Krista Saenz (President) is an Associate Attorney for the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, focusing on government and litigation. Prior to joining San Manuel, Krista worked as a law clerk for a tribal court judge serving several tribes across California. Krista received her J.D. from UC College of the Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), where she was an inaugural Restorative Justice Fellow as part of the school’s ongoing initiatives for reconciliation and partnership with tribal communities. She received her B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Member of the Conference Committee and Legal Journal Committee.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Member of the Conference Committee and Legal Journal Committee.
Siena Kalina (Vice-President) is a member of the Osage Nation and an Associate Attorney at Berkey Williams LLP in Davis, California. Siena earned her J.D. in 2023 from the University of Colorado Law School, graduating with certificates in both American Indian Law and Civil Rights and Racial Justice. At Colorado Law, she served as a Production Editor for the Environmental Law Journal and both President and Treasurer of Colorado’s Native American Law Students Association. Siena also worked as a research assistant for Professor Charles F. Wilkinson throughout law school, where her research focused on Tribal fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest. In her third year of law school, Siena served as President of the National Native American Law Students Association and was a Board Member of the National Native American Bar Association. Her current work ranges from Tribal water rights, Indian child dependency, employment, and Tribal governance matters.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Co-Chair of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee, Member of the Conference Committee, and Membership Engagement Committee.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Co-Chair of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee, Member of the Conference Committee, and Membership Engagement Committee.
Loretta Miranda (Treasurer) is a descendant of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and was raised on the Morongo Indian Reservation in Southern California. She currently serves as Deputy Tribal Affairs Secretary & Special Counsel for the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Loretta previously served as General Counsel for the Karuk Tribe and was also a legal fellow at Berkey Williams LLP. She is a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School and clerked for US Department of the Interior - Office of the Solicitor Pacific Northwest Region, Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage and the Yurok Tribal Court. Prior to law school, she worked as the Outreach Coordinator for the Friendship House in San Francisco. This is Loretta’s third term on the CILA Board of Directors.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Chair of the Conference Committee, Co-Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Chair of the Conference Committee, Co-Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Caleb Hawpetoss (Secretary) is a descendant of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and currently works as a J.D. advocate in the Sacramento office of California Indian Legal Services. Caleb earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2025. While at Michigan Caleb served as the President of the Michigan chapter of the Native American Law Students Association. Caleb spent a summer working at both the Bishop office of California Indian Legal Services and the D.C. office of the Native American Rights Fund while attending law school. This is Caleb's first term on the CILA board of Directors.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Jo-Joe Lee is an enrolled citizen of the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California and a recent graduated of UC Davis School of Law King Hall where she received her Juris Doctor of Law. She is currently working at the California Tribal Families Coalition (CTFC) as their post-bar Policy and Fellow. At CTFC, she tracks policies put forth by the Assembly in the state of California to ensure the Indian Child Welfare Act (I.C.W.A.) is included in relevant policy recommendations that can impact Native Children and families. Once she passes the California State Bar Exam and is admitted to the California State Bar as a licensed attorney, she will continue to assist Native and Indigenous Peoples at a policy and legal level to implement positive change within systems that have treated Native/Indigenous sovereignties and autonomies unjustly.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Co-Chair of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee, Member of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Conference Committee.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Co-Chair of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee, Member of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Conference Committee.
Xavier Barraza is an enrolled member of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians; his grandmother was Marie Arnold-Lincoln of Hopland, and his grandfather, Nelson Hopper of Big Valley. Xavier is a Partner at Peebles Kidder. He has over 12 years of policy and legal experience representing tribal governments. His broad expertise encompasses Indian housing, tax, finance, lands, natural and environmental resources, economic development, tribal codes and ordinances, litigation, and veterans’ affairs. Xavier was born in Sacramento and raised on his tribe’s reservation in Hopland, CA. He is a proud alumnus of Sherman Indian High School, a Native American boarding school in Riverside, CA. This is Xavier's second term on the CILA Board.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Member of the Membership Engagement Committee.
Current Term: 2024-2027. Member of the Membership Engagement Committee.
Cole Bauman is a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. Cole holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Cole is also a proud alumnus of the Pre-Law Summer Institute for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Cole has previously worked as a tribal attorney for an Indian nation in northern California and began his career by working at a boutique Indian law firm in New Mexico.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Member of the Legal Journal Committee, Pathway/Scholarship Committee, and Conference Committee.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Member of the Legal Journal Committee, Pathway/Scholarship Committee, and Conference Committee.
Richard (Rick) Frye is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and currently works as an associate attorney in the Sacramento office of Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP. Rick is a 2020 graduate of the UCLA School of Law, where he was Co-President of the Native American Law Students Association and the 3L Editor-in-Chief of the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture, and Resistance. Rick is a 2011 graduate of Stanford University, where he received a BA in Psychology.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Chair of the Legal Journal Committee, Co-Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Current Term: 2025-2028. Chair of the Legal Journal Committee, Co-Chair of the Membership Engagement Committee, and Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee.
Tristan Stidham is a member of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley. He works as General Counsel for the Lytton Rancheria of California, and is based in Windsor in Sonoma County. Tristan is originally from East County San Diego and is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law, he has previously worked for California Indian Legal Services and Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker LLP.
Current Term: 2025-2026 (Elected in 2025 to fill vacancy). Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee and Membership Engagement Committee.
Current Term: 2025-2026 (Elected in 2025 to fill vacancy). Member of the Pathway/Scholarship Committee and Membership Engagement Committee.