Having been re-elected to a second term, Chief Cyrus Ben is the fifth elected Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a federally-recognized tribe of over 11,100 members living on or near 35,000 acres of tribal lands in east central Mississippi. Chief Ben has a 15-year record of public service to the Choctaw Tribal government and Tribal business leadership, including 8 years as Pearl River community’s representative on the Tribal Council prior to being elected as Tribal Chief in July 2019. He served four years as the Tribe’s Secretary-Treasurer and three years as the President of Choctaw-Ikhana, a Tribally-chartered corporation.

Chief Ben has also been recognized in Indian Country as an emerging young leader. In 2009 the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development named Chief Ben to the “Native American 40 Under 40” class. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves appointed Chief Ben to the prestigious Mississippi Flag Commission, which oversaw the selection of the new state flag which now includes a symbol of native territory before statehood. He is a board member of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service. Locally, he was named Citizen of the Year by the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Community Development Partnership. He also serves as a delegate on the Health Resources and Services Administration Tribal Advisory Council, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity Tribal Advisory Committee.