Executive Staff - Port Madison Enterprises - An Agency of the Suquamish Tribe

Rion J. Ramirez, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer, Port Madison Enterprises

Rion was appointed CEO of PME in the summer of 2019. He had been working as General Counsel for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, but couldn’t resist the offer to return “home” to Suquamish.

Rion first started working for Port Madison Enterprises (“PME”) in 2004. As General Counsel, Rion led 27 tribes in the renegotiation of their gaming compacts and negotiated the first ever Tribal-State Marijuana Compact. Rion has worked diligently to keep litigation at PME and its ventures to a minimum and has played a major role in transferring land into trust status for the Suquamish Tribe.

In addition to being the General Counsel for PME, Rion serves as the chair of the Democratic National Committee's Native American Caucus, a member of the DNC’s Executive Committee and National Finance Committee. Rion also served as the co-chair of the Native American Policy Working Group for Hillary for America and was a member of its National Advisory Council.

In 2013 Rion was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a Commissioner on the President's Commission on White House Fellowships and in 2012 he was co-chair of the Obama Native Outreach Group and a member of the Obama for American National Finance Committee.

Currently Rion is a member of the Washington Bar Association, and the Native American Bar Association, serving previously as the President of the Northwest Indian Bar Association and former Appellate Court Justice for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

Before becoming the General Counsel for PME, Rion was an associate at the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP (2001 to 2005) and practiced primarily in the areas of Indian Law, Tribal Finance, Business Law, and Gaming Law. Prior to that Rion was an Associate at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, P.C. (1997 to 2001).

Rion received his B.A. from the University of Washington (1995), his J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law (1998), and is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Band of Indians.