About the Commissioners

Kelly Krolicki

Commissioner

(Term: November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2024)

Kelly Krolicki is a lifelong resident of South Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada. She attended San Francisco State University in 1985 and pursued a minor in American Indian Studies. She graduated from the California State University at Chico in 1990. In 1992, she moved to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe to attend the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her Masters of Business Administration from UNR in 1994.

Kelly and Brian Krolicki have been instrumental in Nevada politics for well over 24 year. Her husband, Brian Krolicki is the former Nevada Lt. Governor and State Treasurer. Her oldest daughter, Kate Krolicki, interns for the Nevada Indian Commission when she is home from college.

“I have always been passionate about American Indian issues. The Stewart site is a project that I would like to see to fruition. The Stewart project has an important story to tell in the plight of the American Indian and Nevada history,” says Kelly. A founding member and officer for the Stewart Indian School Preservation Alliance (SISPA), recently Kelly was re-appointed to a second term as a commissioner, this time by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak.

Kostan R. Lathouris

Chair

(Term: November 01, 2020 to October 31, 2023)

Kostan R. Lathouris, an enrolled member and former elected Tribal Council Member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, is the current Chair of the Nevada Indian Commission, a state agency that effectively serves as a liaison between the State of Nevada and the federally recognized Tribes in the State.

He is the managing member of Lathouris Law PLLC, a law practice dedicated to asserting and defending tribal sovereignty. He received his Juris Doctor from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (“UNLV”) in 2015 and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, as a University Honors Scholar, from UNLV in 2009. He is a member of both the State Bars of Nevada and California, and is admitted to practice in multiple federal, tribal, and state courts.

In association with Rapport & Marston, Kostan served on the legal team for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe in Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, et al. v. McMahon, et al., 934 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 2019), cert denied, 140 S. Ct. 1295 (2020), whereupon the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe was able to successfully obtain a federal court decision that the land in question was within the boundaries of the Tribe’s reservation and was therefore Indian country, and that the county law enforcement committed civil rights violations for enforcing state regulatory law against tribal members on that land.

In association with Rapport & Marston and Dehnert Law, PC, Kostan helped represent several federally recognized tribes as part of tribal-state gaming compact negotiations with the State of California. He also served on the tribes’ legal team in the both the subsequent district court litigation (Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians v. Newsom, No. 1:19-CV-0024 AWI SKO (E.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2021)) and the appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, et al. v. State of California, et al., No. 21-15751 (9th Cir. July 28, 2022)). The Tribes prevailed on their motion for summary judgment against the State of California—which was affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals—by successfully showing that the State committed bad faith negotiations, in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, when the State insisted that the Tribes negotiate topics unrelated to gaming.

In association with Rapport & Marston, Kostan served on the legal team for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe in Chemehuevi Indian Tribe v. Havasu Water Company, et al., No. 20-471-GW-KKx (C.D. Cal. July 28, 2022), whereupon the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe was able to successfully obtain a federal court decision granting its motion for partial summary judgment against a for profit corporation, holding that the corporation was in trespass on the Tribe’s reservation trust lands.

In addition, he is an adjunct instructor and the Senior Law and Governance Analyst for Falmouth Institute, Inc.

Brian Wadsworth

Vice-Chair

(Term: November 1, 2020 to October 31, 2023)

Brian Wadsworth is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (Kooyooe Tukadu).

Brian graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with Bachelor of Sciences in Business Administration with a major in International Business and Accounting. He holds a Master of Business Administration in American Indian Entrepreneurship from Gonzaga University. Mr. Wadsworth is currently in the process of obtaining his Certified Public Accountant license in the State of Nevada.

Brian is the former Chairman of the Board for the Pyramid Lake Jr./Sr. High School Board of Education (2014-2018). As well as a former Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Councilmember (2013-2015 and 2016-2018).

