Parris appointed to be tribe’s new controller

WINDOW ROCK

The Navajo Nation has a new controller.

After a search that took several months, Jim R. Parris was appointed to replace Mark Grant as controller, a position that supervises the billions of dollars the tribe has in investments and operating expenses.

A tribal member of the Osage Nation and the Cherokee Nation, Parris has more than 35 years experience working with tribal governments, as well as the federal government.

Parris was the first controller for the Osage Nation, but he admits that was a small operation compared to the funds he is now responsible for as the Navajo Nation controller.

Working as the Osage controller, he said in an interview Wednesday, would be comparable to overseeing the budget of two or three chapters on the Navajo Nation.

He said his experience with managing trust funds for tribes when he worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs probably better prepared him for the responsibilities he now has with the Navajo Nation.

During those years, he was overseeing some $2.3 billion in trust funds and had 167 accountants working under him, as well as another 50 scattered all across the country.

Parris was the first Native American certified public accountant to work for the BIA.

More recently, Parris has assisted more than 20 tribes, including the Navajo, in trust litigation, resulting in numerous successful settlements.

Over the past decade, he has had numerous interactions with Navajo tribal financial officials by working with the firm that annually audited the tribe.

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