Wizipan (Wee-zee-pan) Little Elk Garriott (he/him) is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux
Tribe in South Dakota. Since 2021, he has served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary –
Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. In this role, he served as the first
assistantand principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, in the development
and interpretation of policies affecting Indian Affairs bureaus, offices, and programs. Prior to his
appointment in the U.S. Department of the Interior, Mr. Garriott served as chief executive officer
from 2012 to 2021 of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation, an ecosystem of Tribal
organizations serving the Rosebud Indian Reservation. In this capacity, Mr. Garriott led and
started businesses and community-based programs, including a Native language immersion
school and 1,500-head buffalo herd. Mr. Garriott was born and raised on the Rosebud Indian
Reservation where he attended St. Francis Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs (now
Bureau of Indian Education) facility. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from
Yale University. Mr. Garriott received his Juris Doctor degree in 2008 from the University of
Arizona’s James E. Rogers College.
