Montana Governor Schweitzer Announces New State Coordinator of Indian Affairs

10/15/2007 -- (HELENA) – Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer today announced the selection of the new State Coordinator of Indian Affairs for the office of the Governor.

"I have a commitment to Montana's first people – a commitment to bring Native Americans through the front door of the Capitol," said Governor Brian Schweitzer. "Jennifer Perez Cole has the background to make this office effective for government-to-government relations. A true partnership will enhance our ability to help Tribes in Montana grow their economies, educate their children and develop their communities."

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Jennifer Perez Cole, age 30, currently serves as editor of the Fort Belknap News, a tribally-operated newspaper of the Assiniboine & Gros Ventre tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northcentral Montana. Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from the University of Montana in 2001. She then worked as a reporter with the Great Falls Tribune until the fall of 2003 covering beats with the city desk, judicial court systems & northcentral Montana, a region encompassing four of the state’s seven Indian reservations. Jennifer was a 2001 Chips Quinn Journalism Scholar and graduated from the Freedom Forum’s two-year Associated Press Managing Editors/American Society of Newspaper Editors Fellowship Program in fall of 2003. She and her husband, Skip, have a 2-year-old daughter, Emma, and a newborn son, Frank. Jennifer was born and raised on the Fort Belknap Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Belknap Indian Community and a descendant of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Tribe.

Source: Montana Governor