Attorney Rion Ramirez Hired as Mashantucket Pequots’ New General Counsel

Published December 19, 2018

Former Obama Appointee to Succeed his Retiring Predecessor, Betsy Conway, effective January 2, 2019

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation announced today its appointment of renowned Indian Country Attorney Rion Ramirez as the Tribe’s new General Counsel, effective January 2, 2019. Rion succeeds his predecessor, Betsy Conway, who, after 25 years of remarkable service to Mashantucket through the Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel, announced her intent to retire.

“We are thrilled to bring Rion’s twenty-plus years of outstanding Indian Country legal experience to Mashantucket,” says Rodney Butler, Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council. “In his new role, Rion will set a new strategy and direction for our Legal team and leverage his extensive expertise to achieve public policy and legislative initiatives.”

With a successful career spanning Business Law, Indian Law, and Gaming Law, Rion has worked at different levels within various organizations; most recently as the General Counsel for Port Madison Enterprises in Suquamish, Washington. While with Suquamish, Rion led 27 Tribes in the successful renegotiation of their gaming compacts. 

Rion chairs the Democratic National Committee’s Native American Caucus, and is a member of the DNC’s Executive Committee and National Finance Committee.  In 2013, Rion was appointed by President Obama to serve as the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships under the Obama Administration. 

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 Band of Chippewa Indians.