The U.S. Department of Interior announced additional Biden-Harris appointees and among them were Native Hawaiian Attorney Summer Lee Haunani Sylva. Sylva will serve as the Senior Advisor for Native Hawaiian Affairs to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Sylva, born and raised in Hawaiʻi, is a long-time resident of Waimānalo and attended Sacred Hearts Academy as a youngster. After graduating from ʻIolani in 1993, she went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in political science from Barnard College-Columbia University and her J.D. from Cornell Law School.

 Summer has more than a decade of experience litigating before federal and state courts in Hawaiʻi, New York and New Jersey. She most recently served as the Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) where she led litigation efforts on Native Hawaiian rights issues, including water rights, state and federal government entitlement programs, and native land claims.

Photo credit: NHLC