- Details
- By Brian Edwards
- Policy and Law
Fatima Abbas has left the U.S. Treasury Department office responsible for coordinating tribal policy across the agency to join a global law firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
Tampa, Fla.-based Holland & Knight said Abbas, a citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, joined the firm as a partner in its Federal Government Affairs Practice Group. She will advise tribal governments and Native entities on federal policy, economic development, tax, federal funding and other matters.
Abbas spent more than five years at Treasury, including more than three years as the first director of the Office of Tribal and Native Affairs. Treasury established the office in 2022 to advise on tribal policy and program implementation, coordinate tribal consultations and manage the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee, or TTAC.
At TTAC’s Sept. 11 meeting, Treasury said Jennifer Parisien, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, will serve as acting director and James Colombe, a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, will continue supporting the office. Treasury reportedly plans to hire another person, although the position had not yet been posted as of Sept. 18.
The transition comes as Treasury and the IRS continue work on tribal tax and financing issues, including guidance on tax-exempt bonds and the tax treatment of partially owned tribal entities. The office also works across Treasury on access to capital, federal funding programs, regulatory matters and tribal consultation.
Abbas’ tribal policy work spanned the first and second Trump administrations and the Biden administration, including earlier work at the National Congress of American Indians. At Treasury, she helped implement $30 billion in funding for tribes and Alaska Native corporations and led work on two tribal tax regulations finalized in 2025.
Former U.S. Treasurer Marilynn “Many Hearts” Malerba previously told Tribal Business News that Abbas and the office provided continuity across administrations, carrying tribal feedback through the rulemaking process.
