by Dr. Radut

The Partners

Alaska Broadband Workforce Development Team

Click on a name to learn more about the member.

BIO: AGC of Alaska is the construction industry’s largest professional trade association, representing over 600 general and specialty contractors and industry suppliers/service providers statewide.

  alicia@agcak.org

BIO: The Alaska Municipal League works to strengthen Alaska's 165 local governments.

  

BIO: Larry Bell is the Executive Manager of the Alaska Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (AK NECA). AK NECA represents employers engaged in the Inside, Outside and Telecommunications Construction industry. Larry was indentured into the Inside Electrical Apprenticeship Program in Alaska in 1995-1999. For the next five years Larry worked his way up thru the ranks to General Foreman/Project Manager before going to work at the IBEW Local Union in 2003. In 2005 Larry was elected Business Manager/Financial Secretary of Alaska’s IBEW 1547. He continued to serve in that role until taking the helm at AK NECA in January 2012. He maintains that position today. As Executive Manager of AK NECA, Larry Co-Chairs the Alaska Electrical DB Pension Fund, DC Pension Fund, H&W Fund, Legal Fund, and Alaska Electrical Workers Statewide Apprentice Training Trust. He also serves as lead for labor relations on behalf of the Chapter’s membership statewide. In addition to his professional life, Larry has been married to his wife Lanette for 36 years, has three adult children, and two grandchildren.  

  larry@alaskaneca.org

BIO: Nicole Borromeo serves the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Alaska Federation of Natives, the largest Native organization in Alaska. In addition to providing executive level leadership, Ms. Borromeo advises AFN’s Board and President on a wide array of legislative and litigation matters, including post-pandemic economic recovery. Ms. Borromeo oversees all aspects of AFN’s Navigator Program, which has secured upwards of $500 million for tribal communities and Native entities.

Prior to joining AFN, Ms. Borromeo held positions with the reputable law firms of Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP; Patton Boggs, LLP; and Sonosky, Chambers, Sasche, Miller & Munson, LLP. Her legal work has included researching policies, regulations, and laws related to federally recognized tribes, analyzing matters impacting Alaska Native corporations, and representing tribes and tribal consortia in a wide variety of areas, including governmental affairs, business transactions, and infrastructure development.

Ms. Borromeo’s volunteer civic engagement includes serving the Chairman of the MTNT, Ltd. Board of Directors; Board Member of the Alaska Redistricting Board; Workgroup Member of Indian Country Energy and Infrastructure Workgroup, U.S. Department of Energy; Committee Member of the National Advisory Committee on Race, Ethnicity, and Other Populations, U.S. Census Bureau; Council Member of the Center for Indian Country Development Leadership Council, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Member of the Advisory Committee on Racial Equity, U.S. Department of Treasury; Board Member of the Alaska Native Justice Center; Board Member of Clare Swan Early Learning Center; Mentor for the National Association of Women Judges-Color of Justice; and a founding Board Member of Justice Not Politics Alaska. She is a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 Award from the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Borromeo is a shareholder of Doyon, Limited, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation for Interior Alaska, and MTNT, Ltd., the ANCSA village corporation representing four Interior Alaska villages. She is an enrolled tribal member of the McGrath Native Village Council.

Ms. Borromeo holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska – Anchorage and a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. Ms. Borromeo resides in Anchorage with her husband and their four children.

   nborromeo@nativefederation.org

BIO: The Denali Commission is an independent federal agency designed to provide critical utilities, infrastructure, and economic support throughout Alaska. The Commission was created by Congress in 1998. With the creation of the Denali Commission, Congress acknowledged the need for increased inter-agency cooperation and focus on Alaska’s remote communities.

  gboyle@denali.gov

BIO: The NECA-IBEW AJEATT is dedicated to producing Alaska’s best trained and most qualified electrical workers.

   melissa@ajeatt.org

BIO: Cari-Ann joined the Alaska Safety Alliance in April 2010 and assumed the executive director role in March 2015. She is an advocate for postsecondary education and training, focused on strategic and collaborative workforce development efforts in Alaska. Cari-Ann is also the President of the Board for the Association of Reciprocal Safety Councils (ARSC), and previously served as President of the Alaska Postsecondary Access and Completion Network. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Alaska Pacific University, and a certificate of nonprofit management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Cari-Ann is a life-long Alaskan, born in Adak, and a previous resident of Palmer, Wasilla, and King Cove. She now resides in Anchorage with her husband, Eric.

