Indian Gaming 2017 Tradeshow and Conference

Tom Rodgers

Carlyle Consulting


Tom Rodgers, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, is the CEO at Carlyle Consulting; a strategic consulting/government affairs/media relations firm located in Alexandria, VA. that represents the interests of Native Americans. Tom has applied his leadership and strategic vision to successfully advance and opportunity for Indigenous people. This leadership and vision extends to cannabis. In 2016, Tom had the vision to initiate the very first national cannabis tax revenue baseline. This analysis served as the foundation for the Congressional Joint Tax Committee, United States Senate cannabis tax debate during consideration by Congress for inclusion in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and most recently the MORE Act of 2020. When the state of Massachusetts sought advice on possible cannabis legislation and traveled to Colorado to conduct its due diligence, they contacted Tom to assist them in that effort. In 2018, Tom identified and assembled the coalition and the financial resources that defeated the most vocal opponent of cannabis in the House of Representatives — Representative Pete Sessions (see The Hill). Tom waged successful Native American voting rights efforts and organized and led a coalition to address the deadliest drug epidemic of our time, the national opioid crisis. From 1990-1993, Tom served as tax legislative counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, leading to ongoing trusted relationships on the Committee and in the U.S. Treasury Dept. Tom obtained a B.A., J.D., and an L.L.M in Taxation at the University of Denver. For his pro-bono whistleblower efforts that exposed the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the University of Denver Law School awarded Tom an honorary master’s degree in ethics and established a full ride scholarship in his honor for a Native American student seeking to attend law school.

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