Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Susan Jensen

83. Susan Jensen

Susan Jensen is Executive Director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association or CNIGA, the largest regional tribal gaming association in the United States with 50 member tribes. As has been mentioned in the multiple bios of other tribal members, California’s native tribes wield a lot of power around the Capitol. How much power? There is exactly one actual Native American lawmaker in the Legislature (Assemblymember James Ramos), but there are 68 members of the Native American Caucus. And why is that? Because the tribes have money, employ a heck of a lot of people and produce prodigious tax revenues for the state. People like Jensen are part and parcel for how that level of power and success was gained and is wielded today. Her star has risen with the organization, as she began in 1998 as CNIGA’s first full-time staff person back when Indian gaming was just in its infancy. Jensen also has helped oversee the annual Western Indian Gaming Conference, the state’s top gaming conference that serves as a forum for tribal and industry leaders.

Updated Aug. 26, 2025