Executive Director Trish Rolfe earned her BA from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Before joining Trustees for Alaska, she worked as the Alaska Field Manager for the Sierra Club and as the Associate Director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance. As a 28 year resident of Alaska, Trish brings a deep background in and passion for Alaskan environmental issues. She has wide-ranging experience in managing staffs and budgets, and has a proven record of successful fundraising experience.   

Legal Director Victoria Clark is a graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law, and received certificates in Environmental Law and Public Interest Law. Before joining Trustees for Alaska's staff in 2003, she worked in Santa Barbara, California as a Staff Attorney with the Environmental Defense Center and in private practice representing local environmental non-profit groups. Her work focused on public interest environmental law in the areas of citizen enforcement, especially in the area of water quality, and land use. Vicki received her undergraduate degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Senior Staff Attorney Nancy Wainwright is a graduate of the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. Nancy worked as staff counsel for the California Coastal Commission and as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California Land Law Section before coming to Alaska in 1986. Nancy was in private practice in Alaska until she joined the staff of Trustees in 2008. Her private practice focused on coastal zone management, natural resource law, land use, state and federal oil and gas matters, and oil spill contingency planning.  Nancy has represented local governments, tribal governments, fishing organizations, environmental organizations and individuals in the area of environmental and natural resource law. 

Senior Staff Attorney Brian Litmans joined Trustees for Alaska in the spring of 2007. Brian is a 2001 graduate of the Lewis & Clark Law School and received a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Brian was also a member of Lewis and Clark's Environmental Law Review. While at law school, Brian worked with several environmental organizations including the Center for International Environmental Law, Defenders of Wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center. Since graduating from Lewis & Clark, Brian has worked as a solo practitioner, handling a variety of environmental cases for non-profit organizations across the country. Those cases focused on management of our public lands and protection of endangered species. Prior to law school, Brian worked in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Brian's practice at Trustees for Alaska includes climate change, public land management, and mining issues.

Senior Staff Attorney Valerie Brown rejoined Trustees for Alaska in the spring of 2011 from private practice, where she focused on wildlife law, land use, hazardous waste, and marine resource issues. Valerie graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law with certificates in Environmental Law and Ocean and Coastal Law. While at law school she participated in the Environmental Clinic at the Western Environmental Law Center and interned at NOAA in the Office of General Council. Before joining Trustees the first time in 1998, Valerie served as a clerk to Judge Alfred T. Goodwin on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and also as a law clerk for Justice Allen T. Compton of the Alaska Supreme Court. Prior to attending law school, Valerie was the Executive Director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. While at AWA, Valerie served on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Wolf Management Planning Team. She currently serves as a fee arbitrator for the Alaska Bar Association, and is a member of the Federal Court Fund Committee. 

Staff Attorney Brook Brisson joined Trustees for Alaska in the summer of 2010. Prior to joining Trustees, Brook lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she worked for the Northern Alaska Environmental Center on clean water and public lands issues related to mining and industrial development in the Interior and Arctic Alaska and also served as a law clerk to Judge David Mannheimer on the Alaska Court of Appeals. Brook graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008, where she obtained a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and was an Articles Editor and a Ninth Circuit Review member of the Environmental Law journal. While in law school, Brook worked for a number of public interest conservation organizations, including the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center, Earthjustice, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.  Prior to law school, Brook taught environmental education in Colorado and Vermont.

Staff Attorney Katie Strong joined Trustees for Alaska in the fall of 2010.  Prior to joining Trustees, Katie lived in Driggs, Idaho, where she worked for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition on mining, public lands, and endangered species issues. Katie graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008, where she obtained a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and was a Student Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center. Prior to law school, Katie obtained a M.S. in Environmental Policy, writing her thesis on wilderness preservation efforts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In her free time, Katie enjoys rock climbing, trail running, and cross country skiing. 

Development Director Tracy Lohman joined the staff in 2008. Tracy earned a B.A in Communications from Slippery Rock University in 1987. Prior to graduation, Tracy spent a year in Japan as an exchange student where she studied Japanese. Upon returning to the US, Tracy landed her first job working for a non-profit exchange program in Washington, DC and has continued to work in the non-profit sector ever since. Tracy most recently served as the executive director of Alaska Community Share, a coalition of 42 Alaska-based non-profits, of which Trustees is a member. As a seventeen year resident of Alaska, Tracy has long been a strong advocate for the protection and sustainability of Alaska’s natural environment and looks forward to bringing her 20 years of non-profit development experience to Trustees.
 

Office Manager Debra Hinds, CLM, joined our team in the fall of 2009 with a law office administration background, having received her Certificate of Legal Management from the Association of Legal Administrators in 2004. She relocated here from Denver last year, where she managed a 30-attorney energy and natural resources-focused firm for 10 years. Debbie is focusing efforts on improving Anchorage’s recycling programs and developing her interest in Alaska and the world’s climate changes.

Paralegal Karen Nash Joynt earned her Paralegal Certificated from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Prior to joining Trustees in 2008, Karen completed her MA in Library Science at the University of Arizona in 1996 and worked as a library media specialist in the Matanuska Susitna School District until 2002. Karen and her husband, Steve raised two children in the Valley and continue to enjoy the innumerable recreational opportunities in Alaska.