Staff

Lon joined AASB in 2015 as School Improvement Coordinator. Before that, he was a member of the AASB Board of Directors for eight years, serving as president in 2012. He also served on the Sitka school board for nearly nine years, five years as board president. 
Lon has a passion for school governance and has participated in school board governance and leadership at the local, state and national level. He has extensive experience in board development, superintendent searches, comprehensive policy services, and school improvement support.
As a former salmon enhancement biologist, Garrison spent many years living and working in remote locations of Southeast Alaska. He has a B.S. in Fisheries Biology from Colorado State University and attended graduate school at the University of Vermont.

Timi Tullis’ responsibilities include ensuring that board members have professional development opportunities that allow them to govern their districts knowledgeably. Her passion is training and facilitating groups of people, adults, youth or a combination of the two. She specifically loves topics around social justice and equity. She facilitates in-district workshops with school boards, charter school boards and advisory boards as well as leading districts or schools through the strategic planning process. Timi started with AASB in the summer of 2001 and found her home with them. She enjoys traveling across the great land of Alaska and working with her 350 board members in every corner of the state. Timi has an MA in Education from Michigan State University and loves her teams in Green!

Lori Grassgreen has been working on community engagement, youth leadership, teaching, school counseling, and creating systems change in Alaska and internationally for more than 20 years. Her last position as Prevention Director with the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault enabled her to partner with communities across the state to strengthen families, build a core of youth leaders, and engage communities. For the past 10 years, she has served as the Director for the Conditions for Learning Team. This team is dedicated to a range of school improvement and student wellness outcomes. This includes family and school partnerships, building positive school climate, establishing strong practices for youth leadership, language revitalization, and building resiliency among youth.

Lori holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a graduate degree in development studies. She has taught, worked in schools and communities, supported youth leadership, and leveraged funding for many decades. 

When Lori is not working across Alaska, Lori can be found with family, hiking, kayaking, harvesting or doting on her two cats. Lori has the honor of being ceremonially adopted by the Kaagwaantaan Clan (wolf clan), as a member of the Kóok Hít (box house). 

Tiffany joins the AASB team after serving 12 years on her local school board (10 years as President), 9 years on the AASB board of director (twice as President), and 3 years on the NSBA board of directors. Before joining AASB, Tiffany worked for her Tribe as the Executive Director. Tiffany brings her passion for public education to the Director of Membership Services position where her responsibilities will include the executive search service, superintendent evaluation service, paperless meetings, and board development services which includes facilitating in-district workshops.  

Born and raised in Alaska, Tiffany is Tlingit and Aleut. She and her husband have 3 amazing children, one who graduated from, and two who currently attend Alaska public schools. She enjoys reading, crafting, baking, traveling, Harry Potter, and her favorite book of all time is Charotte’s Web. 

Jenny Mathis has over 15 years of experience with non-profit organizations as an accountant, Assistant Controller, and CFO. She has been a CPA for over 20 years. Jenny is originally from Alabama but has lived in Texas most of her life. Jenny and her family now call Weatherford, Texas home.

Away from work, Jenny and her husband Ronald are busy raising their three kids. Abbi and Walker are both in high school. They are both busy with school activities, including being on the basketball team. Presli, who will be in the 6th grade next year, is an active member of the archery team at school. Jenny enjoys taking trips with her family and attending Texas Rangers baseball games when possible.

Jenny is excited to be part of AASB as the Finance Officer. In her new role, she hopes to help bring some new processes to the business office, including moving some programs and functions to the cloud.

Prior to joining AASB, Adeline worked as the Grants Administrator for the Alaska State Child Nutrition Programs with the Department of Education.

She graduated from the University of California Stanislaus with a degree in Business Administration. Adeline is looking forward to working with grantees and staff. 

An avid traveler and explorer, Adeline enjoys seeing the world and making new friends everywhere she goes.

Alicia aa.eegáakushée Duncan joins the AASB team with a background in Applied Anthropology from Oregon State University, where her studies focused on medical anthropology, particularly on Indigenous birth ceremonies in the Pacific Northwest. She is Tlingit, from the T’akdeintaan tribe, a daughter of the Teikweidí clan and a granddaughter of the Kiks.ádi clan. Her family originates from Sitka and Angoon. As the Data & Evaluation Coordinator, Alicia will be focusing on using data to drive program quality and share the story of our work. With her return to Southeast Alaska, she is committed to bridging her educational experience to help better serve the communities of Alaska. 

Becky joins us after two decades of working for a local mechanical contractor. She has lived in Alaska since 1986. Becky is thrilled to be a part of AASB as the Administrative Coordinator, supporting the Board Development Team and the Business Office. Having a sister who has worked with the Association for more than 13 years, Becky has frequently been around AASB conferences and functions. She loves all this organization does to support school boards and, ultimately, education for Alaskan students. 

