Joelle Hall is the President of the Alaska AFL-CIO, elected in 2020. She is the first woman to hold the role. Before her election, she served as the Alaska AFL-CIO Political Director for 11 years. Joelle has worked in Alaska politics for over 30 years, with an emphasis on electoral campaigns and advocacy work. She has built and managed large campaigns and community coalitions. Before coming to the AFL-CIO, Joelle was Executive Director of the Alaska Democratic Party and had her own consulting business for ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In a previous life, Joelle was an interrogator/paratrooper in the US Army and an AFS exchange student in Honduras. Joelle and her husband, Mallie, have two grown children and live in Peters Creek.

slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cw75y2uy5zhda4as658mq/BetterJobsAK_UU.pdf?rlkey=mkbtlbz41ckzoskwi38a24pjz&dl=0

AFL-CIO website - https://www.akaflcio.org

Marilyn Romano is the Alaska regional vice president for Alaska Airlines. She spent nearly two decades with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the second largest paper in Alaska, and 11 years as publisher. She was the newspaper’s first woman top executive. Marilyn serves on the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation and Rasmuson Foundation boards. She also serves on the Governor’s Aviation Advisory Board and is a member of the American Heart Association statewide and Alaska Airlines Foundation boards. She’s been inducted into the ATHENA Society, named a YWCA of Alaska “Women of Achievement,” and recognized with a Top Forty Under 40 award from the Alaska Journal of Commerce, Woman of Distinction from the Farthest North Girl Scouts, and the Cashen Award for meritorious service to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Marilyn and her husband, Brian, live in Anchorage.

Alaska Airlines video -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eO_K0e9K_jly5pXdm8Bbl6ohrTIk0SMK/view?usp=drive_link

Xáat Kwáani video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vr3jkabzz2tt2r7bedul8/AlaskaAirlinesSalmonPeopleAircraft_X-atKw-ani.mp4?rlkey=kvmpr3tehjanmvwhfxbu7zhem&dl=0

Link to Alaska Airlines Sustainability page - https://www.alaskaair.com/content/about-us/esg


This page has several links, including the 2023 Sustainability Report, and it is worth roaming around.

John Hagen is the Curator of Indigenous Art and Initiatives at the Anchorage Museum. Hagen works to further the Museum's work with Alaska living cultures, with an emphasis on Indigenous art, artists, climate change, national and international connections, and other initiatives. He is the curator of the exhibit currently on display at the Museum, Alaska from Above: The Art of Bradford Washburn. Hagen is Iupiaq, Unangax, Irish, and Danish. His work at the museum incorporates a longstanding passion for photography. As a professional photojournalist, he published newspaper photographs by the tightest deadlines. After studying New Media Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, John returned to Alaska and found himself empowered to tell his own story, with his work shifting from that of a photographer seeking publication to an artist desiring to express himself.

Anchorage Museum Bradford Washburn video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m8q9xg3sykwdxf2ibhsh6/lp-bradford-washburn-30-sec-video.mp4?rlkey=cvtylvvintngl34ylv7fj6aca&dl=0

John's slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/azsyrudu5n3o3jcg3lisc/AlaskaFromAbove.pdf?rlkey=o1of3u3xze02dhonk5nveg0gw&dl=0

Suzanne Little has worked extensively in partnership with Alaska Native Tribes who live in intrinsic connection with remote lands across the state. She is currently staff to the 38-Tribe Bering Sea Interior Tribal Commission. Her work aims to ensure that local voices are represented and heard in land use decisions, including policy considerations relating to the conservation or development of Alaska's rugged and pristine landscapes and traditional lands for centuries of Alaska Native Peoples. Based in Anchorage, she brings policy development, strategic and land use planning, and nonprofit management experience to her work. Little served as an elected representative on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly and in the Alaska State Senate for one term each.

