Member Education Sessions: Voting and Civil Rights

Cheryl Ann Kary (Hunkuotawin) is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University of Mary, as well as Master’s Degrees in Management and in Business Administration. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication & Public Discourse from the University of North Dakota.

In 2013, Kary was awarded a Bush Foundation fellowship under which she developed and conducted a survey of off-reservation American Indians in the Bismarck-Mandan area. This work helped her establish the Sacred Pipe Resource Center (SPRC), a non-profit organization serving the American Indian population in Bismarck-Mandan. Kary has previously served as the Curriculum Development Specialist at the Native American Training Institute, the Research Director at United Tribes Technical College, the Executive Director for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and as a newspaper columnist for three regional newspapers.

Kary currently serves as the Executive Director of the SPRC. She has worked in and with Tribal communities and populations for the majority of her career and, in addition to professional responsibilities, Kary advocates for Native people and Tribes in a variety of volunteer efforts. Kary was named an OTA Builder in 2014, recognized for seeking creative ways to build civic and community engagement for American Indians in the Bismarck-Mandan area. In 2016, she was recognized as a Leading Lady by the Center for Technology in Business and she received the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition’s Arc of Justice Award for her work in civil and human rights. 

While she is an introvert by nature, Kary enjoys peopling in moderation. She is the mother of four children—Dalayne, Trevan, Tayson, and Tallon—and enjoys going to movies and reading in her spare time.

Ginny Underwood (she/her) is a communications consultant with more than 20 years of experience helping nonprofit organizations at the intersection of faith, social justice, and bettering the human condition to develop and implement strategic communications plans. She has a successful track record for blending social and traditional media for big impact.

She has helped organizations such as the Indian Law Resource Center and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of The United Methodist Church raise the visibility of their work and critical issues impacting Indigenous communities. The impact of those strategies resulted in policy change, new partnerships, and increased funding.

In 2021, she oversaw the marketing and communication launch of the world-class First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.

In addition, Ginny is a multimedia journalist focused on capturing authentic perspectives of Native communities through storytelling in print, video, and photography. She is passionate about improving the narrative about Native peoples in the United States through multimedia platforms.

Ginny is a citizen of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma and is also a Kiowa descendant.

Since 2022, Matthew Campbell has served at the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) as the organization’s Deputy Director. In that role, Matthew acts as a Corporate Officer and oversees the logistics and organizational strategy of deploying resources to support the caseload of staff attorneys who represent Indian Country from offices in Boulder, Anchorage, and Washington D.C. His goal is to continue to grow the organization’s capacity to support Indian Country.

Matthew originally joined NARF in March 2013 as a Staff Attorney, which was his dream job. As a Staff Attorney, Matthew had the opportunity to work on behalf of Tribal Nations in a broad range of roles across the field of Indian Law. He was a strong advocate for Tribal Education departments and provided specialized legal support to the Tribal Education National Assembly and its members. He sued the United States government multiple times on behalf of Tribal Nations protecting their homelands in Bears Ears National Monument and fighting against the threat of proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Matthew also was integral in the development of the Native American Voting Rights Coalition and the NARF voting rights practice group, leading the legal team that protected North Dakota voters from discriminatory laws passed by the state in 2013.

Bobby “Trae” Trousdale (he/him), a proud citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is a descendent of the Toupin family and was raised in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. Before joining NAP, Bobby “Trae” worked in student programming, advancement, and leadership within higher education. He also brings experience from the private sector in event planning, employee engagement, and executive operations.

Bobby “Trae” received a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Oklahoma City University. He holds an M.P.A. specializing in nonprofit administration and a graduate certificate in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma. His areas of research focused on issues of organizational diversity, community development, and Indigenous strategic planning.

In his free time, Bobby “Trae” volunteers with several local organizations including Sisu Youth Services, both Oklahoma City Pride organizations, and serves on the Board of Directors for the ACLU of Oklahoma. He also enjoys stickball, pickleball, antiquing, and exploring Oklahoma City’s local breweries with his spouse.. He is married to his college sweetheart, Taylor. Together they live on the Southside of OKC and have a dog and a cat, respectively named Timothy Gunnderson (à la Project Runway’s Tim Gunn) and Tamale.