We are Trustees for Alaska
The Trustees team supports people and groups in standing up for human rights and speaking up to protect the lands, waters, wildlife and communities essential to Alaska’s health and future.
Victoria Clark
Executive Director
Vicki often says that she has held nearly every position at Trustees. Since 2014, she has been the executive director, but she started with Trustees in 1994 as a legal intern. That was what sparked her expertise in the Clean Water Act. Vicki joined the staff in 2003 as a staff attorney and also held the position of legal director for eight years. She hadn’t ever considered that she would run a nonprofit and be a fundraiser! Vicki is a graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law, and received certificates in Environmental Law and Public Interest Law. Her legal work focused on public interest environmental law in the areas of citizen enforcement, especially in the area of water quality, and land use in California and Alaska. Vicki received her undergraduate degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Brook Brisson
Senior Staff Attorney
ff attorney in 2015. Prior to joining Trustees, Brook worked for the Northern Alaska Environmental Center on clean water and public lands issues related to industrial development in the Interior and Arctic Alaska and served as a law clerk to Judge David Mannheimer on the Alaska Court of Appeals. Brook graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008, where she obtained a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and interned for a number of conservation and social justice organizations. Prior to law school, Brook taught environmental education in Colorado and Vermont.
Suzanne Bostrom
Senior Staff Attorney
Suzanne joined Trustees for Alaska in January 2013. Prior to joining Trustees, Suzanne served as a law clerk to now-Justice Joel Bolger on the Alaska Court of Appeals. Suzanne graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2010, where she obtained a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and was the editor in chief of the environmental law review. Suzanne also interned with Trustees during law school. Before law school, Suzanne was the Legislative and Communications Manager for the Alaska Conservation Alliance and Alaska Conservation Voters. In her free time, Suzanne enjoys traveling, cooking, and playing outside. She also owns a small business where she moonlights as a chocolate maker.
Katie Strong
Senior Staff Attorney
Katie joined Trustees for Alaska in the fall of 2010. Prior to joining Trustees, Katie lived in Driggs, Idaho, where she worked for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition on mining, public lands, and endangered species issues. Katie graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008, where she obtained a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and was a Student Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center. Prior to law school, Katie obtained a M.S. in Environmental Policy, writing her thesis on wilderness preservation efforts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Outside the office, Katie strives to spend as much time in the mountains as possible.
Bridget Psarianos
Senior Staff Attorney
Bridget joined Trustees for Alaska in November 2017. Prior to joining Trustees, Bridget worked in various roles for the Department of the Interior for six years: a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) project manager for the Bureau of Land Management-Alaska; an attorney-advisor detailee in the Office of the Solicitor in Washington, D.C.; and finally as a Program and Legal Analyst for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Alaska Region. Bridget graduated from Pace University School of Law in 2011, where she received a certificate in Environmental Law and interned at Pace’s Environmental Litigation Clinic. After graduating from the Pennsylvania State University and prior to law school, she was an Americorps volunteer, travelled, and worked at a ski resort in Montana. Bridget loves playing outside in Alaska year-round, and spends most of her “indoorsy” time reading, cooking, and listening to music.
Rachel Briggs
Staff Attorney
Rachel joined Trustees in the fall of 2019 as a legal fellow and started as a staff attorney in June 2020. Prior to joining Trustees, Rachel served as a law clerk to Justice Maassen of the Alaska Supreme Court. She graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2018, where she earned a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and was member of the Environmental Law Review. While in law school, Rachel worked for public interest environmental firms including Crag Law Center, Earthjustice, and Earthrise Law Center. Prior to law school, Rachel was the Eastern Grassroots Organizer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and playing with her cats.
