Our Board - The Alaska Center

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Alaska Center is fortunate to have a passionate and dedicated board of directors made up of talented individuals from across the state with diverse experiences to help guide our organization.

- Asterisks denote The Alaska Center Education Fund crossover board member -

Sally Rue joined the Alaska Center board in 2018. She has 40 years of experience in Alaska in natural resources planning and policy, community development, youth engagement, and Alaska public education. She worked two stints in the Alaska Governor’s Office (1977 to 1982 and 1995 to 2002), as special assistant for natural resources, and finally as chief of staff to Lt. Governor Fran Ulmer. From 2003 to 2014, she served as director of the Alaska Initiative for Community Engagement, a statewide initiative at the Association of Alaska School Boards to engage adults, organizations, communities and young people in actively supporting youth success.

Sally has been an active volunteer in public schools, served on the Juneau School Board for two terms and on the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development. She volunteered with Big Brothers/Big Sisters as a Big Sister, and as a board member for Alaska Geographic from 2006 to 2015.

She has a BA in Urban Studies from the U. of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Regional Planning from the U. of Massachusetts. She and her husband Frank live in Juneau and spend as much time as they can enjoying Alaska’s wild lands and waters.

Contact Sally at [email protected].

Griffin joined the board of The Alaska Center for a renewed term in 2019, after having served as its first Youth Board Member in 2015. From the small town of Seward, he spent his childhood on the trails of Exit Glacier and the waters of Resurrection Bay with family, where he later worked for seven seasons as a naturalist and a park ranger for Kenai Fjords National Park. Inspired by activists with the Resurrection Bay Conservation Society, Griffin attended his first AYEA Civics and Conservation Summit in 2012 as a high school freshman where he found a passion for activism as a tool to build communities and protect their clean air and water. Throughout high school, he organized Seward's chapter of AYEA and worked with others to lead statewide campaigns on local foods, Pebble Mine, and climate change. This work inspired him to join fifteen other young Alaskans demanding the State of Alaska acknowledge and address climate change as plaintiffs in Alaska's climate trust lawsuit, Sinnok v. Alaska.

Gavin's time with the organization has its roots as a member of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, where he worked on air quality campaigns and fundraising efforts to support the recovery of the community of Banda Aceh after a devastating Tsunami.

Gavin has worked for over ten years fighting the impacts of climate change and developing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for rural Alaska Native communities. Most recently his time has been spent as a Project Manager overseeing the relocation of the Yup'ik community of Newtok, which must move to a new location due to the accelerating impacts of climate change.

In his free time, you can find Gavin sharing his passions for biking, skiing, paddling and running with friends and loved ones through the unique and irreplaceable wilderness of Alaska.

Genevieve joined the Alaska Center board in the spring of 2019. While her family hails from the Philippines, it was the fishing industry that brought her family up north. Born and raised in Anchorage, she has since worked on over 10 successful campaigns, interned for Alaska State Representative Ivy Spohnholz in 2017, and leads a local youth organization focused on political empowerment.

In 2018, Genevieve began her involvement with The Alaska Center as a Democracy Fellow, engaging historically low-voter turnout areas in Fairview and Mountain View through nonpartisan voter education. Genevieve graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a BA in Political Science and Biological Sciences and a minor in Communications; she is also a Seawolf Debate alumna.

Currently, she works as a communications specialist for Alaska Primary Care Association, a nonprofit that represents community health centers and promotes advocacy in Alaska health policy. She is also a 2018 graduate of the Alaska Women Ascend program, a member of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum - Anchorage Chapter, and serves on the Public Transit Advisory Board for the Municipality of Anchorage. Outside of obsessively following health policy and #akleg on Twitter, she enjoys thrifting, karaoke, learning about Alaska political history, and amateur birding.

David Musgrave joined The Alaska Center board in 2024. He brings experience in oceanography, environmental sciences, and outdoor education.

After graduating from Caltech with a BS in chemistry, he moved to Fairbanks to pursue a graduate program in oceanography at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), where he earned his MS and PhD in Oceanography in 1983. Following this, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in physical oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In 1988, he returned to UAF's Institute of Marine Sciences as a professor of physical oceanography. After retiring in 2007, Dave relocated to the Mat-Su Valley to enjoy the recreational opportunities in the Chugach Range and Hatcher Pass.

Throughout his time in Alaska, Dave has embraced the Alaskan lifestyle, undertaking numerous backcountry adventures, including sea kayaking, canoeing, packrafting, and whitewater kayaking in Glacier Bay, Prince William Sound, and the Brooks Range, among many other locations in Alaska and beyond. He continues to enjoy backcountry and Nordic skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and snow biking. In the past decade, he has embarked on long bikepacking trips, including rides from Banff to the Mexican border along the Continental Divide, San Diego to the tip of Baja through the mountains, and a ride through the backcountry mountains and beaches across Cuba.

Dave's passion for outdoor recreation has led him to serve on the boards of the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks, the Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers, and the Mat-Su Ski Club. He founded and developed the Mat-Su Junior Nordics and the VMBAH SprocKidz programs to teach kids cross-country skiing and mountain biking. Both programs now serve hundreds of children. He has contributed his oceanographic expertise to the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council as a member of their Scientific Advisory Committee and continues to consult on oceanographic projects in Alaska waters.

Dave enjoys spending time at his log home near Hatcher Pass with his wife, two dogs, and a cat who thinks he's a dog.

David first joined The Alaska Center Education Fund Board in March 2022, and now serves on The Alaska Center board. His family hails from Seoul, South Korea, but he was born in Dallas, TX and raised in Baltimore, MD. He moved to Juneau, AK in 2019 to work for the Association of Alaska School Boards through the Alaska Fellows Program.

He is currently a legislative aide for Representative Geran Tarr of Anchorage, where he is focusing on bills addressing education policy, criminal justice reform, and racial equity.

Prior to his current role in the House, David was employed as an Economic Justice Organizer with the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AKPIRG) and Native Movement, where he helped advocate for consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In another life, he was an educator in the Boston Public School system, where he taught biology and physics at the English High School in Jamaica Plain.

David received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Wake Forest University in 2015, and received a Master’s in Public Administration from Brown University in 2019. Outside of work, David enjoys attending local theater at Perseverance Theater in Douglas, cooking, baking, and following local politics across the state.

Interested in Joining Our Board?

The Alaska Center Board of Directors is accepting applications for new board members. Currently, we are seeking additional board members from specific regions – the Interior, Southeast, and Southwest – to enhance our statewide perspectives and representation. Ideal board candidates will have a statewide perspective on conservation and social issues, have an interest or background in Alaska politics, support the mission and priority issues and strategies of The Alaska Center, and be willing to leverage their networks to support positive changes focused on our mission throughout our state.

Our volunteer board provides leadership, governance, and support to The Alaska Center. We are currently developing a multi-year strategic plan to achieve our vision of a thriving and sustainable Alaska for future generations. We need thoughtful individuals to join us in this work. Our board meets monthly in Anchorage with a Skype/teleconference option. In addition, board members participate in committee work. Alternatively, if you are interested in participating in a more focused way, contact us to become part of one of our committees.

For more information and to apply (attach cover letter and resume or CV), please send your application to David Song at [email protected].

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