Chief Anne Richardson, Chief of the Rappahannock Tribe since 1998, is a 4th generation chief in her family and the first woman to lead a tribe in Virginia since the 1700s. She has a long legacy of community leadership and service and has been instrumental in building her people’s institutions and infrastructure, including working tirelessly to purchase some of the tribe’s ancestral lands along the river that bears their name, developing a “Master Plan for the Return to the River,” a groundbreaking sovereignty and conservation initiative. Among her many achievements Chief Richardson founded the Indigenous Conservation Council for the Chesapeake Bay and serves or has served on a number of state, regional and federal advisory committees and boards.