Panelists and Moderators

Ms. Jessica James is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho. She currently is the Tribal Education Program Manager for the Shoshone-Bannock tribes. She is also affiliated with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and Washoe Tribe. Ms. James is a graduate of Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School and obtained an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts (2003) and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree (2004) in American Indian Studies from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. She also obtained a Master’s Degree (2008) in Indigenous Nations Studies with emphases in Cultural Preservation Management and Indigenous Museum Studies from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

In May of 2022, Ms. James was appointed to serve on the Board of Regents at Haskell Indian Nations University. She also serves as a Tribal Education Department Representative on the Idaho Indian Education Committee for the state of Idaho. For four years (2010-2014) Ms. James served as a council member on the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Native American Employment and Training Council appointed by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

Ms. James’s occupational duties include: writing grants, implementing and coordinating programming services, and collaborating with business, education other organizations to create educational opportunities for Native American community members and tribal members. Ms. James mentors and advises youth and adults on multiple levels of education and empowers them to become educated leaders through encouraging cultural values and achieving academic and employment success.

Ben Ysursa was born in Boise, Idaho in 1949. A graduate of Gonzaga University and St. Louis University College of Law, Ben was elected Idaho’s 26th Secretary of State in 2002. Ysursa was re-elected in 2006 and 2010 and retired from elective office 2015. Ben started his professional career serving first as Deputy Secretary of State from 1974 to 1976 and then as Chief Deputy from 1976-2002. Ysursa worked for more than 40 years in the office of secretary of state and acquired a reputation for fair, non-partisan administration of elections, campaign finance and lobbying disclosure, and corporation registration.

Ysursa also served on the State Land Board, Executive Board Member of the National Association of Secretary of States, board member for various state and city committees and as a volunteer for youth athletic organizations. Ben currently serves as a board member on the State Deferred Compensation Committee and Idahoans for Openness in Government.

Ben was the recipient of the “Boyd Martin Award” presented by the Association of Idaho Cities, the 1992 Recipient for Outstanding Administrator for the Idaho Republican Party and the Edward and Dottie Stimpson Award for Civic Engagement for the City Club of Boise for his commitment to openness and transparency in government. He recently was honored as an Icon by the Idaho Business Review. He and his wife Penny have three children, Shawn Del, Matthew and Andrew and two grandchildren Benjamin and Thomas.

Shiva Rajbhandari is a climate activist and youth leader from Boise, Idaho. An avid outdoorsman, he is the Director of the Youth Salmon Protectors, leading a coalition of students across the Northwest working to breach the 4 lower Snake River dams and save wild salmon and steelhead. In that role, he has grown the organization to over 2000 members, lobbied extensively among Idaho’s Congressional delegation, and built strong relationships with indigenous communities across the region. Shiva’s passion for environmental justice is not limited to the Snake River Basin, however. As a part of the Idaho Climate Justice League, he is a leader in the fight for a fossil-free future and played a key role in the passage of the Boise School District’s “Collective Commitment on Clean Energy”. Recognizing that voting rights are essential for youth empowerment, Shiva serves as the Youth Director for BABE VOTE and has registered over 2500 new voters and organized against voter suppression in the Idaho legislature.

Shiva got his start in local politics in 9th grade as the founder of Extinction Rebellion Youth Boise and his school’s Green Club. By organizing climate strikes, involving students in government, and sowing seeds of resistance, he has helped to build the strong youth climate presence that is visible in Boise today. In 2021, he won the Idaho Conservation League’s Alex Frizzell Award for Youth Activism. He now works as the Youth Engagement Coordinator for that organization. 

As a Senior at Boise High, Shiva led an entirely grassroots campaign to become the first student to ever be elected to the Boise School District Board of Trustees in September. He believes that inclusion of youth voices is crucial to maintain a well-functioning civil society, and he is honored to serve on this panel alongside three of Idaho’s greatest leaders. In his spare time, Shiva enjoys running cross country and track, skiing, and fly fishing.

Luke Mayville grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University and recently taught civics and political philosophy at Columbia University, American University, and Boise State University Honors College. He has published extensive writings on the ideas of America’s Founding Fathers, including a book on President John Adams. In 2017, he co-founded Reclaim Idaho, a grassroots organization that spearheaded Idaho’s ballot initiative to expand Medicaid coverage to over 120,000 Idahoans. In 2021, Reclaim Idaho won a landmark case in the Idaho Supreme Court that enshrined the ballot-initiative process as a fundamental right in the state of Idaho. Luke was listed by Idaho Business Review among the “Power 25” leaders in Idaho’s healthcare sector and he received the 2019 Advocacy Award from the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians. Most recently, he directed Reclaim Idaho’s campaign for investment in public schools that was credited with forcing the Idaho Legislature to increase public school funding by $410 million a year–the largest investment Idaho has seen in decades

Nisha Bellinger is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri in 2012 and has M.A. and B.A. degrees from India. Her research focuses on political economic themes with a regional interest in South Asia. In particular, her research explores the causes and consequences of human well-being outcomes such as health and education.

She is the author of Governing Human Well-Being: Domestic and International Determinants (Palgrave Macmillan 2018) and her research appears in journals such as European Political Science Review, International Political Science Review, and Journal of Politics, among others.

She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as The Politics of Inequality, Oil, Development and Democracy, and International Political Economy, among others