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Staff and Board |
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| Home > About JEDC > Staff and Board | ||
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Brian Holst — Executive Director Brian Holst joined the Juneau Economic Development Council earlier this year as Executive Director. Brian has worked in community and economic development for the past twenty years. His experience includes working with diverse groups in challenging economic climates in the developing world, with extensive experience in Latin America and Eastern Europe. He served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Small Business Development and worked as an international consultant, small business owner, and has led large-scale relief and development efforts. Some of the types of programs he has managed include micro-finance, small business assistance, value chain development, regional economic planning, and conflict prevention/mitigation. Brian is a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School. Margaret O’Neal — Director of Operations, Director of Southeast Alaska Revolving Loan Fund Margaret O'Neal has lived in Alaska since 1983, first in Juneau, where she was the senior operations officer for Alaska Federal Savings. After two years she moved to Anchorage where she worked for several banks, the FDIC and Bank of America. During that time she learned to appreciate that good businesses can fall upon hard times. In over ten years as a commercial loan officer working in the special credits area, Margaret worked to help turn around hundreds of businesses in urban and rural areas. Margaret launched her own consulting firm, Financial Solutions, Inc. in 1996 to provide turnaround consulting to small business owners, especially those with financing problems. She also provided consulting to financial institutions including Wells Fargo Bank, First Interstate Bank, Northrim Bank and the FDIC. Margaret provided lending expertise to Alaska's first business and industrial development company, Alaska Growth Capital while it was in its organization and early operations phase, and performed the underwriting for the first deals it put on its books. Away from JEDC, Margaret tends to family including sons Alex and Kevin and provides off-hours housing for JEDC's official greeter dog - Laura. She works as a school volunteer, enjoys cooking and reading, and is a master designer of Halloween costumes. Daniel Parrent — Wood Products Specialist: Dan Parrent's career in forestry began over 20 years ago and has led him from New York to Idaho, Georgia and, finally, Alaska. He has been providing industry and marketing assistance to wood products manufacturers for nearly 20 years - helping to take "value-added" from the status of buzzword to reality for dozens of companies. In his time with the JEDC, Dan has traveled all over the state, meeting with and advising wood products companies and managers. His industry contacts and strong academic background, coupled with long experience, have been a tremendous boon for the Alaskan wood products industry, especially important as timber supply continues to decrease. Dan's experience has been invaluable as an advisor to the JEDC's business counselors and loan officer. Dan, his wife and two daughters live in Sitka, where they can appreciate Southeast Alaska's combination of forests, ocean and close spirit of community. Sue Chasen — SpringBoard Technology Manager Sue Chasen moved to Juneau in 2005 from New Mexico after 28 years with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. At Los Alamos she worked on a wide variety of energy, environmental and international programs holding positions from Technical Staff Member to Senior Advisor to the Director for Health, Safety and the Environment. Before joining the JEDC's Springboard Program, Sue worked for POWTEC, LLC, a Juneau based, tribally owned, environmental consulting firm. She holds a masters degree in geology from Michigan Technological University and an undergraduate degree in rural sociology from Cornell University. As an author and co-author, she has published more than a dozen technical papers on geology, environmental and geothermal subjects. Steve Eason — SpringBoard Technology Manager Mary Hakala — SpringBoard K-12 Education Coordinator Mary Hakala, a 45-year resident of Juneau and a Juneau Douglas High School graduate, is the K-12 education coordinator for SpringBoard. She has had several roles with state government, including special assistant to the commissioner of the Department of Education and a staffer for the Alaska State Legislature. She is founder of Alaska Kids Count, a statewide advocacy network for K-12 school improvements, and the Juneau Community Charter Schools. Hakala has a B.A. in American Civilization from Williams College. She, her husband and family have had a commercial fishing business since 1992. Rebecca Parks, KIN Program Manager In February 2007, Rebecca joined the Juneau Economic Development as the KIN School-to-Work Coordinator. She brings four years of classroom experience teaching middle-school science in a public school with a 100% poverty rate. She will be developing the KIN intern program and putting together the First Lego League competition for the 2007-08 school year. She has both an MA in Secondary Science Education and BA in Environmental Science from Columbia University. She has a passion for community involvement in education that creates real-world opportunities for students to engage in learning. Board Members
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