The people who serve the Tribe

Barbara Lehmann is the Hawk Clan Mother of the Piqua Shawnee and serves the Tribe as Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Tribal Historian, and a member of the Elders Council. As our beloved Senior Tribal Elder, she carries vast institutional memory, an extensive personal archive of tribal historical resources, and long-standing relationships with federal, state, and local agencies on Native American historical matters.

Her lifetime of scholarship has been widely honored — including induction as an Honorable Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She is an honorary member of both the Simon Kenton and the Seneca Nation's Simon Girty families, and chaired the committee that renamed U.S. Route 68 from the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge to Kenton, Ohio as the Simon Kenton Memorial Highway (Ohio Revised Code §5533.49).

Barbara served as an interpreter for the 2003–2006 East of the Mississippi Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, advised on screenplays involving Native Americans, and appeared in documentary films on Ohio River Valley history for PBS and the Canadian Broadcasting Company. She has assisted writers for Muzzle Loader Magazine and co-authored the book Piqua Shawnee: Cultural Survival in their Homeland.

Dr. Kenneth Barnett Tankersley is Associate Professor of Anthropology (Retired) and Graduate School Fellow at the University of Cincinnati. He serves the Piqua Shawnee as NAGPRA Tribal Representative and is a member of the Elders Council, and previously served as Director of Native American Studies at Northern Kentucky University.

Dr. Tankersley has served on the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission and the advisory board of the Kentucky Center for Native American Art and Culture. He has published 175 articles and books on Native Americans.

He has contributed to 18 documentary films that have aired on the National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Animal Planet, the Weather Channel, NOVA, BBC, and PBS.

Christopher Brock serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Piqua Shawnee Tribe, bringing more than two decades of experience in technology, cybersecurity, and startup ecosystems. As an early innovator with more than 10 million Facebook application installs, he has worked alongside numerous Fortune 100 companies and major brands, delivering robust software solutions. A leader in the AI movement, he manages one of the largest AI communities on Facebook and continually explores new technologies that can benefit the Tribe.

A proud citizen of the Piqua Shawnee Tribe, Christopher is dedicated to protecting the Tribe's digital assets and sensitive information. He has begun working with the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a program of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to keep cybersecurity initiatives at the forefront for the Tribe.

Inspired by the Native leader Sequoyah — whose Cherokee syllabary, the "Talking Leaves," revolutionized communication for his people — Christopher sees a parallel in today's generative AI movement. He envisions a sovereign AI that benefits the Piqua Shawnee Tribe and other Native American communities, emphasizing the importance of technological sovereignty in the modern era.