Based in Temecula, California, Mark Macarro is the tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. Elected a councilman in 1992, he has held his present responsibilities since 2002. His focus includes self-sufficiency and political self-determination through diversified economic growth projects. Mark Macarro marshals efforts to preserve the tribe’s distinct cultural heritage and identity.

Mr. Macarro is also the alternate vice president of the Pacific Region, representing Pechanga in the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). He is a longstanding member of the National Indian Gaming Association Pacific Region board and has been a board-appointed member of the Riverside County Historical Commission. A founder of the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), he supports tribal language speaker funding statewide.

Mr. Macarro is a fluent speaker of Cham’teela, the native Luiseno language, and has sung funeral songs at tribal wakes on reservations across his region. He has also mastered hundreds of indigenous bird songs. Mr. Macarro earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mark Macarro