Our Board

Ts'aang Gaa'y Leslie Isaacs, Chair

Leslie Isaacs has served as the City Administrator and Accountant for the City of Klawock Since February 2008. He is Ts’aang Gaay of the Koos Gaa Dee (Eagle Frog Beaver) clan. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Science combined from Western Washington University. He and his family live in Klawock. He has served as the past Chair of POWCAC, a 13 member advisory committee representing all of Prince of Wales Island. He also serves as the Chair for the Southeast Solid Waste Authority, an organization committed to helping solve solid waste issues for the region. Because he has lived in a rural village most of his life; Leslie is committed to helping grow the economies of Southeast villages ensuring a viable future for the next generation to come. In his spare time he loves working on regalia, spending time with his family, and watching his grandchildren grow up.

L’uxshakee RobERT Allen

L’uxshakee Robert Allen is an interim executive director, business consultant, and mentor. He has decades of experience leading organizations in the for-profit, non-profit, and public sectors in Alaska, as both chief executive officer and a board member. Rob’s strengths include business model analysis, cultivating positive cultures in organizations, and remaining calm in storms. He is especially interested in working with nonprofit boards and staff on the alignment of values. Rob is a lifelong Alaskan from Sitka. His Tlingit name is L’uxshakee. He is a Kaagwaantan of the Box House. He worked in his family business, Allen Marine, from childhood to his early forties. Rob has an undergraduate degree in U.S. history from Harvard College and a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. His board service includes the Foraker Board, Rasmuson Foundation, Sitka Sound Science Center, and Shee Atiká, Inc.

Gunnuk Anthony Mallott

Anthony Mallott has served as Sealaska President and CEO since May 2014. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University. He came to Sealaska in 2006 to serve as Sealaska’s Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer.

Anthony has deep experience in financial and investment management. As chief investment officer, he was responsible for the direction of treasury activities of the company and the management of corporate investment funds. Prior to Sealaska, he was a vice president within Bank of America’s capital markets, working in the portfolio and risk strategy group for 10 years. Anthony is chair of the Kootznoowoo Permanent Fund Settlement Trust, which benefits Kootznoowoo, Inc. shareholders. He has served as a board member of the Rasmuson Foundation, a $600 million private foundation that promotes a better life for all Alaskans; and an investment committee member of the Alaska Community Foundation, a $60 million philanthropic fund.

Anthony is Tlingit, Eagle, Tsaagweidí (Killerwhale) Clan, as well as Koyukon Athabascan, Caribou Clan. His Tlingit name is Gunnuk.

La quen nÁay Liz medicine crow

La quen náay, Haida/Tlingit, is from Ḵéex̱ʼ Kwáan (Kake), Alaska. She is an enrolled Tribal Citizen of the Organized Village of Kake. On her Haida side she is Eagle Tiits Gitee Nei, Hummingbird. On her Tlingit side she is Raven Kaach.adi, Fresh Water-marked Sockeye Salmon. Her maternal grandparents were Mona & Thomas Jackson, Sr. of Haida Gwaii/Hydaburg and Kake, respectively. Her paternal grandparents were Lillian and Charles Cheney of Washington. Her parents are Della and William Cheney of Kake. La quen náay’s heart is always at home in the village with her family and people. Integrating Native knowledge and values into organizations, governance mechanisms, and everyday life is a primary passion and responsibility she has pursued through her education and career.

La quen náay received her BA (BFA Equivalency) from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and her law degree from Arizona State University College of Law, graduating with a Juris Doctorate and a Certificate in Indian Law. Since coming to First Alaskans Institute, La quen náay has served as the Director of the Alaska Native Policy Center, Vice-President, and now serves as the President/CEO, providing a direct path for service to our Native peoples. La quen náay has been with FAI for 12 years, and her depth of experience and passion for our Native peoples makes her uniquely qualified to direct our organization.

Kaaxúxgu Joe Nelson

Joe Nelson grew up in Yakutat. He is a member of the Teikweidi (Brown Bear) clan and child of the Kwaashkikwaan (Humpback Salmon) clan. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a master’s degree in American Indian Studies from UCLA, as well as a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School. Joe and his wife and kids live in Juneau.

Joe is currently the Chairman of the Board for Sealaska and a former Vice Chancellor at the University of Alaska Southeast. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Alaska Legal Services Board of Directors. He served for many years on his ANCSA village corporation board and a number of local non-profit boards.

Chris Perez

Christopher Perez is the Senior Program Officer at Rasmuson Foundation. He also manages the Foundation's program-related investment (PRI) portfolio.

Chris has over two decades of grantmaking and philanthropic impact investing experience. Immediately prior to joining Rasmuson Foundation in 2008, he served as senior program officer for the F.B. Heron Foundation, located in New York City, managing a range of grants and mission-related investments with an emphasis on community and economic development in rural communities and Indian Country. While at the Heron Foundation, Chris oversaw a portfolio of more than two dozen of the nation's highest performing community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and funded the creation and growth of several Native CDFIs. He has been a reviewer for the U.S. Department of the Treasury's CDFI Fund awards, and previously served on the board of a community development loan fund. Chris holds an M.P.A. in nonprofit management from New York University and a B.A. in history from Wesleyan University.

Chris has been active in the leadership of several national philanthropic and impact investing organizations. He currently represents Alaska on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines advisory council, providing guidance on housing development and community lending needs throughout the bank’s 13-state district.

Aanshawatk’i Sarah DYBDAHL

Sarah grew up in Klawock, Alaska and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Southern Oregon University. Sarah is Tlingit and Nez Perce. Her Tlingit name is Aanshawatk’i and she is from the Taakw.aaneidi clan.

Sarah currently works for Tlingit & Haida as the Cultural Heritage & Education Director. She formerly served as the Executive Director of Huna Heritage Foundation as well as on the Alaska Federation of Natives Board of Directors as the Southeast Village Representative and Native Americans in Philanthropy Board. Sarah worked over 15 years in various capacities for Sealaska and Sealaska Heritage Institute and currently serves on the Klawock Heenya Corporation Board of Directors (since 2010). She is married to Travis Dybdahl and is mother to three children – Michaela, Orion and Elias.