2017 Cohort

About Kate Ballegooyen

Kate Ballegooyen is the Environment and YESAA (Yukon Environment and Socio-economic Assessment Act) Coordinator for Kluane First Nation. She studied geography and ecological restoration at UBC and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Management. While her main focus is environmental assessment work for KFN, Kate is also involved in KFNs many renewable energy projects. Currently, she is working as a project manager for KFNs N’tsi (wind) energy project, which will be constructed in Summer 2019. She is dedicated to community building and believes that working collaboratively will enable the transition to clean, community-owned energy systems.

About Keith Charlie

Keith Charlie is tribally enrolled with the federally recognized Native Village of Minto. He is half Athabaskan, a quarter Inupiaq, and a quarter white. Currently, Keith is serving a two-year term on the Minto Village Council, and another two-year term on Minto’s Seth-De-Ya-Ah Village Corporation board. Additionally, he has submitted a letter of interest to serve on the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative board.

Keith finds great importance in his five years of coaching the Minto Boys basketball team. He is a husband, and a father to 3 children, and providing for them has been one of his most important learning experiences.

About Tyler Kornelis

Tyler Kornelis lives in Kodiak, Alaska with his partner, Melissa, and black lab, Nori. Tyler enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking, and traveling.

Tyler works at the Kodiak Area Native Association as a Project Manager focusing on economic development initiatives for rural village communities in the region. He is involved with the steering committee for the Kodiak Harvest Food Co-op, hoping to bring food security and localized economic growth to the Kodiak Region.

About Mogens Nielsen

Mogens Nielsen is a retired Commander Senior Grade in the Danish Navy. In the last 4.5 years of his active duty he was assigned to the NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium.

Since retiring from the Navy, Mogens has worked for Nukissiorfiit, the Greenlandic government-owned energy company, in the areas of electricity, heating, and potable water in the Disko Island region. More recently, he has taken on the role of COO/CTO of Nukissiorfiit and his focus has turned to development of electric utilities, stabilizing renewable energy integration into grids, and exploring new energy sources. 

Mogens has four grown children who live in Denmark, and he enjoys reading about history, economics, and biographies and traveling to warmer places.

About Rhonda Pitka

Rhonda Pitka is the First Chief of the Beaver Village Council, where she has served since 2011. Chief Pitka is a Koyukon Athabascan and Inupiaq resident of the village of Beaver.

She is also the former Chairwoman of the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments, where she facilitated the monthly meetings of and advocated for the 10 tribal governments of the Yukon Flats. Prior to her tenure as First Chief, she was a Tribal Administrator of the Beaver Village Council. She was awarded for outstanding scholastic achievement in tribal management from 2013-2014.

Chief Pitka has a strong record of public involvement in subsistence and natural resource management and has served on the Eastern Interior Regional Advisory Committee. Chief Pitka was recently appointed by the Secretary of the Interior as a public member of the Federal Subsistence Board. Chief Pitka serves on the Yukon River Panel, which makes recommendations to the governments of Canada and the United States on fisheries management along the river.

About Brad Reeve

Brad Reeve is General Manager/CEO of Kotzebue Electric Association, a position he has held for 29 years and will be retiring this year. He is nationally known as an early adopter of wind energy and a pioneer of Arctic energy. In 1997, he implemented the first utility-grade wind turbines in Alaska. He continues to manage many projects that demonstrate renewable energy viability in the Arctic.

In addition to his cutting-edge work in wind energy, Reeve is responsible for several emerging technology projects including a NRECA-DOE sponsored smart grid project, an Organic Rankin Cycle Project and the integration of a utility scale battery. He has received several honors and awards for his innovative work including an R&D Wind Energy Achievement Award from the Cooperative Research Network, a Utility Leadership Award from the American Wind Energy Association.

Under Reeve’s leadership, Kotzebue Electric received the highest award given to cooperatives -- the “Community Service Award” from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) for the cooperative’s work with wind technology in the Arctic. The electric cooperative’s success with renewable energy generation also garnered it the IEEE Alaskan “Company of the Year” Award and the IEEE Region 6 “Outstanding Corporate Service to the Engineering Community” Award.

About Eva Sheldon

Eva Sheldon is an Inupiaq Eskimo, born and raised in the Northwest Region of Alaska. She grew up in the small community of Ambler on the Kobuk River. Eva learned to live a subsistence lifestyle and although she now lives in Anchorage, she still make her way home to the NANA region annually to hunt and fish.

Eva has a BA in Business Administration and Management from Alaska Pacific University and is currently enrolled in the graduate program, and plans to graduate this year with a Master of Business Administration degree. Eva enjoys working on projects and programs in community and economic development. She looks forward to learning and collaborating with everyone in this program.

About Oana Spinu

As a long term resident of Nunavut, Oana Spinu has grown increasingly concerned about the sustainability of Arctic communities. For the last seven years she served as the Executive Director of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation (NBDC) and led the organization’s advocacy efforts to get broadband internet in the North recognized as an essential telecommunication service. She sees many parallels between modern telecommunication and energy infrastructure issues in the Arctic and believes that both are essential for sustainable Arctic communities. 

