A lawyer and mother of three, Lorraine White '87 served a three-year term as a tribal chief of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, which straddles New York State and Canada. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, made up of three elected chiefs and three subchiefs, is the federally recognized government for the American side of the reservation, which includes 8,000 tribe members. The chiefs serve as all three branches of the tribe's government, navigating the reservation's tangled politics. She took office in June 2005 at the age of 37, making her the youngest female chief to ever serve on the US side of the reservation. "As a Mohawk person, you have passion—it's innate; you were born with it in your gut. Then you become educated, and you have passion and brains. God forbid we Indians have money on top of all that!" White told an NMH Magazine writer in 2006. "And a passionate, educated, financially independent, and successful Mohawk woman, forget it!"