About Dr. Christine Diindiisi McCleave
Since 2012, Christine Diindiisi (Deen 'DEE zee) McCleave has worked nationally and internationally on issues impacting Indigenous communities, with a focus on healing, cultural survival, Tribal sovereignty, and global Indigenous rights. She has held senior leadership roles in Indian Country, most recently as CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and previously as Communications Officer at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.
Christine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies, a Master’s degree in Leadership, and a PhD in Indigenous Studies. Her doctoral research, More Than Peyote: Trauma, Healing, and the Politics of Indigenous Cultural Survival in the Age of Psychedelic Colonialism, examines historical trauma, religious freedom, peyote conservation, and the ethical and legal challenges shaping Indigenous cultural survival in the psychedelic era.
Before entering the nonprofit and academic sectors, Christine spent ten years as an Operations Manager at Aon Hewitt in Minneapolis. She grew up in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota), the traditional homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, and is a proud mother of two.
Christine’s leadership and advocacy have focused on advancing Indigenous rights through research, policy, and institutional change. As CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, she led the organization’s national growth and impact over six years—raising more than $13 million in funding, expanding the organization from its first hire to a multi-staff national team, and growing the annual budget from $150,000 to $2.2 million.
Under her leadership, the Coalition established a formal memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of the Interior, helped draft and advance federal legislation calling for a national truth and healing commission, and launched the only national boarding school healing conference in the United States. She also guided an unprecedented national research initiative and created the first Boarding School Survivor Descendant Scholarship Program in partnership with the American Indian College Fund. Her advocacy has included presenting and testifying at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva.
More recently, Christine has contributed her expertise to state-level policy implementation, serving as a moderator and advisor to the Colorado Federally Recognized American Tribes and Indigenous Communities Working Group. In that role, she supported Tribal engagement and helped author the Working Group’s report, advancing Indigenous perspectives on consultation, governance, and rights within emerging natural medicine policy.
Across these roles, Christine’s work reflects a sustained commitment to translating Indigenous rights principles into law, policy, and practice through advocacy, research, and legislative engagement.