For all media inquiries please contact Caitlin Higgins at (907) 258-6175. For all other inquiries, please contact the appropriate staff person listed below. If you are unsure about who to contact, please call (907) 258-6171 to reach our main line.
Caitlin Higgins, Executive Director | Susanna Orr, Political and Outreach Director | Kate McKeown, Energy Efficiency Coordinator | Alora Preuss, Development Director | Climate Change Coordinator | Betty Jo Pritchett, Communications Director | Dwayne Lee, Finance Director | Chris MacNeil, Energy Efficiency Public Outreach Director
Caitlin moved to Alaska in January 2005 to join Alaska Conservation Alliance (ACA). She is a Green Corps graduate and has worked on environmental campaigns across the country, ranging from cruise ship pollution to mercury contamination and nuclear waste storage in Yucca Mountain. Prior to joining ACA, Caitlin worked on the November 2004 elections with MoveOn PAC in Iowa. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2003 with a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies. Caitlin completed her Masters in Public Administration at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Email: caitlin@akvoice.org
Susanna has lived in Alaska for nearly twenty years and is a 2005 graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage where she studied English, U.S. History, and Women’s Studies. Since 2002 she has been actively involved in elective and legislative politics across the state including municipal, legislative, gubernatorial, and initiative campaigns and a stint at a legislative aide. Susanna is currently enrolled in the Masters of Public Administration program through the University of Alaska Southeast. She is a runner and currently in training for her first full marathon, a fair weather scooter commuter, and lives in Anchorage with her four year old daughter.
Email: susanna@akvoice.org
Originally from Idaho, Kate was exposed to the great outdoors at an early age and her passion for nature only increased with time. Upon graduating from the University of Portland in 2006 with a BS in Civil Engineering she worked as a civil engineering designer in the Portland, Oregon area. In 2009 she received a MS in Strategic Leadership Toward Sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology, located in the environmental conscious country of Sweden. During her studies, Kate consulted with the Dublin City Council Housing Maintenance Department to start the process of creating a Strategic Sustainability Action Plan. Kate’s thesis focused on how to build an international cycling community and she worked closely with the City of Copenhagen Cycling Office to promote cycling on a global scale. In January 2010, Kate worked with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute located in Washington, D.C., as a Communications Intern. She moved to Alaska in the summer of 2010 and joined Alaska Conservation Alliance in August 2010. She is excited to engage with the community, converse about energy efficiency and help preserve the epic state of Alaska.
Email: kate@akvoice.org
Alora has a great love of nature and is passionate about protecting the environment. She moved to Alaska in the summer 2009 and joined the Alaska Conservation Alliance (ACA) in August 2009. Prior to joining ACA, Alora worked for various community causes in the Bay Area of California, including fund-raising for St. Jude’s Hospital, and the American Cancer Society. She also worked the California State Department of Rehabilitation and served as Development Director for NAVH, the National Association for the Visually Handicapped. Alora attended the College of Marin and the University of California at Berkeley.
Email: alora@akvoice.org
Katy Parrish is a life long Alaskan, and proud mother of her son, Wilson, a freshman at University of Alaska Anchorage and camera operator at KTVA Channel 11. As a graduate of University of Alaska Fairbanks, her biology background has helped her to provide service to children and families, especially those caring for children with special health and developmental needs. She has been very active volunteering for a variety of social and environmental justice campaigns for over 20 years. She is a published author, award winning radio host and was honored by the AKCLU in 2003 for her work that resulted in passage of local and state resolutions addressing the egregious assault to our civil liberties by the USA PATRIOT Act. As a scholarship recipient from Free Press and the Kettering Institute on Public Policy, she is deeply committed to media accountability and reform, citizen journalism, net neutrality and increasing civic engagement using a variety of community dialogue models. She volunteers for KACN TV (Channel 32.3 and 95 on GCI Cable), a locally owned, independent, community oriented channel where she records community events for broadcast and inserts video submissions from local producers for programming. Katy enjoys gardening, collecting rocks, hiking, biking, learning new media skills from her son, playing with her dog, Marilyn, reading and dancing to her favorite bands like Big Fat Buddha, Church of the Flaming Funk, H3, Whipsaws and Yngvil Vatn Guttu and Friends.
Email: katy@akvoice.org
Betty Jo came to Alaska in the summer of 2009 with her husband and two boys. Betty Jo's husband is active duty army and that was the impetus behind their move. Though this is her first non-profit position, Betty Jo has years of office management/administration and volunteer management experience. Before coming to the Alliance, Betty Jo had been in the financial services industry for 6 years and was looking for a career change. "I'm excited about this job and having the opportunity to be part of such a positive organization." Betty Jo lives in Eagle River with her family.
Email: bettyjo@akvoice.org
Dwayne joined Alaska Conservation Alliance (ACA) in 2005. Dwayne moved to Alaska from Wisconsin in 2001, he has a Bachelor of Accounting Degree from the University of Minnesota, and passed the CPA examination in 1990. Prior to working for ACA, Dwayne worked full time in a CPA office, taught accounting and business courses and completed a 28-year career in managing retail stores for a national chain. In addition to working for ACA Dwayne continues to work as the Finance Director for the Alaska Center for the Environment and as an adjunct professor of accounting at the University of Alaska. Dwayne, his spouse Gwen, and their daughter Melissa live in Eagle River, AK.
Email: dwayne@akvoice.org
Chris grew up in the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina He received a bachelor's in Political Science form the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in 2003. He spent the next 3 years traveling aback and forth between Paquila, Guatemala and United States, escorting relief teams to the Boca Costa Medical mission. He returned to North Carolina to pursue a J.D. with a focus in international law. While there he clerked for groups such as the ACLU and the Sierra Club. For the last three years he has worked on legislative and electoral campaigns in Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Chris moved to Alaska in December of 2009 and lives in Anchorage.
Email: chris@akvoice.org
