Erica Thunder, an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara (MHA) Nation and a 2014 graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law, has been announced as the 2025 Distinguished Indian Law Speaker at an event to be held Thursday, April 17, at 3 p.m. in the VandeWalle Courtroom at UND. The event is open to the public.

Thunder will present “Stronger Together: Partnerships in Indian Law and Policy” as part of the annual Distinguished Indian Law Speaker series.

In 2019, Thunder became the first Native American to serve as North Dakota’s Labor commissioner, and later, the first Indigenous person to hold two simultaneous Cabinet positions, also serving as executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission. She was named as North Dakota’s “Woman of the Year” by USA Today in 2021-2022 and received a North Dakota’s Governor’s Award in Excellence.

Thunder currently serves as a senior associate and tribal subject matter expert at K.L. Scott and Associates and recently became North Dakota’s first director of Diversity and Cultural Competency at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Thunder’s visit is hosted by the Northern Plains Indian Law Center.