Meet the Trustees’ hall of fame

The Alaska Conservation Foundation established its Lifetime Achievement Award to acknowledge and celebrate Alaskans who have protected the lands and living communities that sustain us.

The foundation’s subsequent “hall of fame” includes the likes of Gov. Jay Hammond and the award’s inaugural recipients, Celia Hunter and Ginny Wood—along with four of our current board members!

We will be acknowledging and celebrating the stories of these board members in the coming months by sharing their words and thoughts, but first we want to recognize and have profound gratitude for what all board members do for nonprofits across Alaska. Specifically, we give a heartfelt thanks to every board member over the last 45 years who has helped guide and support Trustees and make this organization successful today.

Now, let’s introduce the Trustees board members in the ACF hall of fame, all of whom made it to the 2019 awards and into our executive director’s selfie collection!

Jim Stratton

We know the most recent recipient of the ACF Lifetime Achievement Award as Stratto, a traveler and storyteller whose enthusiasm and vision inspire our work. Stratto played a leadership role in multiple government and nonprofit groups that were key to establishing and maintaining natural places and public lands, including the National Parks Conservation Association and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. He was also an early staffer at ACF! Stratto has served on our board since 2015. He is our current board treasurer, an avid birder and effusive teller of many yarns.

Bob Childers

Bob often arrives wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a smile, always ready to talk strategy or tell a joke. He received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award because of his work holding industry and government to account, particularly during the planning and construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. He also played a key role in the success of the 1987 U.S.-Canada Porcupine Caribou Herd Agreement. He first served on the Trustees board from 1989 to 1995, and then again starting in 2005. He is currently the board secretary, and a lover of Alaska’s Arctic.

Tom Meacham

We weren’t surprised when Tom was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. He has practiced environmental and natural resources law since 1971, including as the Assistant Attorney General for Alaska during the drafting of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and in drafting Alaska’s Water Law. He has volunteered his legal services on many issues involving parks, wildlife, water allocation, and the management of public lands, including on snow machine use in Denali National Park and mining claims in the Chugach National Forest. He has volunteered, served on boards, climbed big mountains, run long distances, and gone the extra mile to strengthen Trustees.

Peg Tileston

Peg is the matriarch and co-founder of Trustees, and a force for nature who has helped launch and guide vital organizations like the Alaska Center, Alaska Common Ground, and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. She received the 2004 ACF Lifetime Achievement Award—essentially a lifetime ago!—and has continued to live up to its accolades ever since. She received, among many others, the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award in 1998, and was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame in 2010. She also produces What’s Up, a weekly calendar of events, deadlines, public hearings, and opportunities related to Alaska’s lands, water, wildlife, and communities. Peg served as our first board chair from 1974 to 1982 and joined again in 2015. She reminds us regularly that each of us can make a difference, and that when the powerful do wrong, we’ll see them in court!