Billy Joe Anoatubby (born November 8, 1945) is the 30th Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, a position he has held since 1987. From 1979 to 1987, Anoatubby served two terms as Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation in the administration of Governor Overton James, after being popularly elected to office.
Early life and education
Anoatubby was born in Denison, Texas, the youngest of six children of Opal Faye (née Mitchell; 1912–2006) and Joseph Morris Anoatubby (1906–1948). After his father died, his widowed mother moved the family to Tishomingo, Oklahoma, the first Chickasaw capital. In 1964, Anoatubby graduated from Tishomingo High School, where he played football and was active in student government.
He attended Murray State College in Tishomingo, before transferring to East Central University in Ada, where he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting. Anoatubby undertook additional studies in business and finance at ECU and Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma. During his college years, he also served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard. He attained the rank of staff sergeant and command of a light truck platoon, before his honorable discharge in 1971.
Early career
From 1972 to 1974, Anoatubby was employed as an office manager for American Plating Company. From 1974 to 1975, he was employed by the Little Giant Corporation, working in the areas of accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, and electronic data processing.
Early tribal career
In July 1975, Anoatubby was hired by the Chickasaw Nation government, then based in Sulphur, Oklahoma, to serve as Director of Tribal Health Services. He managed tribal health programs in a 13-county region of South Central Oklahoma.
The following year, he accepted appointment as director of the tribal accounting department, where he was responsible for development and improvement of tribal accounting systems. In 1978, he was appointed as special assistant to the governor and controller. He provided program and personnel management, including supervision of tribal department directors. The following year, Anoatubby was popularly elected as the first Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, serving with Governor Overton James. He was re-elected alongside James for a second four-year term in 1983.
Governor
In 1987, Anoatubby was elected as the 30th Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, the twelfth-largest tribe in the United States. He is now serving his 9th consecutive term in office, having been reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019; on four occasions he faced no opposition.
As governor, he administers all the Nation's programs and businesses and, indirectly its more than 13,500 employees. There are more than 200 tribal programs and services, and more than 100 tribal businesses. Anoatubby has devised a multi-pronged approach to improving conditions for the tribe in the areas of tribal finance, education, business and economic development, environmental protection, and healthcare.
Anoatubby has been described as a modest, almost self-effacing politician who seems happy to share the credit for the Nation's successes. He has achieved the following:
He focused on raising funds to provide more opportunities for higher education. The previous annual budget included $200,000 from the BIA, supporting 157 scholarships. By 2017, the Nation provided more than $19.4 million in annual funds for scholarships, grants, and other educational contributions. In 1994, the Chickasaw Nation took responsibility from the Indian Health Service to establish, grow and maintain its own health care system. Using its own funds, the nation opened a $150 million medical center, supplemented by four health clinics. The Chickasaw Department of Health, which oversees the facilities, in 2017 attracted more than 552,000 patient visits and filled more than 1.7 million prescriptions. The Chickasaw Nation was the first Native American tribe to become a partner in the Healthy Meals for Kids program sponsored by the federal government.
National politics
Anoatubby decided to run for national office in the 1998 election, he sought the Democratic Party nomination for the 3rd District U.S. House seat. At the time the district took in territory in the rural southeast of the state, including the area historically reserved for the Choctaw Nation, and some of the lands belonging to the Chickasaw and Muscogee Creek nations. After the Civil War, following strong migration by European Americans from the South, this area was later also known as "Little Dixie."