SEACC Staff

Maggie was born in Juneau but grew up in rural northern Vermont where she developed a deep appreciation for nature. She jumped at the opportunity to travel to Alaska after high school, working as a trolling deckhand out of Sitka for six summers. Maggie found her passion for this place during her summers on the deck of the Lady Jo, delivering salmon throughout northern Southeast Alaska. During that time, she met and later married a commercial fisherman, continuing to return each year until making Juneau home in 2013. 

Between fishing seasons, Maggie earned a bachelor of arts degree in Environmental Studies and Sociology from St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, focused on social movement organizations. She then spent time pursuing graduate studies in Sociology at Michigan State University and later served as an international marine policy fellow at the State Department’s Office of Marine Conservation in Washington, D.C. 

After moving to Juneau for good, Maggie began her career in the nonprofit sector when she took up fundraising and finance work at Perseverance Theatre, serving as their Development Director for three years. She finally realized her dream of putting her talents to use in the conservation field when she accepted the role of Director of Development and Operations at SEACC in 2017; she was promoted to Deputy Director in 2020 and is deeply honored to now be serving as Executive Director. She is grateful for the opportunity to work for a mission driven organization like SEACC, protecting the lands and waters of Southeast Alaska while learning and growing in her role.

Melissa joined SEACC as Communications Director in 2023, following six years serving in the same role with another non-profit and several more years’ experience in communications, journalism and campaign work. She earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Melissa was born on Ohlone land in California and raised there and on the lands of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon. She moved to Lingít Aaní in 2007 “for a summer” and never found a reason to leave. Today, she lives in Sayéik (Douglas) with her husband and dog.

She’s an artist, baker, trail traipser, mushroom forager and enthusiastic community member who believes in taking care of what you love.

With more than 20 years of experience working on federal public lands campaigns in New Mexico and across the United States, Nathan is no newcomer to the conservation movement and has a proven track record of building sustainable coalitions and relationships with members, supporters, volunteers, indigenous peoples and political leaders to get things done. He has been professionally involved in or directly responsible for facilitating and organizing successful Wilderness campaigns through Congress, multiple National Monument designations, and Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation. Additionally, he has extensive experience analyzing NEPA documents and is excited to take on SEACC’s Federal Campaigns Manager position with a focus on the Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan. Since starting out in 2002, leading the charge for upholding the Roadless Rule in New Mexico and coordinating with national organizations, he has been enamored with the Tongass and Alaska. He first visited Alaska in the summer of 2018 on a month-long canoe trip in Gates of the Arctic Wilderness and Noatak Preserve; his desire to work to preserve the wild landscapes of Southeast was profoundly solidified by this experience.

When not spending time dedicated to public lands protection and community, Nathan enjoys spending time with his two little boys, his wife, Egle, and backpacking, kayaking, and painting.

It was no surprise when Aaron Brakel was brought on at SEACC to officially work for water protection. In fact, most of his friends were probably wondering what took him so long. 

Aaron has been a SEACC volunteer since the 1980s. His involvement with mining and water quality work started in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He’s worked on the Alaska-Juneau and Kensington mines permitting processes, and on turning out public support for forest issues, extensively as a volunteer.

Aaron’s passion for protecting Southeast Alaska is a family affair. His stepfather, noted naturalist Greg Streveler, was a long-time SEACC board member. And his mother, Judy Brakel, was a renowned wilderness guide who also served as the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission’s representative to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

“Growing up in Southeast Alaska, I’ve seen things that I want to be able to pass on to the coming generations, things like clean water, healthy habitat, and robust wilderness that support the cultures and economy of this amazing place for the longterm,” Aaron says.

Aaron considers himself very fortunate to have grown up on Auk Kwaan land in downtown Juneau. Aaron and his mother were adopted into the Kiks.adi clan’s Clay House by Matushka Emily Williams in the 1990s at the memorial ku.eex for his brother Kaaxaachgook, Robert Williams.

“To me,” Aaron says, “Upholding the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, and the cultural values and languages that are part of this place, will always pay off in the long run.”

As the Inside Passage Waters Program Manager, Aaron hopes to play a useful role in protecting the waters and the habitat of this amazing place we call home. In his off time, Aaron is on the soccer field, reading, or spending time with family.

Tyler brings over a decade of experience in climate strategy, conservation, and community development to his role as Environmental Policy Analyst at the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. His previous work in Latin America focused on biodiversity analyses and supporting community adaptations to climate change.

Tyler holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Master’s in Development Practice from Emory University. He believes that genuine community buy-in and trust are key to implementing effective conservation strategies. Tyler aspires to help create structures and frameworks that foster collaboration rooted in environmental justice.

At SEACC, Tyler analyzes policies to identify threats and opportunities for protecting Southeast Alaska. He is particularly interested in understanding how communities interact with their environments and how policy shapes those interactions.

Outside of work, Tyler is a multiple IronMan finisher, an amateur musician, and an enthusiastic forager of wild edible plants.

Though she was born down south in Oregon, Raylynn fell in love with Juneau and the Tongass National Forest when she would visit family for the summer and winter holidays. When she was 15 she decided to relocate from the high deserts of Oregon to the lush temperate rainforest of Southeast Alaska, where the love of nature and adventure runs deep.

Raylynn graduated from Juneau Douglas High School in 2008 and immediately began traveling between Oregon, Sweden, and New Zealand until she returned to Alaska and began pursuing her passion for gardening. In addition to managing an office full of SEACC team members, Raylynn is currently attending the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine to become an herbalist and Medicinal Herb Farmer. She is also a novice beekeeper, who has been keeping healthy happy bees in our temperate climate.

When Raylynn is not playing in the garden, harvesting medicinal herbs, or loving on her bees, she can be found fishing, camping, and adventuring with her two amazing dogs and wonderful husband.

After graduating in 2014 from Ithaca College, Cheffy didn’t know where he was going to end up, but the degree in Film and Photography he’d just received meant starting in one of two places: Los Angeles or New York. Heading west, he pursued a career in the film industry for the first few years after college, working in many aspects of the industry, from being an assistant in talent management to Director of Photography for film.

Living in the city had its merits but he often found himself driving hours to be anywhere in nature. In 2017, he travelled to visit Juneau and his heart never left.

Like many transplants to Juneau, Cheffy came to Southeast Alaska for what was meant to be “just one season.” But, in the last six years he has worked with several guiding companies, and continued his freelance videography and photography work, simultaneously giving him a crash course in all things adventure while continuing to create and capture the beautiful moments life has in store for all of us.

After several life changing trips through Xúnaa Ḵáawu (Glacier Bay), and many other wild locations, Cheffy seeks to combine his love for nature with his passion for narrative to help give a voice to the things in life that cannot speak for themselves. With a rekindled love of all things wild, he seeks new adventures as often as he can. His current adventure: pursuing a Master’s in Communication from University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (traditional territory of the Lenape), Alex dreamed of vast, starry skies with expansive mountains and unbridled wilderness. She “adopted” her first tree in kindergarten and thus began a devout love affair with the outdoor world where she’s always felt at ease. Since graduating from Williams College in 2022, she’s let her love for the outdoors be her guide and she’s been lucky enough to share that with others as a backpacking and canoeing instructor, Long Trail thru hiker, sustainability fellow, trail advocate, and now a communications and outreach fellow with SEACC. She is excited to be a part of the amazing work that SEACC is doing and learn from this inspiring and talented team! She feels grateful to get to work, live, and play in Lingít Aaní and spends much of her free time exploring and learning about the abundance of life surrounding her.