Recent changes in the Canadian political climate have given new hope for renewable energy initiatives in the Arctic and Oana has seized the opportunity to pursue a Masters in Sustainable Energy at Carleton University, with the goal of helping advance renewable energy initiatives in Nunavut.

She holds a B.Sc. from McGill University in Biology and Environmental Science as well as a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies from Concordia University. Oana has had the fortune to live, work, and play in several of Nunavut’s breathtakingly beautiful communities and has made Iqaluit home.

About Erika Tizya-Tramm

Erika Tizya-Tramm is a Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation citizen from Old Crow, Yukon.

About Marzena Banks

Marzena L. Banks is a Community Economic Development Officer. 

About Kecil Joseph

Kecil Joseph is from the Town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories in Canada. When Kecil is not working at the town he volunteers as a firefighter. Kecil has always been enthusiastic about sustainable development and how it relates to the building design and construction.

However, since moving to the North, his interest has expanded to include sustainable development and renewable energy at the community level. Kecil believes a holistic approach is important to reducing our footprint and limiting the production of greenhouse gas emissions.

He looks forward to interacting and learning from everyone involved in the program, and to take back with him to the Town of Inuvik some productive and creative ideas.

About Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson was raised in Aklavik by parents Terry and William Peterson. His maternal (Mothers) grandparents are Astrid and James McDonald and paternal (Fathers) grandparents are Mable and Frederick Peterson. Jordan has Gwich’in, Inuvialuit, Scottish and Swedish ancestry. During his upbringing he was primarily raised in a Gwich’in environment, although he is proud of all of his ethnic roots Jordan connects most with his Gwich’in background. 

Jordan has really dedicated his life to his communities and has worked for the Gwich’in Tribal Council as a Community Development Officer before being elected as Vice President. He works with Gwich’in youth and youth from the North through his role as a Co-Chair for Our Voices which is an Indigenous emerging leaders collective which promotes, encourages, and implements work for young Indigenous people in the North. Jordan is currently a Jane Glassco Fellow and encourages anyone looking to understand public policy in Canada to ensure that they apply. Being able to have more Indigenous people understanding how to shape and create policy will ensure that our voices are being heard at the most critical places in our organizations and governments.

Jordan has also been a part of a number of boards in Inuvik and as a youth representative for Gwich’in Council International. He has lived and worked all over Western Canada in a number of industries but found his true calling when given the chance to be able to work for and with his people.

About Daniel Powers

Daniel Powers was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska and has spent three years working on energy efficiency development at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, now known as NREL's Alaska Campus.

Currently, Daniel works as a project engineer for an environmental engineering consultancy in Anchorage, manages an aerial photography company, and is particularly interested in private investment in remote renewable energy projects.

About Anahma Shannon

Anahma Shannon was born in Sitka and has lived all over the state in the towns of Fairbanks, Homer, Kotzebue and Nome. She lives outside of town in a small cabin and plays fiddle and sings in an Oldtime band.

She works in the Environmental Program at Kawerak, Inc., specializes in solid waste management, and has been a part of the Bering Strait regional energy efforts for the past three years.

About Rolf Sloth

Rolf Sloth, a mechanical engineer, works for the Greenlandic utility company, Nukissiorfiit. Prior to his current role, Rolf spent 10 years working for utility companies and suppliers to utility companies. His main area of expertise is hydropower.

Rolf lives in Nuuk, Greenland with his wife and 3 children, and enjoys running, kayak polo, fishing and hunting.

About Eryn Stewart

Eryn Stewart is a Clean Energy Project Manager at Lumos Energy. She has been a leader and manager on many clean energy projects across Canada. Eryn leads Lumos Energy activities in the areas of community energy planning, community engagement, energy-literacy, and project management.

Eryn also leads the 20/20 Catalysts Program - an interactive Indigenous clean energy capacity-building program. Through the development of this program, Eryn designed over 35 sessions on community engagement, employment, economic development, finance, and legacy-planning.

Eryn’s professional pursuit with Lumos Energy is to provide sustainable energy development opportunities for on and off-grid Indigenous communities through renewables, and energy efficiency and conservation efforts, while providing energy education opportunities for community members. Eryn is currently working with Gwich’in Council International to move forward the development of a Community Energy Planning Toolkit, and with the Nunatsiavut Government on the implementation of their Energy Security Plan.

About Bill Williams

Bill Williams, originally from rural Southwestern Ontario, lives and works in the Canadian Arctic community of
Kugluktuk, Nunavut.

Bill was an early adopter of solar power in Ontario, and of biofuel energy in an agricultural setting. He is the project lead for Kugluktuk’s 10kW solar PV system, and is looking to assist his off-grid community in harnessing more sustainable energy resources to help reduce operational costs, and dependency on diesel-generated electricity.