Treasurer
(Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation)

Donald G. Sampson is the director of Native programs at Ecotrust, a nonprofit organization founded in 1991 and based in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Sampson also served as the executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) located in northeastern Oregon, a position he held from 2003 to 2010. He was responsible for more than 1,500 employees and a $194 million operating budget to oversee all business and government operations. The CTUIR is the government of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes – a confederation formed by treaty in 1855.

Mr. Sampson also served as the executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for five years. The Commission was established by the Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla, and Nez Perce Indian tribes in 1977 and assists these tribes with management of the Columbia Basin’s salmon resources. He was also chairman of the CTUIR board of trustees, an elected position he held from 1993 to 1997.

Mr. Sampson has held numerous advisory and elected board positions including the Earth Conservation Corps Board, Spirit of the Salmon Fund, Oregon Chapter of the American Leadership Forum, Bonneville Environmental Fund, American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee, and Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Chair. In 2002, the Ford Foundation named him as a recipient of the Leadership for a Changing World award, a program that recognizes up to 20 community leaders throughout the nation.

He is an enrolled member of the CTUIR with Walla Walla tribal heritage and lives in Hood River, Oregon.  Mr. Sampson attained a bachelor’s degree in fisheries resource management from the University of Idaho.