Staff and Board

Executive Director

Brian Holst

Brian Holst joined the Juneau Economic Development Council in February 2008 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 has worked as an international consultant, small business owner, and has led large-scale relief and development efforts. Program areas he has managed include micro-finance, small business assistance, community development, environmental initiatives, infrastructure development, housing, and conflict prevention/mitigation. Brian is a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School.

Revolving Loan Fund and Operations

Margaret O’Neal, Director of Operations, Director of Southeast Alaska Revolving Loan Fund

moneal@jedc.org - (907) 523-2326

The JEDC Board honored staff member Margaret O'Neal for 10 years of outstanding service with JEDC.

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.

Margaret moved to Alaska from the Bay Area in 1983 to work for Alaska Federal Savings & Loan Association. After 15 years in Anchorage, she joined JEDC in 1999 as the Director of the Southeast Alaska Revolving Loan Fund. JEDC finance and administrative roles were added in 2007.

Margaret is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in English Literature and Political Science. She has two sons, Alex and Kevin.

Program Team

Eva Bornstein, Program Officer

ebornstein@jedc.org - (907) 523-2339

Eva Varadi Bornstein is a 22 year resident of Juneau. Prior to joining JEDC in September 2008, she taught Business Finance at the University of Alaska Southeast School of Management. Her background also includes work in corporate strategic planning for a Fortune 500 multinational and banking management for a local savings and loan. Eva holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Chemistry from Yale University and a BA in Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College. She is currently a member of the Juneau Commission on Sustainability, a member of the High School Science Fair organizing committee and a proud parent of a Juneau Jumper.

Linda J. Snow, Program Development Specialist

lsnow@jedc.org - (907) 523 2328

Linda J. Snow joined the team at JEDC in November of 2011. She is a lifelong Alaskan with nearly 27 years experience as an economist, planner, researcher and policy and fiscal analyst. She has a B.A. in Economics (with honors) from the University of Hawaii at Hilo (, and ABT towards an M.S. in Resource Economics from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Her work experience includes 16 years as an economic consultant in the private sector (including 12 years as owner/operator of Southeast Strategies), 4 years as an analyst with the Alaska Legislature, and 3 years as a transportation planner with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Linda has volunteered as a Director for the Board of Southeast Conference (2003-2010), and was the chair of the Economic Development and Transportation Committees for that organization. She has also served on the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission, the Board of Directors of the Alaska Committee, and the Board of Directors of the National Association of Business Economists, Portland, Oregon Chapter. Linda currently serves on the Douglas Advisory Board.

Technology Team

Paul Moran, Technology Associate

pmoran@jedc.org - (907) 523-2300 Ext 2340

Paul Moran joined SpringBoard in October 2008 Mr. Moran has a BS in Physics from Oregon State University and a Masters of Engineering in Acoustics from Penn State. After university, Mr. Moran held a position as research scientist for ATMI, Inc., a chemistry and chemical abatement supplier, before transitioning to the Director of Engineering position with HyperNex, Inc., a company supplying metrology instruments to the semiconductor industry. Prior to joining SpringBoard, he held a position as VP of operations for the Microstructure division of Nova Measuring Instruments.

Zach Wilkinson, Technology Associate

zwilkinson@jedc.org - (907) 523-2329

Zach Wilkinson joined JEDC in September 2010 as a Technology Associate for the SpringBoard program. Previously he spent six years in management with Wells Fargo Financial, which took him from New Mexico to Guam and eventually to Juneau in 2007. Originally from Corrales, New Mexico, Zach has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Business Administration and Agricultural Business from Eastern New Mexico University. His work experience ranges from finance to agriculture in both small businesses and large corporations. Zach enjoys snowboarding, fishing, hiking, biking, diving, writing and cooking.

Peter J. Perna, Ph.D., Technology Associate

pperna@alpinestrategy.com - (505) 250-9337

Currently Managing Director of Alpine Strategy Group, LLC, a consulting firm which helps clients commercialize and monetize technology and intellectual property. As well, the firm develops new ventures around promising technologies and brokers acquisitions. Prior to founding Alpine in 2003, served as President and CEO of Science & Technology Corporation in Albuquerque, NM. Conceived and implemented new strategies to patent, license, and create start-ups around technologies developed at the University of New Mexico.

Previously, was the founder and Executive Director of TechLink, a successful technology transfer and commercialization organization in Bozeman, Montana (www.montana.edu/techlink). TechLink develops partnerships and collaborations among technology companies and Department of Defense laboratories for the purposes of technology development and commercialization.

