Russell Begaye is a

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...

politician who served as the 8th

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...

from May 2015 to January 2019. He was the second New Mexican Navajo to hold the Navajo Presidency.

Early life and education

Born in

Shiprock, New Mexico Shiprock ( nv, ) is a unincorporated community on the Navajo reservation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 7,718 people in the 2020 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Shi ...

, Begaye graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

(UCLA) in 1974 with a degree in political science. In 1977, Begaye received his

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

degree from the

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and is one of the largest seminaries in the world. It ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

Career

From 1977 to 2011, Begaye worked for the

North American Mission Board The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is the domestic missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It is involved in Southern Baptist church planting and revitalization, coordinating one of the United States's largest disaster relie ...

. Begaye served on the

Navajo Nation Council The Navajo Nation Council ( nv, Béésh bąąh dah siʼání) is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation government. The council meets four times per year, with additional special sessions, at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber, which is in Wi ...

from 2011 until his election as

President of the Navajo Nation The President of the Navajo Nation is the head of state of the Navajo Nation. The office was created in 1991 following restructuring of the national government. The President and Vice President are elected every four years. The Navajo Nation Pres ...

on April 4, 2015. Begaye was sworn into office on May 12, 2015 and served until January 8, 2019, when he was succeeded by Vice President

Jonathan Nez Jonathan Nez (born May 26, 1975) is the 9th and current President of the Navajo Nation. He was elected in the 2018 election after having served as Vice President from 2015 to 2019. Earlier in his career, Jonathan Nez served as a council delegat ...

. Begaye is currently a candidate for Navajo Nation Council (Shiprock) in the 2022 election. Begaye lost his election to incumbent Eugenia Charles-Newton.

Personal life

Begaye was married to Kyoon Chung Begaye, a dentist in

Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and th ...

. Due to the absence of Kyoon Chung Begaye in Navajo Nation affairs, the wife of Vice President

took on the informal duties of

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

of the Navajo Nation. In 2016, Begaye stated that his seventeen year-long marriage with Kyoon Chung Begaye was over. Begaye is not a native speaker of ''Diné'', the Navajo language.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begaye, Russell Living people 21st-century Native Americans New Mexico Democrats People from Shiprock, New Mexico People from Window Rock, Arizona Presidents of the Navajo Nation University of California, Los Angeles alumni Year of birth missing (living people)