Carrie Billy

Carrie Billy, a member of the Navajo Nation, is the president and CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Through AIHEC, the nation’s 37 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) work toward strong sovereign nations through excellence in tribal higher education. Throughout her career, she has focused on developing equity-centered strategic initiatives and innovative policies and programs founded on tribal culture and values—including AIHEC AIMS, a comprehensive TCU data system, and the Indigenous Evaluation Framework, which incorporates Indigenous epistemology and core tribal values into a framework that integrates place, community, individuality, and sovereignty with Western evaluation practice. Billy has worked to forge partnerships and drafted legislation designating TCUs as 1994 land-grant institutions and creating a new federal designation for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Her career reflects a commitment to public service—protecting and promoting the cultures, rights, and well-being of American Indians and improving the quality of life and educational status of all. Billy has undergraduate degrees from the University of Arizona and Salish Kootenai College and a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center. She was appointed by former President William J. Clinton as the inaugural executive director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges.