Michelle Meyer Takes the Helm as Board Chair
Michelle Meyer was elected Chair of Trustees for Alaska’s Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting held in September. She has served on the Board since 2011 and was Co-Chair of the Development Committee during the past year.
Michelle grew up in Yakutat, Alaska, where her parents, Larry and Caroline Powell, inspired her to live a life of environmental stewardship. They led by example, establishing their own recycling effort in the 1980s shipping reusable items to Seattle from their grocery business. Cardboard, aluminum and plastics were collected and backhauled to Seattle non-profit groups for recycling rather than sending them to the Yakutat landfill.
“Their lifelong commitment to environmental activism has definitely inspired me to live my values,” said Michelle about why she serves on the Trustees’ Board. “Trustees ongoing work and Steve Cotton’s leadership inspired me to join the board.” Michelle now lives in Washington State but her heart belongs to Alaska.
Steve Cotton, who served as Board Chair since 2010, stepped down from the position. During his tenure, the organization engaged in the constitutional challenge to the State of Alaska’s lack of public process in issuing exploration permits for the proposed Pebble mine. Trustees and our clients prevailed in the case before the Alaska Supreme Court in May 2015.