When a Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut committee set about choosing a 2023 Citizen of the Year, it found the task less than daunting.

“Somehow or other, your name came up,” Tony Sheridan, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday, addressing the committee’s choice, U.S. Treasurer Lynn Malerba, who, despite humble origins, has done pretty well.

“When I look down your list of accomplishments, it’s amazing,” Sheridan said. “... A woman from Montville with her signature on all our money, which will be circulated throughout the U.S. and is much in demand in the entire world.”

“Very unexpected,” Malerba interjected.

The conversation, which took place via Zoom, came as the chamber announced it will present Malerba, chief of the Mohegan Tribe, with its 72nd Citizen of the Year Award, an honor presented annually to a person who has made outstanding contributions on behalf of the civic and business community. Recipients are nominated for their positive impact on their organization, their outreach to the community and their service to nonprofits in the region.

Malerba will be feted May 23 at a dinner at Mohegan Sun.

Malerba was sworn in as the nation’s 45th treasurer on Sept. 12, 2022, having been appointed June 21, 2022 by President Joe Biden. She is the first Native American to hold the office. She became the 18th chief of the Mohegan Tribe in 2010, the first woman in more than 300 years to hold the lifetime position, which is largely ceremonial. She also has served as chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council, which doubles as the Mohegan Management Board, which oversees the tribe’s gaming operations, including Mohegan Sun, its flagship casino.

Before joining tribal government, Malerba had a long career as a registered nurse, ultimately serving as director of cardiology and pulmonary services at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London.

As U.S. treasurer, Malerba leads the Treasury Department’s newly established Office of Tribal and Native Affairs, acts as a liaison with the Federal Reserve and oversees the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Fort Knox. She also serves as a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the areas of community development and public engagement.

Malerba, who spoke on Tuesday’s Zoom call from her office in Washington, D.C., said she was flattered to have been chosen to receive the chamber’s award.

“This is very special,” she said. “So many people do so many wonderful things in our community, I’m honored to be considered.”

She described seeing her signature on U.S. currency for the first time late last year. Upon meeting the engravers who prepared “Lynn Roberge Malerba” for the bills, “I literally just cried,” she said.

Roberge is Malerba’s maiden name.

“My parents raised us with such love, but struggled financially,” Malerba said. “To see their name on the money still makes me feel weepy … All the people in Connecticut have bragging rights.”

She said she’s learned that U.S. currency is “cherished” in every country in the world. In 2022, she said, eight billion bills were manufactured at just two facilities that operate around the clock.

Seven months into her tenure as treasurer, Malerba said she’s seen the benefits of a Treasury Department that’s engaging Native Americans in ways it never did before. She offered the example of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, which last month celebrated construction of a cell tower that’s providing some 1,000 tribal members with wireless service for the first time, a project funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.

“How exciting is that?” Malerba said. “Everyone in Treasury celebrated when the first call came in from the reservation.”

The most recent past recipient’s of the chamber’s Citizen of the Year Award include John Burkhardt, Pfizer’s former Groton site director, in 2022; Michael Rauh, then-president and chief executive officer of Chelsea Groton Bank, in 2020; and Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, in 2019. No award was given in 2021.

Two other recipients with ties to the Mohegan Tribe have won the award: Mitchell Etess, retired president and CEO of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, in 2015, and Ralph Sturges, Malerba’s predecessor as Mohegan chief, in 2005.

Tickets for the Citizen of the Year dinner are $115. For more information about the event, visit the chamber’s website at www.chamberect.com.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com