Roger Nyhus is a business and civic leader in Seattle. He is the founder and former CEO of Nyhus Communications, one of Seattle’s leading communications and public affairs firms, and the eighth largest Native American-owned company in Washington state. Over three decades, he has represented numerous clients in advancing global commercial engagement and people-to-people exchange and has participated in numerous international trade missions.
Nyhus has served as a trusted adviser to business and government leaders around the world, including CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Over the course of his career, Nyhus was the longest-serving communications director for Washington Governor Gary Locke, a senior advocacy officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and communications director for Seattle Mayor Paul Schell.
Nyhus is actively engaged in the community and a champion of civil rights, wildlife conservation and the arts. He has led the Seattle Chamber’s Community Development Roundtable, served as a board member of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Seattle Association, and as an adviser to the Chinook Indian Nation, of which he is an enrolled member. Nyhus, who grew up in a small fishing village on Washington’s Pacific Coast, has a particularly keen understanding of life on the ocean and economies that rely on natural resources and tourism.
That background, combined with his proven ability to solve complex problems and manage issues that cut across the public and private sectors, and his skill at building trust with diverse stakeholders, led to his 2022 nomination from President Joe Biden to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to the Barbados and the nations of the Eastern Caribbean.