Claudia is a graduate Eastern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology, with a minor in Gender Studies. She also has her Master of Science Degree in Sociology from Portland State University. After receiving her Master’s, she spent a year teaching undergraduate level sociology classes at Eastern Oregon University. Although she enjoyed teaching, Claudia wanted to work in a field where she could feel that she was making a real difference. This brought her to Alaska, where she spent over 5 years working to engage youth and communities in violence prevention programming. She is enjoying working with communities and school districts to engage youth in leadership and advocacy work.

As coordinator of the Alaska Family Engagement Center, Emily brings her passion and personal experience raising three kids to her work of supporting strong school and family partnerships. Emily previously served as AASB’s transitions coordinator and worked to improve educational outcomes “from cradle to career,” including rethinking how we prepare students for life after high school. Over the course of her 20+ years in Alaska, Emily has often landed in community organizing roles where she gets to ask her favorite question: “How can we make this better, together?”

Heather Shaw joined the AASB team in 2020. After graduating from Northern Arizona University with BA’s in Advertising and Public Relations, she moved back to Juneau to work in the community that served her so much in her youth. In her free time, she enjoys spending as much time outside as possible with her dog, Ursa.

Jenni Lefing came to AASB after working with non-profits and NGOs in Alaska, Oregon, and Southeast Asia in community development, and program evaluation and coordination. She joined the AASB team in 2010 as a Community Engagement Educator for the Alaska Initiative for Community Engagement (now the Conditions for Learning team), where she facilitated connections between schools and communities throughout Alaska. In 2015 she became the School Climate Coordinator and administered Alaska’s School Climate & Connectedness Survey (SCCS). In August 2022, she joined the Board Development team full-time as Membership Services Manager. In this role, she oversees AASB’s statewide events, the June Nelson Memorial Scholarship program, and facilitates in-district workshops with school boards, advisory school boards and charter schools. She also supports board development services such as Strategic Planning, Superintendent Searches and School Board Member Recognition.  Jenni holds an MA in Sustainable Development from the SIT Graduate Institute and a BS from Cornell University.

Jennifer has been working in the design industry for over 15 years since graduating with a BFA in graphic design from Savannah College of Art and Design. She joined AASB in January 2024 and is excited to be a part of the Conditions for Learning team as the Communications and Event Coordinator. Jennifer now considers Juneau, AK her home and enjoys exploring all the amazing things Alaska has to offer with her family when she’s not working.

Kami Moore serves as the School Climate and Connectedness Coordinator at AASB. Kami comes to AASB with experience as classroom teacher, community educator and most recently a member of the School Health and Safety team at the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development. Kami is passionate about student health and wellbeing and has spent the last 13 years working with communities across Alaska. She has a B.S. in Education and received her Master’s of Public Health from UAA.

Karin joins AASB after serving 25 years in Alaska’s schools as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, Director of Title I, assistant principal and principal in schools both in rural remote and Anchorage. She brings a passion for working with students, families and school staff to support student learning and achievement. Karin earned a BA in education from UAA, Masters in Reading from UAS, Type B (Principal’s) Certification from UAA. When she isn’t supporting education, Karin enjoys being active in the outdoors with her two dogs.

Katie comes to the AASB team as Policy and Superintendent Search Manager after completing
12 years on her local school board and six years on the AASB Board of Directors, serving as
President in 2021. Prior to joining the AASB Board Development team, Katie worked in the
nonprofit arts and culture sector, including ten years as Executive Director of the Kodiak History
Museum, and ten years as ED of the Kodiak Arts Council. She is a lifelong Alaskan and lives in
Kodiak with her husband Jared, a theatre director and Associate Professor of English at University of Alaska, and their children.

Chookán yóo xat duwasáakw, Ch’áak’ naax xát sitee. Chookaneidí áyá xát, Kiks.ádi yádi xát sitee. Sheet’káx’ yéi xat yatee.

Chookán (Lakrisha) Brady was born and raised in Sitka, where she had the opportunity to learn from some amazing teachers, elders, and mentors. Chookán has dedicated her life to preserving cultural knowledge through teaching Indigenous youth. She has spent the past 10 years working in various positions at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Most recently, she served as the Sitka Native Education Program Co-Director. In her current and past positions, Chookán dedicates her time and energy to students and the caring adults around them so that we can work together to grow good humans. Chookán believes this necessitates instilling a sense of values among youth.

At the Association of Alaska School Boards, Chookán supports youth leadership, community conversations, and embedding cultural heritage and Alaska Native languages during school and out-of-school time activities.

In her personal time, Chookán can be found with students in Sitka schools, in dance groups, with family, at cultural events, beading, with her partner, or doting on her beloved dog, Luna.

