She currently sits on the Governor’s Oversight Board for the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, is Chair to the Washington State DSHS Indian Policy Advisory Committee, and participates in local workgroups to further education and resources between the State and Tribe. Loni continues to partner with the State and local governments in the overall work to benefit Washington’s Tribal Nations. She currently serves as the Department’s Director. In 2017, her Tribe called her home to serve her people within the Social & Community Services Department. Additionally, another role was to educate state workers in the government-to-government relationship that the State has with its Federally Recognized Tribes. Both positions led to help create systems and policy that increases access to state services for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Her professional experience includes four years of working with the Washington State Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) as an Office of Indian Policy Regional Manager, and then as a Statewide Tribal Liaison. She graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Pacific Lutheran University in 2012, and her Masters of Public Administration with an emphasis in Tribal Governance from The Evergreen State College in 2016. Loni Grinnell-Greninger (“yúčciʔə”) was appointed to Tribal Vice Chair in January 2020, and elected in November 2020.