Tracy Lohman
Development Director
Tracy rejoined the staff of Trustees for Alaska in 2017 as Development Director. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Tracy earned a B.A. in Communications and Public Relations from Slippery Rock University. Following graduation, Tracy spent a year in Japan focusing on Japanese language studies. Upon returning to the U.S., Tracy landed her first job at a non-profit cultural exchange program in Washington, D.C. and discovered her true passion — working for social change organizations — and has continued to work in the field ever since. Tracy has served as executive director of Alaska Community Share, and as development director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, ACLU of Alaska and YWCA Alaska. She is also the 2017 Vice President of Education for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Alaska Chapter. Tracy has called Alaska home for over 26 years. Her favorite Alaska pastimes are kayaking and beach combing. When not near the water, Tracy and her husband shuttle their two teen-aged boys to ski races, basketball games and fencing tournaments.
Ashley Boyd
Administrative Director
Ashley joined Trustees for Alaska in May 2018. Prior to joining Trustees, Ashley worked as an event director in Texas for four years. Ashley earned her B.A. in Government from the University of Texas in Austin. Outside of the office, Ashley enjoys reading, kayaking, learning and talking about politics, and traveling.
Lang Van Dommelen
Legal Assistant
Lang was raised in a dry cabin in Bird Creek where he grew up fishing and exploring Chugach State Park. He graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a BA in Political Science in 2011. Since graduating Lang has been worked on development projects in rural Alaska at several different entities and has been involved in programs as diverse as renewable energy, housing, and education. He is currently working on a Master’s in Public Administration at UAS with a focus in rural development and natural resource management. When he isn’t working, he spends as much time as possible playing outside and enjoys rock climbing, backcountry skiing, and mountain biking.
Dawnell Smith
Communications Director
Dawnell joined Trustees for Alaska in 2016. She grew up in California and came to Alaska in 1988 to work in Denali National Park, homelands of the Tanana Athabascan Peoples. She now lives on Dena’ina lands in Anchorage. Her work experience includes writing, reporting, brewing beer, running a book store, and doing communications work in public health and for nonprofits and art groups. She loves to hike, hang out with her family, pick berries, run with dogs, read incessantly, skate, bike, and make poems, essays, short stories, and art.
Joanna Cahoon
Staff Attorney
Joanna joined Trustees in the summer of 2020. She graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2013 and, prior to joining Trustees, she worked for six years as a public interest litigator protecting the rights of Alaskans with disabilities at the Disability Law Center of Alaska. Her career has been incredibly rewarding, but Joanna loves Alaska’s wild places and has long sought an opportunity to protect the state she has called home for 15 years. Contributing to Trustees work is a long-held goal and she is excited to join the team. In her free time, she enjoys getting her son outside, camping, hiking, skiing, and playing with her dog.
Lydia Heye
Legal Fellow
Lydia joined Trustees for Alaska in the fall of 2022. Lydia graduated from UCLA School of Law in May 2022 where she specialized in environmental law and policy. During her time in law school, Lydia interned for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Earthjustice, Stoel Rives LLP, and the Promise Institute for Human Rights. Prior to law school, Lydia interned for U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and got her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Portland. Outside the office, you’ll generally find Lydia roaming the mountains, climbing, cycling, rooting for her favorite sports teams, or searching for a new coffee shop.
Geoff Toy
Legal Fellow
Geoff joined Trustees for Alaska in August 2022. Prior to joining Trustees, Geoff spent three years as a staff attorney with the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law, working on land use, pollution, and agricultural issues in the Southeast and helping teach environmental law students. He also worked in civil litigation in Atlanta, Georgia after graduating from Emory Law in 2016. During law school, Geoff worked in the Turner Environmental Law Clinic and also interned with the environmental law department at Coca-Cola. Outside of the office, Geoff likes to read, cook, hike, and paint.
Theresa Soley
Communications Coordinator
Theresa Soley recently completed a One Health masters from the University of Alaska Fairbanks — a pandemic degree program that focuses on interconnections amongst the human-environment-animal spheres. She is also a B.S. in biology and a M.A. in science communication. Theresa has worked on marine vessels around the world, including a vessel that traveled to the Antarctic Peninsula, and a vessel that returned from Japan to Alaska with stops in Kamchatka, Dutch Harbor, and Kodiak. She hails from Wisconsin, and is currently trying to balance her newly discovered alpine ski adoration with work responsibilities.
