TThe Fort Hall Business Council is the governing body of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. The Council was established under the Tribes' Constitution & Bylaws, which was approved by the Tribes and ratified by the federal government in 1937 under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The Council consists of seven members, each elected for staggered two-year terms.

L-R: Council members Donna Thompson, Elma Thompson, Marlene Skunkcap, Devon Boyer, Ladd Edmo, Lee Juan Tyler, and Nathan Small.

Serving as a Fort Hall Business Council member is a full time, paid position. The duties of the Council include the oversight of governmental services and economic development on the reservation; negotiating with federal, state and local government officials on all activities affecting the Tribes, the reservation and the Tribes' off-reservation treaty areas; managing tribal lands.

In recent years, the primary focus of the Council has been overseeing the growth of the Tribes' economic prosperity; protecting the Tribes' off-reservation treaty rights; enacting tribal laws to ensure protection of reservation land, water and air and human health; strengthening public safety; promoting wellness; expanding its tribal farming operations. Each council member is also assigned to meet regularly with one of the five reservation districts to provide information and to obtain feedback on the activities of the Council. The five districts include Gibson, Fort Hall, Ross Fork, Lincoln Creek and Bannock Creek.

is serving his second term on the Fort Hall Business Council. Edmo is a lifelong resident of Fort Hall and currently resides in the Fort Hall District. He attended schools in Fort Hall, Blackfoot, and graduated from Intermountain Indian High School. Ladd continued his education at Haskell Jr. College in Lawrence Kansas, where he was on the Dean’s Honor Roll, and received an Associates of Applied Science Degree. Mr. Edmo specialized in carpentry and construction services. Prior to serving on the FHBC, he was the Fort Hall Housing Authority’s Construction Project Manager, and in 2014 he was elected as a Tribal Land Use Policy Commissioner. Edmo is a hunter and fisherman and has four children and three grandchildren.

Elma Thompson was elected to the Fort Hall Business Council for her first term in 2020 and is currently serving as the Treasurer. She has an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration, is FEMA Certified, CERT Certified in Emergency Management, Gaming Commissioner, and has years of management and supervision experience. She has worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, served as the Executive Director for the Eastern Shoshone Gaming Commission, and was on the Gaming Commission for the Maidu Tribe in Northern California.

Since 1986, she has worked for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in a variety of Tribal departments, including Personnel, Fort Hall Police, TERO, Enrollment, Language and Culture Preservation Department and at the Shoshone-Bannock Casino Operations. Most recently, she was employed as the Surveillance Manager for the Shoshone-Bannock Gaming Commission.

Elma volunteers with the Fort Hall Recreation as a Ceramics Instructor, along with teaching contemporary and traditional arts and crafts for both adults and children. She also volunteers to coach softball teams, and is a small business owner, owning and operating Native Flair Arts and Crafts. She lives on the Reservation, in the Fort Hall District. She has three sons and one daughter and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

is serving her 3nd term on the Fort Hall Business Council. Donna is a lifelong resident of the Fort Hall Reservation from the Fort Hall District. Prior to working with the Tribes, Donna was the Human Resources Director at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel & Event Center and has a combined history of 30 years working with the Tribes in Accounting, TERO and Gaming. Donna has served on the Sho-Ban Jr/Sr high school Board and currently serves as the Chairperson for the Enterprise Agri-Business Board. In Donna’s spare time, she enjoys spending time with her three daughters and twelve grandchildren in all their sports.

has been serving on the Fort Hall Business Council since the late 1980’s as a council member and Chairman. Small was instrumental in opening the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ first gaming operation and served as gaming manager from 1990 to 1998. He has been a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Bar Association since 1980, and has held positions as both a prosecutor and public defender in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Courts.

Small also worked for a time in the Tribal Water Resources Department and the Environmental Waste Program advocating for protection of clean environmental resources. Small is also an original founding Board member to COLT (Coalition of Large Tribes) organization that promotes the sovereign rights of Tribes.

In his past time, Nathan is an avid fisherman, and looks forward to traveling with his family to central Idaho each summer to spear salmon in the traditional way of our people.