Newsroom Archive

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the establishment of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and has named Gloria O'Neill as a member of the committee.

The National Advisory Committee will advise the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, will advise the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations.

“We expect that the expertise of this committee will help us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing statistics about our diverse nation,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director. “By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee will help ensure that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of hard-to-count populations.

Gloria O'Neill has served for more than a decade as the President and CEO of Cook Inlet Tribal Council, a tribal nonprofit social service organization serving Alaska Native and American Indian residents of Anchorage, Alaska. O’Neill is originally from Soldotna, Alaska, and is of Yupik and Irish descent. She earned her MBA from Alaska Pacific University and her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She currently serves on numerous boards, including the Anchorage Museum Association, Chanlyut Inc. (an educational program that helps people overcoming addiction, homelessness or incarceration), Cook Inlet Tribal Council Enterprises Inc., Cook Inlet Housing Authority and the Alaska Federation of Natives. At the national level, O'Neill is a member of the Department of the Interior Tribal/Interior Budget Council, a board member of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association, a fellow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Family Fellowship Program, and a member of the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee.