New executive appointed over tribal government

The Colville Tribes has a new executive director in Cody Desautel.

"The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation has appointed Cody Desautel to serve as the Tribes' new Executive Director," stated Colville Business Council Chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson in a July 21 press release.

The executive director is the administrative head of tribal government and reports directly to the 14-member governing CBC.

"Cody is well known to us and to tribal membership due to his prior service as Natural Resources Director of the Tribes," Erickson said. "Cody has an established record of hard, quality work in service of the Tribes. The Business Council believes Cody is the right person to help lead the Tribes into the future."

Desautel grew up in Inchelium, graduating from high school there, then going on to receive a bachelor's degree in environmental science from Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, then a master's degree in Indian law from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

His appointment follows the death in late March of long-time executive director Francis Somday, who had held the position since October 2012.

As Natural Resources director, Desautel headed up a tribal division overseeing the operations of 16 tribal departments, ranging from Fish and Wildlife, Forestry and Environmental Trust to Parks & Recreation and Ferry/Transit.

As executive director he'll sit squarely on the tribal organizational chart between the council and nine major tribal divisions with some 77 departments and sub-agencies within them that comprise one of the largest employers in north central Washington.

Desautel was also recently appointed to sit on a new federal commission to recommend actions to take in a push to address the nation's wildfire crisis, one of 47 members appointed to the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission.

Desautel explained that the CCT will advertise for a new natural resource director, but that he "will retain some oversight of those functions."

Jacob Wagner contributed reporting for this story.