Hon. Thomas Daschle
Senator Tom Daschle is Special Policy Advisor in Alston & Bird’s Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the Legislative and Public Policy Group.

With more than 25 years of service in the House of Representatives and the Senate and 10 years as Senate Democratic Leader, Senator Daschle has played an instrumental role in the development of U.S. legislative and regulatory policy.

In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served until 1986 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. In his first year, he was appointed to the powerful Senate Finance Committee, an unusual honor for a freshman. He became Minority Leader of the Senate in 1994 and Majority Leader in 2001. He is the second longest serving Democratic Leader in history. During his tenure in Washington, D.C., he served as co-chair of the Democratic Policy Committee and the Democratic Conference.

He served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command. After military service, he spent five years as an aide to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk.

Senator Daschle is a graduate of South Dakota State University and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Political Science.

Jacqueline Johnson
Jacqueline Johnson is the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which was founded in 1944 and is the oldest and largest tribal government organization in the United States. Prior to joining NCAI in June 2001, Johnson served as deputy assistant secretary for Native American Programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provide affordable housing for Native Americans.

Previously, Johnson served as the executive director of the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority headquartered in Juneau, Alaska and she is a former Vice-Chair of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. She served as chairperson of the National American Indian Housing Council and was appointed to the National Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Housing.

She also has served on the National Community Development Financial Institution Fund Advisory Board, an advisory board to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She is a member of the Raven/Sockeye Clan of the Tlingit Tribe and is a former member of the Central Council of the Tlingit-Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Currently, Johnson serves on a variety of national executive committees, including the executive board for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; the National Conference for Community and Justice and National Voices. She is also a board member of Sealaska Corporation, an Alaska Native regional corporation. In her commitment to American Indian youth development, Johnson sits on the Native American Advisory Council for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Hon. Chris Nelson
Chris Nelson is currently serving as South Dakota's Secretary of State after been elected in the 2002 general election. His responsibilities include overseeing the conduct of elections for South Dakota.

Prior to becoming Secretary of State, Chris held the position of state election supervisor in the secretary of state's office for 13 years and was uniform commercial code supervisor in the same office for two years.

Following graduation from White Lake High School, Chris graduated from South Dakota State University in 1987 with highest honors receiving a bachelors degree in Animal Science.