Stephen Kutz is a member of Southwest Washington’s Cowlitz Indian Tribe and chairs its Tribal Council. He is also employed by the Tribe, managing its Medical and Mental Health Clinic in Longview, as well as its Mental Health Clinic in Vancouver and Seattle.

Mr. Kutz received his bachelor of science degree in nursing from Eastern Washington University and has worked as a nurse for nearly 40 years. He received his master’s degree in public health from Tulane University in 1993. He served 20 years on active duty as a nurse in the U.S. Army, with 13 of those years spent in preventive medicine and community health. He also worked for more than 12 years in a county health department in Washington as director of public health nursing, while also serving as the health department director for eight years.

A delegate to the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Mr. Kutz serves as an alternate delegate to the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and has been its delegate to the Health and Human Services American Indian/Alaskan Native Health Research Advisory Council since 2008.

 
He also serves as a delegate to the Washington State American Indian Health Commission. He works on the State Mental Health Committee that is advising the state in its efforts to redesign how Medicaid mental health services are delivered to American Indians and Alaskan Natives.