Carrie Billy

Carrie Billy, a member of the Navajo Nation, is former President & CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Through AIHEC, the nation’s Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) work toward Strong Sovereign Nations Through Excellence in TRIBAL Higher Education.

Ms. Billy’s career reflects a commitment to service -- protecting and promoting the cultures, rights and well-being of Indigenous peoples and improving their quality of life and educational status. She has worked in private law practice, the U.S. Senate, the federal Executive Branch, and the national non-profit sector. Throughout her career, Ms. Billy has focused on 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. She 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.”

Ms. Billy has undergraduate degrees from the University of Arizona and Salish Kootenai College and a Juris Doctorate from 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.