Teresa E. Poust is a partner in the Indian law group and has extensive experience in the area of Tribal gaming law. Before entering private practice, Ms. Poust served as a Commissioner with the National Indian Gaming Commission, the three-member Commission created by the United States Congress to oversee the growing $12 billion a year Indian gaming industry. Most notably, Ms. Poust directed a ten-member Tribal Advisory Committee in rewriting the Minimum Internal Control Standards (MICS). Focusing on the operational components of gaming operations, such as cash handling, surveillance, and internal audit, the MICS is the Commission’s most complex regulation. Ms. Poust also played an integral role in bringing clarity to the area of Class II gaming by effecting revision to the Commission’s definition regulations.
Ms. Poust is an enrolled member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and preceding her appointment to the Commission, served the Tribe in several capacities. As Tribal Administrator, she was responsible for the daily operations of the Tribe, supervising a staff of more than 100 and managing thirteen Tribal departments, including Law Enforcement, Health, Housing, and Education. As Tribal Attorney, she worked closely with the Tribe's gaming efforts and authored their gaming ordinance, the first to be approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission. She served as a member of the gaming Board of Directors and was an elected member of the Tribal Council.