Back to Officials
Name: Pula, Nikolao
Current Position: Former Director
Nikolao Pula served as the Office of Insular Affairs Director and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary. He was the first Pacific Islander of Samoan ancestry to hold this position. He is the son of Tofa Nikolao Iuli Pula Sr., who was one of the founders of the public school system in American Samoa. Pula is a graduate of the Marist Brothers’ School in American Samoa and Menlo College in California. He has additionally studied at Brigham Young University in Utah and George Mason University in Virginia.
Pula previously worked for Senator Inouye of Hawaii, Congressman Sunia of American Samoa, the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, and for the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms. He joined the Department of the Interior in 1993, serving as a policy desk officer until 2000. In February 2000 Pula began work as the OIA Director of Policy, and in January 2001 he was appointed the director of the Office of Insular Affairs.