Hershel Gorham, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, currently serves as the Lt. Governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. The Lt. Governor serves alongside the Governor to oversee the Tribes’ Executive Branch, including all departments and tribal entities.

Prior to being appointed as the Lt. Governor, Hershel served as General Counsel for six years in the Office of Tribal Attorney for the Executive Branch of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. As General Counsel, Mr. Gorham served as the chief legal representative and advisor to the Governor and Executive Office for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. In this role, the General Counsel and OTA provided timely and efficient legal services to the Governor, Executive Office, Directors, tribal programs, and staff of tribal government and tribal business enterprises, including subordinate tribal entities.

Hershel also served as a Gaming Commissioner for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ six casinos prior to his position as General Counsel. In this role, he and the Gaming Commission regulated the gaming operations of all of the Tribes’ casinos.

Education and military service have always been a priority for Hershel. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Science degree in the early 1990s, he worked for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and several other tribes around Oklahoma and New Mexico. In addition to his experience of working directly for Tribes, Hershel also worked for the Indian Health Service for seven years. Mr. Gorham also served in the US Army and reached the rank of Captain before being honorably discharged. His service time includes a deployment to Iraq. After serving in the military, Hershel used his GI Bill to attend law school at Oklahoma City University where he obtained his Juris Doctor (JD) and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

Hershel’s leadership extends well beyond the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. Hershel is an active Board Member for Oklahoma Indian Legal Services (OILS) and is a Commissioner for the El Reno Municipal Planning Commission. In addition to sitting on the Board of Regents for Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico, Hershel was recently confirmed as a Board Member for the First American Museum in Oklahoma City.

His mother is the late Ruby Lamebull Friday Gorham and his father is William Gorham, who currently resides in Georgia. His grandma, Pearl Friday Lamebull, is where his Arapaho roots come from. He was born in Watonga, Oklahoma and grew up in the Geary and El Reno communities, both of which are in the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation boundaries in NW Oklahoma. Hershel has five children and two grandchildren and resides in El Reno, Oklahoma.