The Wabanaki Alliance has hired Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant as its next executive director, the organization announced Thursday. She will replace John Dieffenbacher-Krall, who is retiring at the end of the year.
The alliance was formed in 2020 by the four Wabanaki Nations living in Maine: the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Nation. The organization advocates for sovereignty of the tribes in Maine.
In a news release, the organizations said Bryant’s appointment comes during a shift in how the public and policymakers see the relationship between the tribes and the state of Maine:
“In the past, Wabanaki-State relations tended to only receive public attention at moments of the deepest disagreement when the State of Maine repeated its historical pattern of failing to follow through on commitments and persistently resisting a fair interpretation of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act.”
Now tribal-state relations top the public policy agenda, the organization said, and there is public demand for action on Wabanaki sovereignty.
Bryant has served as Penobscot Nation ambassador since 2017 and previous served on the Penobscot Nation Tribal Council. She was human resources director at Penobscot Indian Nation Enterprises, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Maine and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Colby College in 2022.
She has served on several state committees, Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations, Co-Chair, Equity Subcommittee and Maine Climate Council, and served on boards of organizations including the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Food and Medicine, Maine Center for Economic Policy, and Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and OUT Maine.
