Originally broadcast at 1:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

Michael Martin is the executive Director of the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. He is an Onondaga of the Beaver Clan (Haudenosaunee) from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory in Southern Ontario, but was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, and currently resides in North Tonawanda, NY.

Mr. Martin is a graduate of both Babson College with an MS in Accounting and Entrepreneurial Finance, and SUNY Buffalo State College with a BS in Economics, which included one year on exchange at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In February of 2004 he was named the Executive Director of Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), after having served in an interim capacity since July of 2003. In 2016, he was named by his Clan Mother as a Faithkeeper for his Onondaga, Beaver Clan. He was formally acknowledged with his Chief by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy condolence in June of 2018.

Prior to joining NACS, Mr. Martin had started his own company, “XLerent Services,” which focused on consulting, personal coaching, and organizational development to help individuals and companies to “accel,” excel, transform, and perform. In his earlier career, he held senior financial and business management positions with such companies as AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Praxair. Most importantly, he is a proud father of his son Dawit with whom he shares a love of lacrosse, with Michael often helping with his son’s teams as either a manager, coach, or trainer.

Mr. Martin’s honors and awards include: a 2019 Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters from Medaille College in Buffalo; the 2019 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Award for Racial Relationship Building in the City of Buffalo, presented by Mayor Byron Brown; a 2018 Tradition Bearers for Bio-Cultural Diversity Fellowship from Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples (CA); and the 2010 National Federation for Just Communities, Inc. Community Leader Award for Community Service.

Mr. Martin’s lecture will contextualize the “Doctrine of Discovery” and its effects on religion and on the Native Peoples of America, on its consequences around the world – and the different narrative that it reveals.

This program is made possible by The Myra Baker Low and Katharine Low Hembree Family Fund.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.