Don Sampson is the Climate Change Project Director for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a consortium of 57-tribes in the Pacific Northwest. In 2015 he was one of 15 Indigenous representatives from North America at the Paris Climate Accords (COP21).

Don was also the former Executive Director of the Institute of Tribal Government (2012-2017) part of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University. Mr. Sampson was the former Executive Director (2003-2010) and Chairman (1994-1997) of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon; overseeing all tribal government and business operations with over 1500 employees. He was the Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission from 1997-2003. He is an enrolled citizen of the Umatilla Tribe.