Board Leadership
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Jean-Luc Pierite
Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
President of the Board
Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Jean-Luc now resides in Jamaica Plain. Prior to his election to the Board of Directors, Jean-Luc was also elected to the Community Linguist seat of the Advisory Circle for CoLang for the period 2016-20. The Institute on Collaborative Language Research or "CoLang" is designed to provide an opportunity for community language activists and linguists to receive training in community-based language documentation and revitalization. Currently, Jean-Luc volunteers with his Tribe's Language and Culture Revitalization Program which is a collaboration with Tulane University in New Orleans. This program is based on tradition passed from Jean-Luc's great-grandfather Joseph Alcide Pierite, Sr., last traditional chief and medicine man of the Tunica-Biloxi. The Tribe is an amalgamation of members from the Central Louisiana communities of: Tunica, Biloxi-Choctaw, Ofo, and Avoyel.

Jean-Luc has a B.A. in Humanities with a co-major in Mass Communication and Japanese from Dillard University in New Orleans. He also earned an A.S. in Video Game Design from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. Jean-Luc currently is the International Procurement and Logistics Manager for The Fab Foundation. The Fab Foundation was formed in 2009 to facilitate and support the growth of the international fab lab network as well as the development of regional capacity-building organizations. The Fab Foundation is a US non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that emerged from MIT’s Center for Bits & Atoms Fab Lab Program.

Jean-Luc's previous positions include: Internet Marketing Specialist for Mohegan Sun, and Graphic Artist for Paragon Casino Resort. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2017.

Patricia Landry
Vice President of the Board
Patricia Landry has been involved with the Center since its early days as the Boston Indian Council (BIC). In 1969, Pat was part of the street team that provided community members with resources, a person to discuss concerns, and Sunday night supper at a church in the South End. Based on the information the street team gathered, the first proposal to operate the Boston Indian Center, then located in Dorchester, was written and funded. In the 1970’s, the BIC relocated to the Center’s current location on South Huntington Avenue. At that time, Pat became the Social Service Coordinator. In this role, she continued her community work in the streets of Boston, connecting with individuals and families to assist with issues related to the Department of Social Services, welfare, utilities, access to food, housing, court cases, and the rights of Native American inmates at Norfolk Prison. From 1975 to 1976, Pat coordinated volunteers for the Prisoner Rights Group for weekly meetings at Norfolk Prison. During this time Pat was also able to secure funding for the BIC Emergency Food Program.

In 1981, Pat was accepted into Wheelock College. While at Wheelock, she worked as a Teacher’s Assistant at Action for Boston Community Development’s (ABCD) Parker Hill/Fenway Head Start program. After earning her Bachelor of Science from Wheelock College in 1991, Pat was promoted to Teacher at the same head start program. In 1993, Pat worked with Marie Galvin, then Executive Director for ABCD, and Joanne Dunn, then Executive Director for NAICOB, to bring ABCD’s Head Start program to NAICOB. Pat served as the Director of the Native American Head Start Program until the program was closed. Under her direction, NAICOB’s Head Start program received a prestigious 98-point accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Pat has a Bachelor of Science in Primary Grade Teaching from Wheelock College and is a recipient of Wheelock’s Gwen Morgan Emerging Leadership Award. She is a Masters Degree candidate at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Pat has served on the Board of Directors for the Boston chapter of the National Association of Education of Young Children and for the Family and Friends of Prisoners. She is a member of the Professional Educators Allied for a Safe Environment.
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Ever an advocate for educational and personal advancement, she lives by the belief "I am also emerging." Pat was elected to the Board in 2017.

Dedra Ko
Cherokee, Haliwa Saponi and Mohawk
Treasurer of the Board 
Dee Ko is from Massachusetts; she is Cherokee, Haliwa Saponi and Mohawk. In 1991, Dee received her FCC license in Radio and TV communication. She worked with Brookline community cable as a camera operator on various programs out in the field. Dee transitioned careers and went on to work at OB/GYN at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber in hematology and assisted with medical procedures for cancer research. 

