2014 NACC Hall of Fame Inductee
Chris E. McNeil, Jr.
Chris E. McNeil, Jr., is widely recognized for his thirteen years as President and CEO of Sealaska Corporation (2001-2014), the largest Alaska Native regional corporation created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Since 1978, he also served in various capacities at Sealaska Corporation, including corporate secretary, executive vice president and general counsel, and member of the board of directors.
McNeil is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Nisga’a Tribes and a member of the Tlingit Tribe’s Dakl’aweidí (Killer Whale) Clan from Alaska. He earned an AB in political science from Stanford in 1970, an MA from Yale and a JD from Stanford Law School in 1978. While at Stanford, he distinguished himself as a founding member of the Stanford American Indian Organization and as one of the first graduate student interns to develop American Indian programming. He was instrumental in the successful national campaign to remove the “Indian” as the official Stanford mascot.
He has built upon his leadership of Sealaska to serve not only tribal member shareholders, but also all Alaska Natives in the areas of voting rights, hunting and fishing rights, cultural site protection, education, economic development and job creation.
McNeil served as special counsel to the Alaska Federation of Natives, and as Washington Representative and Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. His board service includes the ANSCA Regional Association, the Executive Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, the Smithsonian’s National Board, and as chair of the Native American Rights Fund. He was honored as the Alaska Federation of Natives’ 2007 Citizen of the Year, and received the Henry Roe Cloud Alumni Award 2008 from Yale University.
