Elected in 2015, Rene Curo is proud to be serving her first term in office.

Prior to being elected as Tribal Secretary, Curo was employed at the Tribal Government offices as Environmental Specialist to the Tribal Environmental Coordinator. Her main focus was to ensure compliance for department projects and to meet the grant requirements. In this capacity, she was trained and learned skills in various programs related to the environment, including air quality, recycling, climate change, as well as natural resources in and around the reservation. In addition, she researched environmental issues that could potentially impact the tribal community and, as a result, recommended and coordinated the development of new programs.

Previous to this, Secretary Curo worked at the Viejas Casino & Resort in guest service dispatch. Her primary responsibility was to dispatch information to casino guests, hosts, slot operations and food and beverage servers. This position required her to keep current and maintain knowledge of casino floor design, and to ensure efficiencies for casino hosts and slot operation teams.

Secretary Curo comes from a long line of tribal leaders, her grandfather, father, aunt and cousins previously served on tribal council — her brother was the tribal treasurer from 2000 to 2010.

As the tribal secretary, Secretary Curo’s focus is on education, the tribal community, land and environmental issues as well as preserving the Kumeyaay culture.

She maintains her youthfulness and energy by spending all of her spare time with her large family. She has 8 children, 11 grandchildren and anticipates several more to come.