Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Executive Education Certificate

Professor Danielle Finn serves as the Program Director of the Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program and Assistant Professor-in-Residence. She holds a life appointment to the bench as an Associate Judge for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Previously, Professor Finn was an Adjunct Professor for Sinte Gleska University, the Native American Affairs Advisor for the Office of the Governor of the State of Minnesota and the External Affairs Director for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. 

Professor Finn obtained an LL.M. from the University of Oklahoma in Indigenous Peoples Law and a J.D. from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law with a Certificate in Global Arbitration from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She has received numerous accolades over her career including but not limited to: The National Judicial College’s 1 of 60 Courageous Judges in 2023, 2020-2022 United State of Women Ambassador, North Dakota Leading Lady by the North Dakota Women’s Business Center in 2019, and 1 of 50 Faces of Indian Country by Indian Country Today Media Network in 2016. Professor Finn is Hunkpapa Lakota, Inhanktowan Dakota, and Hohé Nakota and is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Addie C. Rolnick is a scholar of Indian and Tribal law. Her research focuses on Indigenous justice systems, Native people’s encounters with non-Tribal systems, and countering equal protection-based attacks on Indigenous rights. She is a national leader in the area of Native youth and juvenile justice/child welfare. She has testified twice before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and regularly advises national policymakers. For the INGG Program, she teaches Tribal Law & Governance, Federal Indian Law, and a seminar on Crime & Justice in Indian Country. She also teaches courses in criminal and juvenile law, critical race theory, and civil rights. 

Professor Rolnick is also the Associate Director of UNLV’s Program on Race, Gender & Policing and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineeringʻs Committee on Law and Justice. From 2020-2022, she was a member of the NASEMʻs Ad Hoc Committee on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System. In 2021, she served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Washington, where she taught American Indian Law. Prior to joining UNLV, she was the inaugural Critical Race Studies Law Fellow at UCLA School of Law. She has also represented Tribal governments as an attorney and lobbyist with Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry, LLP in Washington, D.C., and worked as a legislative drafting consultant to Tribal governments. She received her J.D. and M.A. in American Indian Studies from UCLA.

With a career spanning nearly 30 years, John Tahsuda has extensive experience in matters affecting Native Americans and Tribal governments. He is a principal with Navigators Global, LLC, a full-service issues management, government relations, and strategic communications firm located in Washington, D.C.  He is also the Managing Member of Innovative Tribal Strategies LLC, an Indian-owned consultancy that provides strategic advice to Indian Nations on business and government matters. Professor Tahsuda also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Kiowa Casino Operations Authority.  The Kiowa Casino Operations Authority is a wholly owned economic enterprise of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and is charged with building and operating gaming facilities and ancillary businesses for the Kiowa Tribe. 

Before rejoining Navigators Global, Professor Tahsuda served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior after serving two years as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs. In previous positions, he has also served as the staff director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, general counsel and legislative director of the National Indian Gaming Association, general counsel for the Oneida Indian Nation, and adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School. He has worked on a wide range of issues relating to federal policy and legislation affecting federal recognition, gaming, self-governance, natural resources, Indian health care and Indian education.  Professor Tahsuda is dedicated to applying this experience and knowledge to the advancement of Tribal sovereignty and the betterment of Tribal communities. He is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. He received a Juris Doctorate from Cornell Law School and B.S. in Organizational Management from Oklahoma State University. He is also the proud father of triplets.

Kathryn Rand, J.D. is a Visiting Professor in the William S. Boyd School of Law’s Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program and Senior Distinguished Fellow in Tribal Gaming at the International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At UNLV, Rand teaches Indian Gaming Law, Guided Research and Writing in Indian Gaming, and Tribal Sports Betting, and is a Faculty Advisor to the UNLV GAMING LAW JOURNAL. Rand also is Chester Fritz Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota, where she served Dean of Law. With Steve Light, Rand co-founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy as the first academic institute dedicated to tribal gaming. Rand and Light are widely regarded as leading academic experts on tribal gaming and have published, presented, and consulted extensively on its law, policy, regulation, and socioeconomic impacts. They are coauthors of three books considered standards in the field: INDIAN GAMING LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS, INDIAN GAMING LAW AND POLICY, and INDIAN GAMING AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: THE CASINO COMPROMISE, spotlighted on C-SPAN’s BOOK TV, along with over 75 additional publications related to tribal gaming. Rand and Light have testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and have been featured 

Steve Light, Ph.D. is a Visiting Professor in the William S. Boyd School of Law’s Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program and Senior Distinguished Fellow in Tribal Gaming at the International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At UNLV, Light teaches Guided Research and Writing in Indian Gaming, Tribal Sports Betting, Current Issues in Tribal Gaming, and Law & Leadership, and is a Faculty Advisor to the UNLV GAMING LAW JOURNAL. Light also is Chester Fritz Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota, where he served as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Nursing & Professional Disciplines, and Dean of Business & Public Administration. With Kathryn Rand, Light co-founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy as the first academic institute dedicated to tribal gaming. Light and Rand are widely regarded as leading academic experts on tribal gaming and have published, presented, and consulted extensively on its law, policy, regulation, and socioeconomic impacts. They are coauthors of three books considered standards in the field: INDIAN GAMING LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS, INDIAN GAMING LAW AND POLICY, and INDIAN GAMING AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: THE CASINO COMPROMISE, spotlighted on C-SPAN’s BOOK TV, along with over 75 additional publications related to tribal gaming. Light and Rand have testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and have been featured speakers at universities and gaming industry events throughout the world. They both serve on the Editorial Board of the GAMING LAW REVIEW and the Education Committee of the International Masters of Gaming Law, for which Rand is a Vice President. Light and Rand have been quoted or interviewed in such diverse media as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Las Vegas Weekly, New Republic, NPR’s Marketplace, Bloomberg, the Boston Globe, Indian Country Today, Tribal Business News, and C-SPAN’s Book TV.