Media Contact: 
Paloma Perez
Paloma.Perez@fcc.gov 

For Immediate Release

CHAIRWOMAN ROSENWORCEL ANNOUNCES NEW OFFICE LEADERSHIP 
Rosenworcel Welcomes Bambi Kraus as Chief of the Office of Native Affairs and Policy
  -- 
WASHINGTON, September 27, 2022—Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today announced Denise Bambi Kraus will serve as the Chief of the Office of Native Affairs and Policy.  As Chief, Ms. Kraus will further the Commission's efforts to bring the benefits of modern communications to all Native communities.  

The Office of Native Affairs and Policy (ONAP) assists the Commission in developing policies and programs to address the lack of adequate communications services on Tribal lands nationwide.  It also plans and leads the Commission's outreach to Tribal governments and organizations, to increase their awareness and participation in Commission initiatives and proceedings.  Additionally, Ms. Kraus will be responsible for overseeing the work of the Native Nations Communications Task Force as part of her role as Chief.

“I am thrilled Bambi is joining us.  Her wealth of experience will be an asset as we advance the agency’s work to ensure modern communications reaches us all, including Native communities,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel. 

The Office of Native Affairs and Policy under the leadership of Bambi Kraus will focus on four priority areas:
1. Mapping: ONAP will lead Tribal consultation and provide technical assistance to ensure all Tribal Nations have the support that they need to participate in the agency's ongoing broadband data collection effort and expand the accuracy of the FCC's broadband availability maps. 
2. Access: ONAP will lead a Tribal Nation engagement strategy to connect Tribal libraries through the agency's E-rate program. 
3. Affordability: ONAP will continue to work closely within Native country to promote the Affordable Connectivity Program and its enhanced Tribal benefit. 
4. Sustainability: ONAP's Native Nations Taskforce will work to develop a framework for long term telecommunications infrastructure sustainability.

Prior to joining the FCC, Ms. Kraus served as the National Tribal Affairs Advisor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Her other previous leadership roles included serving as a founder and executive director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, a national nonprofit organization devoted to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian cultural preservation.

Since graduating from Stanford University, Ms. Kraus has resided in Washington, DC, and has been committed to working with and advocating for Native rights.  She worked as a senior advisor for President Clinton's Initiative on Race, assistant director of the National Indian Policy Center, and museum technician at the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution.

Ms. Kraus is Tlingit with family from Kake, Alaska.  Among other achievements, she completed a children's book in 1998 with and about her mother, Frances Nannauck Kraus.  

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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).