In 2002 and 2004 she received 3 awards for her wampum designs and regalia accessories at the Schemitzun Pow Wow and Art Show. She continues to create jewelry with wampum and whelk as well as beadwork and other traditional mediums, that can be seen at the annual Craft Fair at NAICOB during December. As a long time member of NAICOB she volunteered with the youth program for several years and provided transportation to other members when needed. 

Now retired, Dee is a Grandmother and spends time teaching her grandson the importance of growing your own food and all things related to her culture. The most enjoyable part of life is giving back says Dee; helping others in itself is the reward. Dee was elected to the Board of Directors in 2017.

Wunnamwau Tom Frederick
T'chepi Aquidenet Mâsach8sut
Tom Frederick was born in Boston, Massachusetts and has attended many functions at NAICOB in his youth.  In 1982 he graduated from Boston City Hospital School of Nursing with a specialty in Emergency Room and Trauma which eventually led to his transitioning into Community Health and Wellness. In the Late eighties and early nineties Tom lived on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with relatives, learning traditional Native American practices, this experience would later enable him to refine standard nursing approaches and combine it with alternative Native healing modalities.
 
In 1992 Tom became a Certified Instructor for the Department of Child and Family Services, Model Approach to Partnership and Parenting and later,  welcoming the opportunity to serve as the Director of MSPCC Adoption Program in Brockton, MA. His continued interests led him to Found the OMC All Nations Church and the School of Earth Medicine in 1998; designed to instruct Physicians, Nurses and others on the benefits of incorporating Wellness, Healing and Spirituality, this became formally recognized in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on March 14, 2006 and continues to be a valuable guest Speaker and Lecturer on this topic.
 
On April 1, 2018 He was awarded the Global Health and Pharma Award for Excellence in the field of Alternative Medicine & Holistic Health. Through Education Tom continues to advocate for Native American Awareness Rights and for the Preservation of Traditional ways.  Tom was elected to the Board of Directors in 2018.

Gareth Howlingcrane
Cheyenne and Pawnee
Gareth Howlingcrane is a plaster and stucco construction applicator in and around Boston. Gary arrived in Boston in 1999. His Cheyenne-Pawnee heritage quickly guided him to NAICOB, where he completed computer classes and found community. Through his work on the Board of Directors, Gary hopes is to see the younger generation achieve greatness and for elders to be a source of cultural resilience.

Gary has come along way from the boarding schools he attended. After graduating from Concho and Riverside Indian school in Oklahoma, he studied in HVAC through Job Corps. Gary also studied architectural systems at Massasoit Community College. Gary was elected to the Board in 2009 and is now serving serving in his fifth term.

Isaac Daniel Moore 
Tsétsêhéstâhese (Northern Cheyenne) 
  
Isaac comes from southeastern Montana, where he grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. A direct descendant of Chief Morning Star, better known as Dull Knife, Isaac studied Cheyenne history, culture, and language as a child. This early passion for historical inquiry has played a large role in Isaac’s journey from Montana to New York, Budapest, and Boston. 
 
A graduate of Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley in 2013, Isaac holds a Bachelor of Arts in History with a concentration in Jewish Studies. After leaving Bard, Isaac went to Europe and earned a Master of Arts in Comparative History from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, in 2014. With this academic background in cultural history, previously focused on Spanish and Jewish history, Isaac enjoys continuing to study the history and culture of Native American and Indigenous North American communities.   
 
Prior to moving to Boston in fall 2015, Isaac completed a yearlong fellowship at the National Yiddish Book Center, a nonprofit organization in Amherst, MA, dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Yiddish culture and language, where he supported the work of the Wexler Oral History Project and conducted oral history interviews. 
 
Currently residing in Somerville, Isaac works as a faculty assistant at Harvard Law School and is interested in pursuing higher education as a career with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Isaac is interested in oral history, cultural preservation, and institutional development—areas that he aspires to focus on as a NAICOB board member. 

Contact any member of the Board of Directors at boardofdirectors@naicob.org.