Eastern Pequots elect longtime tribal figure chairman

North Stonington ― Lawrence Wilson III, a tribal elder with a corporate background, has been elected chairman of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Council.

Wilson, 73, who founded The Wilson Organization, a Providence-based firm that specializes in diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-bias consulting, was elected Saturday in voting among tribal members, garnering 92 votes to defeat Mitchel Ray, the incumbent chairman, who got 82 votes.

An incumbent most recently elected to the council in 2021, Wilson recounted in a phone interview Monday how he left the corporate world to lead the tribe’s successful bid for federal recognition in the 1990s. That recognition, conferred by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2002, acknowledged the Eastern Pequots and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots as a single tribe. The acknowledgment was reversed in 2005.

Wilson said he’s confident the recognition ultimately will be restored.

“We can put a team together to get that recognition back,” he said. “In the meantime, we’ll look at opportunities for economic development, education and health. There’s a lot we can do as a state-recognized tribe.”

Wilson, who lives in Providence, said it’s time for him to share his business leadership skills.

“Tribal members have been working on their culture, their history, their genealogy,” he said. “Now, they need a kind of corporate leadership.”

Wilson said he was impressed by the turnout at the tribe’s annual pow-wow, which took place Sunday on its Lantern Hill reservation. He said more than 300 people joined in the “dancing, celebrating and worshipping.” He gave a speech, he said, in which he talked about how “it’s important that we go out into the world and get the education and experiences we need and, at the right time, we come back and help our people.”

Other tribal officers elected Saturday were Ashbow Sebastian Sr., who outpolled incumbent council member Valerie Gambrell in the race for comptroller; and Dawn Rocha, who ran unopposed for corresponding secretary. Incumbents Brenda Geer and Larry Pemberton, the vice chairwoman and treasurer, respectively, were not up for election. The office of recording secretary remains vacant.

Also elected to the council were incumbent Kiana Scruggs and newcomers Jennifer Maddox and Jelani Fletcher.

Other members of the council, which now has 13 members, include Joanne Silva-Njoku, Tyrone Gambrell, Natasha Gambrell and La’Tasha Maddox. All terms are three years.

Prior to the election, a tribal elder, Mark Sebastian, raised questions with the state Office of the Attorney General about what he called “ongoing problems and inconsistencies” in tribal elections, including the makeup of the tribe’s Election Committee.

The office said it was reviewing Sebastian’s claims.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com