Regis Pecos was born and raised in Cochiti Pueblo. He served multiple terms as Lt. Governor and Governor and served on the traditional Tribal Council for 35 years. He was the longest serving Chief Executive of what is now the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department, a position he held for 16 years under four State Governors. Regis served as the Chief of Staff to Speaker the late Representative Ben Lujan in the House of Representatives for 12 years and for four years to the House Majority Floor Leader, Representative Rick Miera. His public service in state government and the nation spans over over 35 years and has received commendations by both the state and the nation's executive and the legislature for significant contributions to the State of New Mexico and the Nation.

He is a Trustee Emeritus of Princeton University where he became  the first Native American to ever be appointed to any of the Ivy League Colleges and Universities. Regis Chaired the Board of Trustees for the Santa Fe Indian School for 15 years transforming the school into a Tribally Controlled School and the first to ever receive the President's Excellence in Education Award from the United States Department of Education in 1986. Regis Co-Founded and Co-Directs the Leadership Institute, an Indigenous Think Tank now in its 28th year. The Leadership Institute currently leads the effort for the 23 Tribal Nations in the implementation of the Tribal Remedy Framework in response to the landmark Martinez/Yazzie case. He was recently appointed by Secretary of Interior Debra Haaland as a member of the Board of Directors of the congressionally enacted National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education.

He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and did his graduate studies at UC Berkeley and his Senior Executive Education at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard. Regis is currently a Hauser Leadership Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the inaugural Fellow in a joint appointment by the Center for Public Leadership and the Indigenous Governance and Development Center. An endowment has been established at the Indigenous Governance and Development Center for visiting Indigenous Scholars. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the prominent Honoring Nations Program established in 1998, recognizing and celebrating outstanding programs of self governance among Indigenous Nations.

Mr. Pecos previously served on the Community Advisory Board from 2021-2023.