Russell Begaye is a

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

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 () is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community on the Navajo Nation, Navajo reservation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 7,718 people in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, Begaye graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(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 ...

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 in 2005 was one of the largest seminaries in the wor ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Career

From 1977 to 2011, Begaye worked for the North American Mission Board. Begaye served on the

Navajo Nation Council The Navajo Nation Council () 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 Window Rock, Arizona. The counci ...

from 2011 until his election as

President of the Navajo Nation The President of the Navajo Nation is the Executive Branch of the Navajo Nation. The office succeeded the Chairman of the Navajo Nation, Tribal Chairman, being created during the 1991 Navajo national government restructuring, 1991 restructuring o ...

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. 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 the

Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...

. Due to the absence of Kyoon Chung Begaye in Navajo Nation affairs, the wife of Vice President Jonathan Nez took on the informal duties of First Lady 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begaye, Russell Living people 21st-century Native American politicians 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)