Zepeda Appointed New Human Resources Director

By Adelsa Williams

HOLLYWOOD — On July 15, Tribal citizen Lee Zepeda took over the role and responsibilities as the new Human Resources director of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Zepeda’s selection completes a search process that lasted since April when recruiter Angel A. Torres was temporarily assigned as the acting director soon after Jim Carnicella resigned from the position.

Seminole Tribe of Florida Chief Operations Officer Stan Rodiman called the selection “challenging” as they had several highly qualified Tribal citizens, other Native Americans and non-Tribal candidates who applied for the position.

“As a Seminole Tribal member, Lee Zepeda has served in the role of principal of the Ahfachkee School for the last nine years,” said Rodiman. “His extensive background in education and management will enhance our efforts to generate more employment opportunities for tribal members and other Native Americans across the organization.”

Zepeda received his bachelor of arts in history from Stetson University in Deland, Fla. in 1993. He referred to graduation day as the main highlight during his studies at the university but proudly tells the story about one particular experience that enlightened him.

He was responsible for organizing the first ever Native American Day on campus. The project ran a week-long where he personally recruited Native vendors to come out and showcase their products.

Most importantly, he ran a seminar where he introduced the late Billy Cypress as the guest speaker. Cypress exhibited a prototype of the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, currently located on the Big Cypress reservation, then still under the planning stage, way before its completion.

“Native Day was a huge event to pull because it lasted a whole week and I thought if I could learn how to just organize things and create prospects, there’s just about nothing you can’t do,” said Zepeda. “That gave me an insight on how important organization is.”

Soon after graduation, Zepeda began working at the Seminole Tribe of Florida. He began as a teacher at the Ahfachkee School in Big Cypress. After a few years of teaching, the position of school principal became available to him, which was a great opportunity for professional growth.

“When I became acting principal of Ahfachkee School, I had a map of what I was going to do at the school, so when this opportunity came up I did the same thing, I wrote down concepts and new ideas,” he said. “When I went to school I really wanted to become a teacher but I also wanted to help the Tribe in any way that I could.”

“When this opportunity was presented to me, I thought it would be neat to have a Tribal member in this type of position to have an impact because this is the first place people come to when they get hired; I saw that as very positive.”

Zepeda’s plans for the Human Resources department include placing personnel in all the other Seminole reservations to better assist all of the other department’s needs in a more efficient timely basis.

“The staff here are great people to work with, they know their jobs really well,” said Zepeda. “I’m looking to increase the department size because the Tribe is growing by leaps and bounds and I’d like to be ahead of the game if we can but right now we’re really playing catch up.”

“I believe human resources is more than hiring and firing people, is truly a service department, we can do more,” he added.

Lee Zepeda is a member of the Panther clan and was born and raised in Naples, Fla. He is one of four sons of Wanda and Lee Zepeda. His brothers are Pedro, Brian and Douglas Zepeda, two of which are Seminole Tribe of Florida employees in the Big Cypress reservation and one a recent college graduate. His grandmother is Tahama Osceola and great grandparents are Juanita and Corey Osceola.

Zepeda is married to his high school sweetheart, Cara Osceola, and is a proud parent of six-year-old Nicholas.

Even though having lived in the city of Naples from birth to the present day, Zepeda recalls childhood memories with his grandmother Tahama when she watched him while his parents went to work. He recalls spending time in his great grandparents huge parcel camp they owned where under chickees he learned how to grind corn and some of the ways traditional Seminole foods are prepared.

He credits his great grandfather Corey Osceola, who worked and was close friends with the city council and county commissioners for always stressing the importance of school and learning.

“He had a huge impact in my life,” he said, “He always said that we have to learn the rules of the world and understand how it works otherwise you will become a victim and you don’t want to be a victim you want to be part of it.”