Lauren Havens serves as the Deputy Director for our Conditions for Learning team. She has over 15 years of experience in youth development and education, including roles as an educator, evaluator, and grant program coordinator. She received her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in 2018, where she focused on program evaluation, social-emotional learning, and school-based interventions. Prior to her current role, she was AASB’s Data and Evaluation Coordinator for 2 and a half years. She currently lives in Sitka with her husband, preschool-aged son, and 2 cats.

Laurie is responsible for coordinating the HR needs for the organization, performing various duties for the Business Office and providing logistical coordination and specialized support to AASB. Laurie offers a warm, enthusiastic approach to managing the daily responsibilities of the office and has a natural ability to multi-task and keep the AASB staff organized and effective. Laurie joined AASB in 2004, and has been with the organization cumulatively for more than 13 years.

Lingít x’éináx X’unyéil áyá ax saayí. Dleit kaa x’éináx Lisa Worl yóo xat duwasáakw, Ch’áak’ naax xát sitee. Kaagwaantaan áyá xát. Kóok hít áyá xát. Filipino yádix xat sitee, du een toot uwa.át wé T’akdeintaan. T’akdeintaan dachxán áyá xát, Xunaa Káawu áwé uháan.

Lisa X‘unyéil Worl is the Partnership Coordinator. Lisa supports work around Family Engagement, Cultural Integration and trauma-informed Schools practices in schools and communities. She’s worked as Alaska State legislative staffer and spent 16 years in public education including four years serving on the Juneau School Board. On the board, Lisa initially focused on student retention and graduation but then recognized how equity policies and programs inherently impact all areas from student learning to graduation. Lisa attended school in Hoonah and Juneau and graduated from Juneau Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Oregon. Her two adult children also attended and graduated from Juneau School District before attending and graduating college.

Prior to joining AASB, Maressa worked as Trauma-Engaged Schools Specialist for the Juneau School District. She holds a BA in Social Science from University of Alaska Southeast, with concentration areas in Sociology, Psychology and Anthropology; and a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Boston University. To her role as coordinator of Trauma Engaged Schools and Social Emotional Learning with AASB she brings enthusiasm for evidence-based approaches to improve wellbeing for students, staff, families and communities, and provides training on topics including ACES, resilience, trauma engaged approaches, restorative practices, and Circle of Security. When not at work, Maressa enjoys spending time with her family, reading, or being active outdoors; hiking, skiing, paddle boarding and trail running.

Mindy is the Executive Administrative Assistant at AASB, serving the Board of Directors. She has two kids in Juneau
Public Schools. After spending time off to raise her young kids, she’s excited to be a part of
AASB. When not working, you’ll find her enjoying family and all that beautiful Southeast Alaska
has to offer.

Stephanie joined AASB in the fall of 2019. As a grant coordinator, she works closely with the Conditions for Learning team, the AASB Business office and our grant partners. Stephanie moved to Alaska from Oregon where she previously worked with the Oregon Teacher Standards & Practices Commission (TSPC) as an educator license evaluator. While at TSPC, she enjoyed working with PK-12 Educators, Oregon School Districts, Oregon college and university educator preparation programs and partner organizations.

For over 30 years Steve Nelson has provided communications, public relations, and project management services to nonprofit organizations, private industry, broadcasters, advertising agencies, the Alaska Legislature, and five Alaska governors. He joined the Association of Alaska School Boards in 2004 and has assumed lead roles as AASB Public Information Coordinator and Project Coordinator.

Tristan joins AASB after more than 20 years in the government and nonprofit sectors as an educator, administrator, and local elected official. Prior to coming to AASB, Tristan spent 13 years working in executive and senior management roles at Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA), including as Cultural Resources, Education and Employment Department Director, Senior Director of Organizational Development, and the STA Operations Lead of Sitka National Historical Park’s Interpretation and Education Division. In addition to his work with STA, Tristan served in the US Peace Corps in Eastern Ukraine (2005 – 2007), has worked domestically and internationally in the fields of education and youth development (2001 – Present), managed a Tlingit language revitalization project for the Sitka Native Education Program (2009 – 2013), designed and managed a teacher training program for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp (2014 – 2016), and served a three-year term on the City and Borough of Sitka Assembly (2014 – 2017).

Tristan brings a passion for school-family-community partnerships, organizational learning and growth, and collective impact approaches to addressing PK-20 public education’s most pressing challenges. Tristan holds a B.A. International Relations from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Public Administration from the Middleburry Institute of International Studies where he was selected by faculty as the 2018 Development Practice and Policy Monitoring, Evaluation and Design Fellow. Tristan is an adopted member of the Dakl’aweidí clan, and currently serves as President of the Sitka School Board.