Marilynn Roberge Malerba (born August 17, 1953) is an American tribal leader and former nurse who is the lifetime chief of the

Mohegan Tribe The Mohegan Tribe () is a federally recognized tribe and Tribal sovereignty in the United States, sovereign tribal nation of the Mohegan people. Their Indian reservation, reservation is the Mohegan Indian Reservation, located on the Thames Riv ...

and the

treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...

Early life and education

Malerba's mother holds the position of Tribal Nonner, an elder female of respect, and her great-grandfather was Chief Matagha (Burrill Fielding), a position he held from 1937 until he died in 1952. Malerba studied nursing at

Hartford Hospital Hartford Hospital is an 938-bed acute care teaching hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford Hospital was established in 1854. The hospital campus is located on Seymour Street in Hartford and is directly adjacent to the ...

College of Nursing, and then earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from St. Joseph's College (now known as the University of Saint Joseph) in

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The C ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, in 1983. She later earned a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

and a

Doctor of Nursing Practice The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a professional degree in nursing. In the United States, the DNP is one of three doctorate degrees in nursing, the others being the research degrees PhD and the Doctor of Nursing Science. Internationally, ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Personal life

Malerba is married to Paul Malerba; they are the parents of two adult daughters, Elizabeth and Angela. They have three grandchildren.

Career

Malerba worked as a nurse at Hartford Hospital and then moved to

Lawrence + Memorial Hospital Lawrence + Memorial Hospital is a private, not-for-profit hospital located in New London, Connecticut. It is affiliated with Yale New Haven Health System. The hospital has been serving its region since 1912. Its primary regions include 10 towns ...

in Connecticut where she would become the head of cardiology and pulmonary services. Within the Mohegan Tribe she has been the chair of the tribal council, and worked as executive director of the health and human services department. Malerba was named the 18th chief of the Mohegan Tribe on August 15, 2010, and is the first female chief in modern history to hold this position. She serves on the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

Tribal Nations Leadership Council, and joined the

Indian Health Service The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division (OPDIV) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). IHS is responsible for providing direct medical and public health services to members of federally-recognized Nativ ...

's Tribal Advisory Committee in 2015, a committee she leads as of 2022. On June 21, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint Malerba to serve as

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...

; she was sworn in on September 12, 2022 and is the first Native American to hold this position. Before her swearing-in, the office of treasurer had been vacant for more than two and a half years, the longest vacancy in the history of the United States Treasury.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

Malerba has honorary doctoral degrees from

Eastern Connecticut State University Eastern Connecticut State University (Eastern, Eastern Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State, or ECSU) is a public liberal arts university in Willimantic, Connecticut. Founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest campus in the Connecticut State Univ ...

and the

University of Saint Joseph The University of Saint Joseph (USJ; ; pt, Universidade de São José) is a Catholic university founded in 1996, previously known as Macau Inter-University Institute (; pt, Instituto Inter-Universitário de Macau; IIUM). It was jointly org ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malerba, Marilynn 1953 births Living people 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans American nurses Biden administration personnel Mohegan people Treasurers of the United States Tribal chiefs University of Saint Joseph (Connecticut) alumni Women nurses Yale University alumni