Chief Lyons is a faithkeeper of the Wolf Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy). He has been active in international Indigenous rights and sovereignty issues for over four decades at the United Nations and other international forums. He is a State University of New York (SUNY) distinguished services professor emeritus of the University at Buffalo. He co-founded the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth with the American Indian Institute at Bozemon, Montana, and continues to serve on their board. Oren co-founded the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse program in 1983 and is chairman of their board of directors. He is chairman of the board of directors of Honoring Nation, the Harvard program for Native American economic development. He serves on the board of Bioneers an environmental champion of the earth. Chief Lyons is chairman of the board of directors of Plantagon International AB, the leader in urban agriculture, Plantagon is designed to meet challenges of compounding human population, finite resources and global warming.