Brian proudly serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Numu, Inc., a Section 17 federal corporation for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Additionally, Brian serves as the Vice-President for the University of Nevada, Reno Native American Alumni Chapter Board. Mr. Wadsworth also serves as Treasurer for the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association, and represents the Great Basin Region, which includes all of Nevada and eastern California. Brian is also honored to serve as an ex-officio member of the Nevada Commission on Tourism & Cultural Affairs.

 

Brian was elected Vice Chair of the NIC Commissioners on October 4, 2021.

Staci Emm

Commissioner

(Term: March 1, 2021 to April 29, 2024)

Staci Emm has been with the University of Nevada, Reno Extension since July of 2000 and currently is a Professor and Extension Educator in Mineral County, Nevada. Previously, she was the Program Officer for Extension programs for Nevada Indian Tribes.

Emm was born in Reno, Nevada, grew up on the Walker River Paiute reservation, and is a member of the Yerington Paiute Nation.

She is a graduate of Mineral County High School (1991), earned a BA in Journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno (1996), and earned a Masters of Agriculture from Colorado State University (2003).

Emm is nationally recognized for agricultural and American Indian Extension programs. Currently, she works with several team members to deliver agricultural Extension programs in Nevada; manages and oversees the Mineral County Extension office; is a project director for the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP); and works with American Indian tribes in Nevada and throughout the United States on land, water, and USDA program access issues.

Tammi Tiger

Commissioner

(Term: November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2024)

The newest member of the Commission, Tammi Tiger began her service on November 1, 2021. Tammi is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, and a Muscogee Nation descendant. After 20 years of public service with Clark County, Department of Public Works, last June, Tammi was named the inaugural director of the San Manuel Tribal Education Initiative in the College of Hospitality at UNLV.

In addition to her appointment to the Nevada Indian Commission, Tammi also serves on the Nevada Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Participatory Democracy, and she is a member of the board of directors for the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities.

Tammi holds a master’s degree in public administration from UNLV and her group's capstone project was on the Public Cost of Homelessness for Clark County Social Services. This project improved policy and procedure for the maintenance of public rights-of-way.

Tammi is an active participant in several local and national Indigenous organizations including UNLV Native American Alumni Club, United Natives, and Native Organizers Alliance.

Further, Tammi previously served on the Board of Directors with the Las Vegas Indian Center and is mom to Trevon, who also is a UNLV graduate.

Dr. Arlie Stops

Dr. Arlie Stops
Dr. Arlie Stops spent the early portion of his life in Montana, living on the Crow Reservation. His father, Arlie Stops Sr., was born and raised on the Crow Reservation and was 100% Crow. Dr. Stops was raised in a family of 10 children on the reservation, where many of them still reside.

As a teen, Dr. Stops attended St. Labre Indian School in Montana where the majority of the students were Crow or Cheyenne. He was the first of his siblings to attend college, graduating from the University of Montana with a BA in English and a Minor in Native American Studies. He began his 25-year career in higher education at New Mexico State University, serving as the Assistant Director of Financial Aid. Having grown his career at many notable colleges and universities, notably California State University Los Angeles, the majority of his career was spent at the College of Southern Nevada, where he oversaw enrollment management and student services. To be closer to his children, Dr. Drops relocated back to Las Vegas in 2013, where he has been teaching high school English at Desert Pines High School.

Dr. Stops has four children that he is very proud of, two daughters having graduated from UNLV and one son from Point Loma Nazarene University. His remaining son followed the path of entrepreneurship and owns and operates a successful barber shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His oldest daughter serves as the Vice President of Tribal Brand Marketing & Strategic Initiatives for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in Southern California. His youngest daughter just completed her first semester at UNLV's Boyd School of Law.

Dr. Stops earned a Masters degree in Education from New Mexico State University in 1981. In 2004, he earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is looking forward to leveraging his education and professional experiences with the initiatives set forth by Governor Lombardo and the Board of Directors for Nevada Indian Commission.