Plenary Speakers
Opening Plenary
Moushumi Beltangady, Director, Tribal Early Childhood Division
Moushumi Beltangady is Director of the Tribal Early Childhood Division in the Office of Early Childhood Development within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, she oversees the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program and efforts to support the coordination of tribal early childhood programs across the government, including the Tribal Early Learning Initiative. Moushumi has a Masters in Social Services Administration from the Crown Family School and a Masters in Public Policy from the Harris School, both at the University of Chicago.
Mark Cruz, Director, Indian Health Service
Mark Cruz, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, currently serves as the 12th director of the Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The IHS operates as the 18th largest health care system in the nation and serves as the principal federal health care advocate and provider of health care services for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
In his role as director, Cruz oversees a nationwide health care delivery program that is responsible for providing preventive, curative, and community health care to approximately 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in hospitals, clinics, and other settings throughout the United States. He assumed his role with IHS in August 2026 and also continues to serve as the senior advisor to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the department’s Tribal programs.
Cruz has a well-established career in Indian Country, starting as a high school English teacher on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and holding several key positions in the State of Oregon and the U.S. House of Representatives. He worked extensively on Tribal policy issues as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita and legislative fellow in the office of U.S. Rep Tom Cole. During the first Trump Administration, Cruz served as deputy assistant secretary–Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Cruz holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Pepperdine University and earned a master’s degree in urban education policy from Brown University.
Mariah Gladstone (Piikuni/Blackfeet and Tsalagi/Cherokee), Founder of Indigikitchen
A RECIPE FOR RESILIENCE
Session Description: Mariah Gladstone will share the history of Indigenous food systems and the relationship between cultural identify, health, and native plants and animals to support child and family health.
Mariah Gladstone, Piikuni (Blackfeet) and Tsalagi (Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana on and near the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home where she began her work on food advocacy. She developed Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. She then earned a Master’s degree at SUNY-ESF in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Mariah has been recognized as a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow by the First Nations Development Institute, as well as a 2025 Castanea Fellow by the Earth Island Institute. She has shared the importance of reconnecting to traditional foods at events throughout North America and abroad, as well as through appearances on the Today Show, CBC, and numerous podcasts. In addition to all this, Mariah offers a variety of cultural experiences for visitors to the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park. Mariah released her first book, Mountains to Oceans: Kids’ Recipes from Native Land, in January 2025. In April 2026, Mariah appeared on Food Network’s Chopped Indigenous chefs’ challenge.
Day 2 Plenary
Tess Abrahamson-Richards, PhD, MPH, (Spokane Tribe), Assistant Professor of Native American Community Health, University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare
CENTERING NATIVE KNOWLEDGE IN HOME VISITING THROUGH COMMUNITY-LED DATA STORYTELLING
Session Description: Tess Abrahamson-Richards will highlight Native communities' unique contributions to home visiting knowledge and the potential for data sovereignty to advance family well-being and community self-determination.
Tess Abrahamson-Richards, PhD, MPH, is a citizen of the Spokane Tribe. Dr. Abrahamson-Richards serves as Assistant Professor of Native American Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare. She also works closely with Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services, where she previously served as the Director of Data Sovereignty. Hummingbird Data Sovereignty’s community-led data and evaluation work focuses on Indigenous home visiting, doula services, guaranteed income, and other related issues in the Western Washington region and nationally. Tess also works on research projects outside of Hummingbird focused on Indigenous reproductive justice, maternal health and economic policy, data justice, and holistic family wellbeing. Tess is a mother of two and is enjoying getting to know her new home in California with her family.
Closing Plenary
Kim Kovol, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Tribal Affairs
Kim Kovol serves as Principal Deputy Director for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, she supports ANA’s mission by advancing Tribal and Native community-led solutions that strengthen Native families and communities, promote self-sufficiency, expand economic opportunities and support cultural vitality.
Kovol brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience across the private sector and public service. Most recently, she served as Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Family and Community Services. In that role, she led work spanning child welfare, juvenile justice, psychiatric care, elder care and complex care. Her leadership focused on challenges that directly shape community stability. She worked side-by-side with communities to strengthen prevention, improve coordination across systems and expand culturally responsive, community-based resources. A consistent priority has been housing stability, grounded in her belief that a safe place to live is foundational to health, safety and long-term opportunity.
That experience supports ACF’s A Home for Every Child initiative, which focuses on strengthening foster home availability and improving outcomes for children in foster care. It also advances HHS’ Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda through a prevention-focused approach that strengthens community conditions tied to health, safety and family stability. Together, these priorities align with President Trump’s Executive Order, Fostering the Future for American Children and Families and First Lady Melania Trump’s whole-of-government commitment to improving outcomes for children in foster care.
Previously, Kovol served as Special Assistant to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy with a broad social services portfolio which encompassed homelessness, domestic violence and sexual assault, missing and murdered Indigenous persons, human trafficking, substance use and suicide prevention. That work reinforced her commitment to service and advocacy. It aligns closely with ANA’s focus on supporting Native communities as they build capacity and determine their own solutions.
Kovol earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and studies (K—8 Education) from San Diego State University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). She is a former Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Fellow with a focus on navigating autism services in Alaska. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education in Executive Leadership in Mental Health and Human Services at Houston Christian University.
A long-time Alaskan, Kovol is a proud mom of four. She stays connected to her community through service focused on children, hunger relief and homelessness. Outside of work, she enjoys bow hunting and is a longtime Star Wars fan and cosplayer.
Dorene Waubanewquay Day (Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe)
CULTURAL RECLAMATION AND HEALING
Session Description: Dorene Waubanewquay Day will discuss how families and communities can create access to Cultural Reclamation and Indigenous healing modalities for living “Mino biimaadiziiwin,” our “Good Life.”
Dorene Waubanewquay Day is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and an Indigenous knowledge holder and midwife for the past 48 years. Waubanewquay has dedicated her life to reclaiming traditional birth and healing practices. As a midwife trained in Indigenous birthing, she is committed to bringing together traditional healing and western medicine training to gatherings such as the Native Communities Home Visiting Meeting. Providing Indigenous Doula training, Cultural Safety training, and Spiritual/Cultural supports in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota for the past 11 years has increased access to informed care and traditional practices, greatly encouraging healthier birth outcomes for Indigenous communities. Efforts such as these have strongly aided our efforts of cultural reclamation and the healing for our future generations.
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