J.C. Seneca is a member of the Seneca Nation and has been elected and/or appointed to a number of local and national Native government offices and organizations throughout his adult life. He was first elected to the Seneca Nation Council in 1990, following in the footsteps of his father William who served as both Seneca Nation President (1968,) and Treasurer (1966/70.)J.C. has been elected as Seneca Nation Treasurer (1998,) elected three times as a four-term Councilor (1990, 2008, 2022,) and appointed as a Councilor (2006.) In 1991, he was elected to a two-year term as Northeast Area Vice President for the National Congress of American Indians, acknowledged as, “The oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.”
From 1998-2000, he served as a board member of the United States and Eastern Tribes, Inc. (USET.)
J.C. is the owner of Tallchief Territory, Home of Native Pride Travel Plaza, located on the Seneca Nation in Irving, NY. He began his business career in 1987 as a young entrepreneur with big dreams. By 1995 he had developed his own truck stop business, and then spent the next 25 years building a successful 22-pump gas and diesel service area complimented by a diner, a 24/7 convenience store and shower and lounge services for professional truck drivers.
In 2019, Seneca was recognized as a Top 50 Native Business Entrepreneur, and in 2020 was named Native Business Entrepreneur of the Year, both honors accorded by Native Business Magazine, a national publication based in Bellevue, WA. In 2021, 2022, and 2023 he was honored by Buffalo Business First as one of the 250 Most Powerful People in Western New York. In 2022, he was ranked 24th in the Buffalo Business First Power 100 Business People of Color List and in 2023 and 2024 he rose to number 20.
J.C.’s civic leadership is reflected in the creation of the JC Seneca Foundation, a nonprofit corporation with a mission to advance healthy living in body, mind, and spirit for the people of the Seneca Nation and surrounding communities. In 2021, he expanded the reach of his foundation by partnering the Center for Indigenous Cancer Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer
Backed by a quarter century of goals and achievement, Seneca decided in 2020 to reformat his Native Pride Brand by incorporating it with his family’s Seneca Nation Heritage. It is a heritage tied to his great, great, great grandfather, Tallchief, who claimed the land where Seneca began his entrepreneurial journey, and where today he continues to grow his business, now known as, Tallchief Territory Home of Native Pride.