Little was voted the most effective new state legislator and led the effort to rewrite Alaska's Open Meetings Act, championing public involvement and local control for land use decisions. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental planning and landscape architecture from the University of California, Davis, and currently serves on the steering committee of Alaska Women Ascend.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wrfjetzvo975367pumvjl/UUPresentationAlaskaWomenAscend.pdf?rlkey=5jlhbot49twv2cbmn7qpt5vii&dl=0

Website - https://www.akwomenascend.org

Scott Langley is a New York-based photographer specializing in documentary work on human rights in the United States and elsewhere. His work has been widely exhibited worldwide, and he often travels with his exhibits to give presentations about the intersection of photography and human rights. His photos have appeared in dozens of media outlets, including CNN, the AP, the BBC, HBO, the Economist, National Geographic, and PBS, as well as in many books and films.

Website - https://deathpenaltyphoto.org/

Betsy Baker is a board member of In Our Backyard, a new Anchorage nonprofit whose mission is to provide safe interim housing and connections to support services for unhoused senior neighbors. Dr. Baker is an international lawyer whose consulting work on ocean law and Arctic policy builds on 25+ years of experience as an author, consultant, law professor, and most recently as director of an Alaska-based marine science funding organization, the North Pacific Research Board. She is a member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences. Betsy received her J.D. from the University of Michigan and her LL.M. and doctorate in law from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, where she was an Alexander von Humboldt Chancellor's Fellow. She has taught at Harvard, Minnesota, and Vermont Law Schools. Betsy attends First Covenant Church of Anchorage, served on the municipality’s 2023 task force on sanctioned camps, and previously served on the board of Facing Foster Care in Alaska.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2qznqmytgmjemfbtetaby/2024-7-28-In-Our-Backyard.pdf?rlkey=g9di3cu7kahw3zmuv4vc6vdxx&dl=0

In Our Backyard website - https://inourbackyard-ak.org

Text Betsy - 907 787 9496

Kate McClellan was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and spent her youth in the suburbs of Chicago. In 1977, just before she turned 17, she left a traumatic home life and headed for Alaska in a VW bus, moving here permanently in 1986. Kate received a bachelor's degree in Sociology with a minor in History in 2002. During her last year at UAA, in the build-up to the war in Iraq, she became an activist with Alaskans for Peace and Justice, opposing the war, and met a Palestinian man named Khalid, who expanded her perspective on the conflict in Israel/Palestine. As a consequence, she has been avidly following what has transpired there. She lives in Nunaka Valley with her dog Mariah and takes in other dogs for boarding. She is a long-term member of St. Marys Episcopal Church, loves long walks with the dogs, hiking, and gardening, and is something of a compulsive news junkie.

Link to slides that Kate used - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kosfn2biax5j67kkpjc70/TheSituation.pdf?rlkey=cywafl80uqylkdws06jj8ohi9&dl=0

Link to YouTube video that Kate showed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhI2Rlt3SSc&rco=1 This link is to a video - If you only open the Forum podcast, you will experience the audio of this video. It is well worth accessing the video.

Cindy Chaput is the College, Career, and Life Ready Director for the Anchorage School District. An Alaskan resident for 28 years, Cindy has spent three decades in the education sector, gaining valuable experience in administration and counseling across various schools in the Anchorage School District. In her current role, she supports the expanding technical and real-world opportunities for ALL students, bridging the gap between education and the workforce through the Academies of Anchorage initiative. Beyond her professional life, Cindy and her husband, Dave, enjoy building projects with their four adult children, retreating to their cabin, and hiking in the mountains.

Misha Chakraborty, with over 15 years of experience in academia, brings a wealth of knowledge to her role at United Way, Anchorage. Her personal interests, such as spending time outside and enjoying music, make her more than just a professional. She is a mother of two daughters and a fur baby, and she is excited to be involved in the Academies of Anchorage initiative through United Way, where her role is to connect the schools with the community and business partners.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ylotzb6nn92a5f7ubyoe0/Community-Partner-AoA-Presentation.pdf?rlkey=b2zsvpdnpae6pdwthfcdadyfj&dl=0

How to get involved - https://www.asdk12.org/domain/6221 Building a Partnership / Partner With Us (asdk12.org)

Academies of Anchorage Pathways link - https://www.asdk12.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=1507&ModuleInstanceID=43761&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=86054&PageID=2516

Chat - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4jb5jn7k5i6jgvjwmru6a/20240714_chat.pdf?rlkey=ooqg1e2z7nt3tscsem69g40o4&dl=0