Lynn Malerba \u201908 MPA became the first female chief of the Mohegan Tribe in modern history in 2010, and uses the lessons she learned in UConn\u2019s master\u2019s of public administration program on a regular basis in that role.<\/p>\n
She will now take her UConn degree to the national stage, as she was recently named Treasurer of the United States by President Joe Biden. She will be the first Native American to hold this position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to be chosen for the position of Treasurer,\u201d says Malerba. \u201cSince becoming Chief, I have done a lot of policy works at the federal level. I have done a lot of work with policy and issues around economic development for tribes and how we might improve some of the processes.”<\/p>\n
Malerba initially gained experience at the Department of the Treasury when she was appointed to the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cTribes are different from other local municipalities and state governments because we don\u2019t tax our citizens to provide services, we depend on economic development,” she says. “We want to make sure that we are able to level the playing field in terms of what tribes are able to do versus what municipalities are able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n