Osage Nation Principal Chief John Red Eagle has appointed two additional people to fill the remaining vacancies on the Nation’s Gaming Enterprise Board and Gaming Commission.
Nicole (Tallchief) Pratt (Osage) has been named to the Gaming Commission. She joins Doug Revard and Fred Beartrack who were named and confirmed to the gaming commission in May.
Pratt works as manager of cash and corporate accounting services for The Nordam Group in Tulsa, according to the Executive Branch. Her work focuses managing finances including accounts payable, accounts receivable and developing policies and procedures for compliance objectives. She held a similar post while previously working for Hilti Inc., also in Tulsa.
Pratt’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the ON Congress during its Hun-Kah Session next spring.
Fifth appointee named for gaming board
Chief Red Eagle has named Ralph Haymond (Pawnee) to the newly expanded Gaming Enterprise Board.
Haymond, who has previously worked in gaming operations for other Oklahoma tribes, fills the remaining seat on the newly expanded Gaming Enterprise Board.
Haymond’s experience includes serving as general managers for the Pawnee Nation’s Travel Plaza and Casino & Trading Post operations; general manager of the Otoe-Missouria’s Seven Clans Casino; director of tribal enterprises for the Iowa Tribe; and finance director for the Pawnee Nation.
Also appointed this fall for the gaming board were Candy Thomas (Osage) and Randy Carnett. All three will be subject to Congressional confirmation during the Hun-Kah Session. The other two board members are Stacy Laskey and Aaron Bighorse.
Congressional legislation passed during the Tzi-Zho Session which expanded the Gaming Enterprise Board from three to five members. Last year the Gaming Commission was expanded, via legislation, to three members from a single gaming commissioner position.
Polacca worked for more than two years at The Forum newspaper, which covers the Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., metropolitan area as a weeknight reporter. Polacca previously worked as a reporter for reznetnews.org, an online newspaper. He holds an English degree from Arizona State University and studied news writing at the American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota.