   cari-ann@alaskasafetyalliance.org

BIO:  Teri Cothren began her career in workforce development at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) shortly after graduating from UAA and later transitioned to the System Office where she has served in various workforce development roles and currently as Associate Vice President of Workforce Development. In this capacity she is an associate member of the UA Community Campus Directors Council, member of the National Association of State Directors of Advance Career and Technical Education (CTE), served in various board positions and continues to be involved as an engaged member and committee participant for the Alaska Association for Career and Technical Education, member of the Board of Directors for the Alaska Safety Alliance, chair of the UA Fisheries, Seafood and Maritime Initiative, co-chair of the Alaska Maritime Education Consortium, and vice chair of the Alaska ACT Council. Cothren also is an active member with CTE partners around the state, including the Alaska Departments of Labor and Workforce Development and Education and Early Development, to implement the Alaska Career and Technical Education Plan and other industry workforce development plans for health, maritime, mining and oil & gas. In 2016, Cothren received the UA Statewide President's Spotlight Award for her contributions in CTE and workforce development. Cothren is an alumna of UAA, obtaining an undergraduate degree in psychology, and UAA Athletics Women's Basketball. She completed a Master of Public Administration from University of Alaska Southeast in 2022 and was recognized by the program faculty as a recipient of the Ernest Gruening Award for Outstanding Graduate.

  tgcothren@alaska.edu

BIO: Alexis Cowell, Executive Director of Alaska Works Partnership (AWP) has served Alaska’s workforce development sector for 20+ years specializing in rural and urban outreach, training, and education for trade related industries. With a focus on career pathways through registered apprenticeship and training she is dedicated to AWP’s core programs such as the Alaska Construction Academy, Rural Outreach, Women in the Trades and Helmets to Hardhats. In partnership with Alaska’s Building and Construction Trades, she oversees Alaska’s Quality Pre-Apprenticeship programs for Telecommunications, Heavy Equipment Operating, Electrical Wiring, Carpentry, Ironworking Welding, Sheet Metal / HVAC, Plumbing and Pipefitting, Construction Truck Driving, and Building Maintenance. She is excited to see the job opportunities this project will bring to rural Alaskans and the legacy careers that will follow.

   alexisc@alaskaworks.org

BIO: THE VISION for the Alaska Workforce Investment Board is to "build connections that put Alaskans into good jobs." This comprehensive vision keeps the board focused on developing a workforce system that is useful, accessible and understandable to all of the system's customers, which include businesses looking for qualified workers, unemployed Alaskans looking for jobs, and incumbent workers wanting to upgrade their skills in a changing work environment.

  dirk.craft@alaska.gov

BIO: NANA is a for-profit Alaska Native corporation, formed as a result of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). NANA is owned by the more than 15,000 Iñupiaq shareholders, or descendants, who live in or have roots in northwest Alaska. Iñupiat have close ties to the land and to each other. The word Iñupiat means “real people” in Iñupiaq, the language. The NANA region is located in northwest Alaska, largely above the Arctic Circle, and encompasses 38,000-square miles. The 11 communities in the NANA region are: Ambler (Ivisaappaat), Buckland (Nunatchiaq), Deering (Ipnatchiaq), Kiana (Katyaak), Kivalina (Kivaliñiq), Kobuk (Laugviik), Kotzebue (Qiqiktaġruk), Noatak (Napaaqtuġmiut), Noorvik (Nuurvik), Selawik (Akuligaq), and Shungnak (Isiŋnaq).

   Albie.Dallemolle@nana.com

BIO: The Alaska AFL-CIO is a federation of Alaska's unions and represents over 50,000 workers. Our mission is to seek better wages, benefits and working conditions for our represented members and for all Alaska workers. Joelle Hall is our President.

   joelle@akaflcio.org

BIO: Melissa M. Kookesh serves as the Tribal Liaison for the Alaska Broadband Office which is in the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Melissa was brought on to serve as the Tribal Liaison between the Alaska Broadband Office and Alaska’s 400 plus tribal entities including the 229 federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Regional Non-Profit Organizations and Tribal Consortiums as well as the ANCSA Village and Regional Corporations. In her role she is also responsible for continuity of collaboration with Tribal partners regarding Digital Equity and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment. The state recognized the importance of having a Tribal Liaison to help maintain open communication on policies and to address the concerns of those being directly impacted by the broadband projects and programs.

   melissa.kookesh@alaska.gov

BIO: An experienced administrative leader, facilitator, and educator with over 30 years’ working in the nonprofit, higher education and government sectors. After 10 years as a professional fundraiser for United Way and 16 years as an administrator and educator at the University of Alaska, she currently works for the State of Alaska as the Division Director in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development overseeing the delivery of post-secondary career and technical training programs at the Alaska Vocational Technical Center. Cathy is an Alaskan gardener, avid traveler and a proud mother of two and grandmother of five.

