Lynn Valbuena’s lineage alone qualifies her to lead the San Manuel Reservation in California. She is directly related to the tribe’s founder, Santos Manuel. Her mother was an elder, author and public spokeswoman.
Valbuena is serving her first, two-year term as Tribal Leader.
Her cousin, James Ramos, is on the tribe’s Board of Supervisors and her brother, George Murillo serves the Business Committee. Sister Audie Martinez is the committee’s former treasurer. Valbuena’s son and daughter are also active in tribal leadership. They live on the reservation—Valbuena herself lives with her husband in Orange County. He is a football coach.
But Valbuena stands on her own in demonstrating leadership.
“I would like to keep our people engaged, get them to participate in tribal government, especially our youth,” she said. “I want to make a difference.”
To Valbuena, every citizen needs to be active in government in order for it to be effective.
Her background includes working investigations for the San Bernardino Police Department and chairmanship of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations. She has served a number of local and national organizations.
For the tribe, Valbuena would like to keep it sustained and self-supporting. The tribe already operates a casino. Valbuena would like to diversify San Manuel’s business interests.
San Manuel is one of the top employers in the area with 4,000 people, including police and fire departments.
