Deputy Executive Director
Umatilla Indian Reservation
Pendleton, OR
John David Tovey III “J.D.” AICP, Deputy Executive Director, is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton Oregon. Mr. Tovey is a proud Cayuse and Joseph Band Nez Perce. He has an undergraduate in Landscape Architecture from the University of Idaho, a Master of Urban Planning and Certificate of Urban Design from University of Washington and will soon be defending his dissertation for PhD in Urban Design & Planning, also from the University of Washington, with a research focus of tribal planning, land tenure and knowledge transference.
He has more than 20 years of professional experience in large scale development projects, from conceptualization, design development, permitting and construction. For 9.5 years, he served as the CTUIR Tribal Planning Director and managed managed Kayak Public Transit, the largest transit agency in Eastern Oregon, which provides ~100,000 rides a year and serves 18 communities, and 4 counties in northeast Oregon and southwest Washington.
In October 2023, he moved into a new role at CTUIR as the new Deputy Executive Director, overseeing several departments.
Mr. Tovey has extensive experience in comprehensive planning, capital improvements development, community development, project management, and change management in complex organizational systems.
A Planner’s Guide to Tribal Sovereignty & Partnerships
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
3:30 PM – 4:15 PM CT