   cathy.lecompte@alaska.gov

BIO: What sets the AVTEC Information Technology program apart from other IT programs is the amount of hands-on experience a student receives using real networking and server equipment. The Information Technology program is unique in that students are not required to share equipment. As an example, during the Cisco portion of training students have their own pod of three routers and three switches that they use to configure local area networks. Students then connect their pods to other student pods to form wide-area networks. Students also have their own servers that they use throughout the program to build peer-to-peer and domain environments.

  rick.mcdonald@avtec.edu

BIO: Iḷisaġvik College was founded to primarily serve the residents of the North Slope Borough, America’s northernmost municipality. The intent of its founders was to provide an education based on the Iñupiaq cultural heritage. The basis for all Iḷisaġvik’s educational programs is the rich foundation of a subsistence culture in harmony with the land and seas that give it sustenance. Iḷisaġvik College is rooted in the ancestral homeland of the Iñupiat. As an institution, we are “Unapologetically Iñupiaq.” This means exercising the sovereign inherent freedom to educate our community through and supported by our Iñupiaq worldview, values, knowledge, and protocols. The Iñupiaq way of life is woven into our curriculum, programs, activities, and daily interactions within Iḷisaġvik College and our community partners.  

  frieda.nageak@ilisagvik.edu

BIO: Jennifer Nixon is the Workforce Development and Health Equity Director at the Alaska Primary Care Association. For more than 10 years, Jennifer has worked in collaboration with healthcare organizations across the state of Alaska towards effective and sustainable workforce initiatives. She holds a Master’s degree in Adult Education & Performance Improvement and a Bachelor’s degree in Experiential Learning. She has a great passion for innovative solutions that positively impact organizational health and the wellbeing of all Alaskans. When she isn’t working towards impactful workforce solutions, she can be found enjoying the many outdoor and subsistence activities Alaska provides.

  jennifern@alaskapca.org

BIO:  Christine O’Connor serves as the Executive Director of the Alaska Telecom Association. She has worked in strategic and leadership roles in Alaska’s telecom industry beginning throughout here career. Christine’s roots and experience in rural Alaska have given her a deep commitment to broadband access for all Alaskans, as well as an appreciation of the unique challenges involved. Christine is a lifelong Alaskan and a graduate of Alaska Pacific University. She returns to Bristol Bay with her family every summer to setnet in the greatest sustainable salmon fishery in the world.

  oconnor@alaskatel.org

BIO: Calistra is a world class corporation that exemplifies corporate responsibility, cultural stewardship and economic stability. The mission is to increase Shareholder benefits and economic opportunities through innovation, growth, leadership, partnership, execution and financial discipline.

  bpacarro@calistacorp.com

BIO: ANSEP’s objective is to effect systemic change in the hiring patterns of Alaska Natives in science and engineering by placing our students on a career path to leadership. Our goal is to provide an excellent education and a life of unlimited possibilities for every Alaskan. Started in 1995 as a scholarship program for university students, ANSEP has evolved into a sequential education model that provides a continuous string of components beginning with students in kindergarten and continuing through middle and high school, into science and engineering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through to the PhD. More than 100 corporations, philanthropic organizations, state and federal agencies, universities, high schools, and middle schools support ANSEP’s work. Nearly 2,500 Alaska Native middle school students, high school students, and university students are involved

  hpschroeder@alaska.edu

BIO: Lisa Von Bargen is the Deputy Director of the Alaska Broadband Office within the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) for the State of Alaska. Prior to that she was the Senior Project Manager in the Commissioner's Office of DCCED. Ms. Von Bargen has 25 years of experience in non-profit and municipal management with a focus on community and economic development. Prior to her work with the State, she was the Borough Manager for the City & Borough of Wrangell for four and half years. Before that she was the Community & Economic Development Director for the City of Valdez for 16 years. Lisa is a lifelong Alaskan who currently splits her time between Valdez and Wrangell.

  lisa.vonbargen@alaska.gov

BIO: Rasmuson Foundation works to promote a better life for Alaskans by providing grants, bringing people and organizations together and encouraging others to give back. Learn more about our Foundation’s history, the Rasmuson family, the board, and the leaders and individuals who do this work. Rasmuson supports Alaska nonprofits, tribes and local governments through grants and initiatives in six impact areas

  kwoolston@rasmuson.org