th Vice President for the Central Council of the Tlingit-Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She serves on a variety of national executive boards, including as Vice President for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Board Member for the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian. She is also the Vice Chair of Sealaska Corporation, an Alaska Native regional corporation. In her commitment to American Indian youth development, Pata sits on the Native American Advisory Council for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Prior to joining NCAI in June 2001, Pata served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Lawrence Baca
Board Member

Lawrence Baca, now retired, is a former Deputy Director of the Office of Tribal Justice at the United States Department of Justice and a 32 year Senior Trial Attorney with the Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice.  He has also been an adjunct professor of Federal Indian Law at both Howard University School of Law and the American University Washington College of Law. Lawrence Baca is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara where he created his own degree in American Indian History and Culture.  He is a 1976 graduate of the Harvard Law School and while there was a Harvard Teaching Fellow in American Indian History at Harvard College.  A 2009-10 national president of the Federal Bar Association he was also a three term president of the National Native American Bar Association.

Vincent A. Eng
Board Member

Vincent A. Eng is a partner at the VENG Group where he works to diversify the federal judiciary. Vincent has been a leader in the non-profit community and has served as the Deputy Director of the Asian American Justice Center. Vincent started his career at the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program. In 2011, Vincent was named National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Interim Executive Director of the Year. He currently oversees the NAPABA Law Foundation, a 501C3 organization that provides scholarships, internships, and fellowships. He has taught law school for over twenty years, most recently at Columbia Law School. Vincent received his B.A. in politics from Brandeis University. He received his J.D. and M.S. in Criminal Justice from The American University.