Executive Branch

Rudy Ortega Jr. is the Tribal President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, a native sovereign nation of northern Los Angeles County. As the current elected Tribal President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, Ortega Jr. oversees his Tribe’s governmental body and manages affairs pertaining to the rights of all Fernandeño Tataviam people.

He is the Chairman of the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission and has served on the Commission since 2004. Since 2004, Ortega Jr. has served as the Executive Director of Pukúu Cultural Community Services the FTBMI’s non-profit that serves the greater Los Angeles County American Indian community. Through Pukúu, Ortega Jr. also oversees Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center located 14 miles up the Angeles Crest Highway.

Ortega Jr. is also a member of the Los Angeles River Master Plan Steering Committee, the Edison Consumer Advisory Panel Board, and is a Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. appointee to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

An active and determined leader of his community both culturally and politically, Mark Villasenor has been an engaged citizen of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, for his adult life. And is currently the Vice President for the Fernandeno Tataviam people. In his role as Vice President, his position is to guide the tribe’s legislative branch in crafting legislation and representing the voice of his fellow Citizens. He is the descendent of lineages/villages of Ta’apu, Tapo Canyon, Siutcanga, the village at Encino, and Chaguayanga, a village in Santa Clarita Valley.

Mark Villasenor graduated with a B.S. Business Administration with a focus in Global Supply Chain Management from California State University, Northridge. Since 2010, he has worked for the United States Census, Tribal non-profits, and Tribal Governments in various capacities.