Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. is an enrolled member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota and Chickasaw Nations and is an internationally recognized leader in human, community, and economic development.

During the past 53 years, Chief Lane has worked with Indigenous Peoples from the Americas, Micronesia, South East Asia, China, India, Hawaii, and Africa. He served 16 years as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada (1980-1996).

In 1982, Chief Lane co founded the Four Worlds International Institute (FWII) with Indigenous Elders and Spiritual Leaders.

On August 15, 1992, in recognition of his lineage of leadership and longtime service to Indigenous Peoples and the Human Family, Indigenous Elders from across North America recognized Phil as a Hereditary Chief of the Hinhan Wicasa and Deloria Tiospayes of the Ihanktonwan Dakota through a Traditional Headdress Ceremony.

In 2008, Chief Lane received the Ally Award presented by the Center for Healing Racism. Particular emphasis for this award was for his dedicated work, for more than 19 years, as one of the key Indigenous leaders in the resolution of Canada’s Residential School issue, which involved the sexual, physical, cultural, psychological, and emotional abuse of thousands of Aboriginal children in Canada. The process resulted in a more than $4 billion settlement for Residential School survivors.

A film and video producer, community leader, writer, speaker, educator, consultant and editor, Lane is the co-author with Jon Ramer of “Deep Social Networks and the Digital Fourth Way” a document that outlines sixteen principles as a road map for creating holistic change using internet technologies as a basis by which to share with indigenous peoples globally.