New head for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office

Guadalupe Lopez

(Minnesota Department of Public Safety)

ST. PAUL, Min. – Guadalupe Lopez is the new director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office.

She began July 30.

Lopez brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives to the MMIR Office.

DPS Commissioner Bob Jacobson said in a news release, “I have no doubt she will lead with the same clarity, compassion and strength that have defined her career.”

Before being appointed as the MMIR director, Lopez served for four years as the executive director for Violence Free Minnesota, the statewide coalition to end relationship abuse.

“Ending violence and all forms of oppression is more than a job to me,” Lopez said. “It’s about the survival of my people, my children and our collective future generations. It is a lifelong journey and it’s a journey that aligns with the work that the MMIR Office is doing.”

Lopez is an enrolled member of Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.