Arctic Women Leadership Addressing Climate, Geopolitical, and Economic Transitions: Local, Federal and Indigenous Perspectives

Beth Kerttula
Director, National Ocean Council

Beth Kerttula is a life-long Alaskan who served 15 years in the Alaska State House of Representatives, seven as Minority Leader. She left to be a Fellow at Stanford University and then became Director of the National Ocean Council in the Executive Office of President Obama in Washington, DC, where she worked with Tribes, States, and Federal Agencies to implement the first National Ocean Plan. She is an attorney who has worked in both private and public practice.

Rebecca Alty
Mayor, Yellowknife, NWT

Rebecca Alty has been the Mayor of Yellowknife, NWT since 2018. She was born and raised in Yellowknife, and has served as Executive Director of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation, Director of Communications and Community Development at AVENS, and Manager of Communities and External Relations at Diavik Diamond Mine Inc. She served two terms as a Councillor with the City of Yellowknife before running for Mayor.

Mary Peltola
Former member, US Congress and Alaska State Legislature

Mary Peltola is a former member of the U.S. Congress representing Alaska's at-large congressional district from 2022 to 2025. The first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, she was a member of the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure during her tenure in office. She previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's Tribal Court, as executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel City Councilor, and as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives.

Carina Sammeli
Chair of the Municipal Board of Luleå, Sweden

Carina Sammeli has been the Chair of the Municipal Board of Luleå Municipality, in northern Sweden, since 2021. Carina previously chaired a government committee on housing costs for people with disabilities. She is a trained economist and has previously worked at the Ministry of Finance as a political advisor, at the Swedish Transport Administration as a project manager for railway research, as a party ombudsman for the Social Democrats in Norrbotten and as chairman of the children and education committee in Luleå municipality.
 

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer
Director of Climate Initiatives, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, an Iñupiaq from Kotzebue, Alaska, is the Director of Climate Initiatives program at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Her current work includes advocacy and climate equity, Tribal engagement, and overseeing the Center for Climate and Health and the Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities within the Climate Initiatives program. Qataliña studied Interior Design & Sustainable Building Science in London and the U.S.

Meghan Tapqaq
Former member of the Nome Common Council, Staff Attorney, Kawerak

Meghan Tapqaq currently serves as staff attorney at the regional, nonprofit tribal consortium, Kawerak, Inc. and provides legal services to 19 tribes in the Bering Strait region. She previously served as a member of the Nome Common Council. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, with a major in Native American Studies and minor in Linguistics. She earned her juris doctorate from University of Oregon School of Law. 

Robert W. Orttung
Professor, Sustainability and International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs,
Director, GW Sustainability Research Institute