Arlando Teller

Assistant Secretary for Tribal Government Affairs

Previously Arlando Teller served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs at the Department. Arlando entered the aviation industry as the first Native American graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He interned with the City of Mesa, Falcon Field Airport and advanced in his career as an airport planner for the City of Phoenix’s Aviation Department, later as the Aviation Management Intern for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Teller then moved to Walnut Creek, California where he worked on multimodal transportation projects as a transportation planner and tribal liaison for the California Department of Transportation. Returning home to the Navajo Nation in 2009, Teller served as Senior Transportation Planner for the Navajo Nation’s Division of Transportation, promoted to Program Manager for the Department of Airports Management and eventually promoted to Deputy Division Director. He was elected State Representative for District 7 in the Arizona House of Representatives in November 2018. He sat on the Transportation Committee and the Land & Agriculture Committee. He also served as the Vice Chair for Indigenous Peoples Caucus and a member of the Aviation/Aerospace Caucus and represented as Co-Chair for the Arizona Aerospace Association.