Greg Amorese, Technology Associate

gamorese@jedc.org - 303-579-0169

Greg Amorese joined Springboard in July, 2011. Greg has more than 20 years of experience in business development and world-wide sales and marketing for industrial and business-to-business technical products. His technical expertise is very broad encompassing many areas of electronics, renewable energy, applied physics, and measurement systems. Most of his career has been with the test and measurement operations of Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. Recently, he has been active in business development for small businesses and IP licensing projects. Greg holds a BSEE degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dan Hubert, Technology Associate

dhubert@jedc.org - (907) 523-2300

Dan began consulting for JEDC in March 2011. He is an Attorney and Electrical Engineer. Since 1998, he has been the proprietor of a firm that provides intellectual property legal services to corporations, individuals, and other law firms across the world. Dan's work has encompassed a variety of technologies from software, circuitry, and magnetic storage devices to downhole well logging equipment, semiconductor manufacturing processes and more. With a strong foundation in aviation, Dan is engaged as a commercial Air Taxi pilot, serving as pilot-in-command of a variety of different sea, land, and amphibious aircraft types.

STEM Team

Mary Hakala, SpringBoard K-12 Education Coordinator

mhakala@gospringboard.org - (907) 523-2336

Mary Hakala, a 50-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 1990.

Rebecca Parks, SpringBoard STEM Education Specialist

rparks@jedc.org - (907) 523-2334

Rebecca joined the Juneau Economic Development in February 2007. She brings four years of classroom experience teaching middle-school science at an inner-city public school and has also worked in a variety of nonprofit organizations. She has 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. Rebecca plays both soccer and ice hockey and is an avid FIRST Lego League enthusiast.

Robert Vieth, SpringBoard STEM Education Specialist

rvieth@jedc.org - (907) 523-2342

Bob Vieth moved to Juneau from Connecticut in January 2010. He spent the first 25 years of his career at the University of Connecticut, first as a research biochemist, moving on to applied biochemical engineering, and then pursuing a graduate degree in Gifted and Talented Science Education. After leaving the University, Bob worked as a Science Education Specialist for a nonprofit firm and also ran his own consulting business specializing in science curriculum development and teacher professional training.

Bob is a strong advocate for science and engineering education starting with children at the kindergarten level and continuing on through adulthood. His many interests include hiking, fishing, cooking, and racquetball.

Communications

Adrien Lopez, Program and Communications Officer

alopez@jedc.org - (907)523-2323

Adrien Lopez holds the position of Program and Communications Officer at JEDC. Adrien comes from a long-time Alaskan family and was born and raised in Valdez. She graduated from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington in 2002 with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Political Science and Spanish. Supported by the Rotary Foundation, she received a two-year Ambassadorial Scholarship to complete her master's degree in Social Ethics and Human Development at Alberto Hurtado University in Santiago, Chile.

Prior to JEDC, she was head of the Corporate Social Responsibility Division for five years at the Ministry of Labor in the Chilean Government and worked on behalf of developing country governments to develop the first International Standard in Social Responsibility, ISO 26000.

In her spare time Adrien hosts the "Alaska Identity Project," a weekly radio show on KTOO News, is a member of the Juneau downtown Rotary Club and appointed to the CBJ Sister Cities Commission.

Administrative Team

Jenny Harris, Administrative Assistant and Accountant

jharris@jedc.org - (907) 523-2322

Jenny Harris joined the Juneau Economic Development Council in February 2008 as Office Assistant/Accounting. Jenny has over ten years' experience with city and state government. Her experience includes personnel, payroll, and human services in both the public and private sectors. Jenny has three children. Her daughters Hayley and Casey are 14 years and eight months old respectively. Jenny's son Brandon is seven. Husband Wes is assistant manager at the new Schuck's Auto Parts store in Juneau. They enjoy fishing (she came in 4th place in the 2006 Salmon Derby!), camping, and spending time with family and friends. Jenny is a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School.

Board Members

Applications for membership on the JEDC Board of Directors are due on September 22, 2011. There are three seats open: one environmental seat and two open seats. If you are interested in serving, please send a cover letter directed to the JEDC Board of Directors stating your interest/motivation and qualifications to serve on the board. Please also complete a CBJ boards and commissions application (attached). These should be submitted to the City Clerk or to the JEDC Executive Director (bholst@jedc.org). The JEDC Board will review the applications and make a recommendation to the CBJ Assembly. The Assembly will make the appointments.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Information from the JEDC Bylaws)

Section 1. The affairs of the JEDC shall be managed by its Board of Directors.

Section 2. Board of Directors.

A. The Board of Directors of the JEDC shall consist of eleven (11) members.

B. The eleven (11) members of the JEDC Board of Directors shall be comprised as follows:

C. The term of each member of the JEDC Board of Director shall be staggered three (3) years.

D. No Director, except the Mayor, may serve for more than two (2) consecutive terms.

E. The JEDC shall publish notice of vacancies on the JEDC Board of Directors. The JEDC Board or a recruitment committee will review and may interview candidates for the JEDC Board of Directors. The JEDC Board will forward the names of recommended candidates to the CBJ Assembly. The CBJ Assembly will appoint JEDC board members.