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Jason Gootee serves as senior vice president of sales and strategic market development at Moda Partners, a health insurance company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. He previously served as Moda’s director of Alaska sales and service.

Gootee earned a bachelor's degree in English from UAF in 2005 and an MBA from UA Southeast in 2013. He is a past president of the UAF Alumni Association. Gootee and his father, Robert, created the Gootee Family Hockey Scholarship in 2017, now supported by an endowment fund that will help UAF student-athletes long into the future.

Gootee oversees growth and expansion of business for Moda companies throughout Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Texas. During his more than 17 years in the industry, Gootee has become recognized as a leader who is deeply committed to helping communities transform the way they provide and pay for health care.

A passionate outdoorsman, Gootee sets the healthy-living standard for his employees by maintaining an active lifestyle. However, much of his current running, he confesses, involves chasing his four young children around the house with the assistance of his wife, Katie.

Kari Burrell serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Foundation Health Partners, a community owned not-for--profit health system based in Fairbanks serving Interior Alaska.  

Kari was born and raised in Fairbanks, attending local public schools.  She attended UAF, completed her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and History from the University of Oregon, and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University. 

Kari worked in social services for many years, worked in public sector consulting, then as a policy advisor to two Washington State governors, returned to Alaska to work at the ҹɫ���� from 2013-2019 as Executive Officer and Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services, and then joined Foundation Health Partners in 2019.

Kari’s current work includes community health planning, strategic business planning and building partnerships to strengthen local and state health. 

Outside of work, Kari enjoys local arts and serves on the Board of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and enjoys getting outside in Alaska’s great Interior.

Victoria Denning is the chief administrative officer and a senior vice president at Denali State Bank.

Denning joined Denali State in 2012 as human resources manager. She was then promoted to human resources and marketing manager in 2018. She assumed her current position in January 2023.

Denning earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages with a minor in political science from UAF in 2006. She was a UAF scholarship athlete for volleyball during the 2001-2002 season.

Denali State is a Fairbanks-based, community-oriented financial institution offering a broad array of retail and commercial lending and deposit services. As chief administrative officer, Denning oversees a variety of administrative functions at the bank, including human resources, marketing, community relations, training and development, bankwide culture, and other related special events and projects. 

Virginia moved to Fairbanks from Alabama in May 1972. She attended Lathrop High School and went to work for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in her junior year.   She earned her Bachelor’s Degree at UAF in Business Administration in 1984, with a focus on accounting. After graduating, Virginia moved into the position of controller at the News-Miner and shortly after started serving on the board of directors as treasurer of the corporation. She worked for C. W. "Bill" Snedden, the newspaper’s publisher, from November 1974 until he passed away in July 1989. She continued working with his wife, Helen Snedden, for more than 20 years after that. While working with Helen, Virginia was able to create an endowed chair of journalism at UAF in 2003 in memory of Bill. Virginia currently serves as the Publisher of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 

Chidi Igbokwe is a reliability advisor for BP’s production organization.

Igbokwe started his career at BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. in 2006 as a petroleum engineer. Since then, he has worked in numerous technical and leadership positions across Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. He currently works in Houston, Texas.

Igbokwe earned his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri Nigeria and his master’s in the same field from UAF in 2006.

As a reliability advisor at BP, Igbokwe is responsible for developing reliability strategy, workflows, insights and tooling necessary for running efficient operation across BP’s global portfolio. He also supports the production organization’s senior leadership team. He received BP’s Helios Award in 2011.

Igbokwe is a member of the UAF College of Engineering and Mines Advisory and Development Council and chairman of the UAF Petroleum Engineering Industry Advisory Board. He also was BP’s U.S. university recruiting lead for the University of Alaska. 

Igbokwe previously served on the boards of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Alaska chapter and the Anchorage International Rotary Club.

Igbokwe is an avid soccer player and traveler. 

Meg Nordale serves as president of GHEMM Company, a Fairbanks-based general contractor in commercial construction.

Nordale grew up in Alaska. Appreciating all of the state’s opportunities, she returned to Fairbanks after earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on finance and marketing, from the University of Denver in 1982.

Nordale joined GHEMM in 1994 after a long career in insurance and risk management in Fairbanks. She became the firm’s president in 2015.

Outside of GHEMM, Meg is active in the community of Fairbanks and serves a number of civic organizations, including the University of Alaska.

Meg and her husband, Bob Schruf, enjoy being in the great outdoors, whether it be a hiking, skiing or fishing adventure or working in their yard at home.

They share those adventures with their six adult children and are now beginning to share those family adventures with their newest members of the group, the grandkids!

Lisa Putnam has served as Vice President of Public Relations at Usibelli Coal Mine since 2016, overseeing the company’s communication strategies and serving as its spokesperson in the community and media. She also leads The Usibelli Foundation, the mine’s philanthropic arm that supports nonprofits across Alaska.

Before joining Usibelli, Lisa spent a decade with the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, including six years as President and CEO.

Lisa is deeply engaged in the Fairbanks community. She serves on the boards of the Alaska Chamber, Fairbanks Chamber, Alaska Resource Education, and Stingray Swim Team, and sits on advisory boards for UAF’s College of Business and Security Management, Nanook Athletic Alliance, and USO Alaska. She is an active member of the Fairbanks Chamber’s Government Relations, Military Affairs, and Energy Committees and chairs the Alaska Chamber’s Legislative Affairs Committee. She also participates in the Fairbanks Chapter of the Alaska Miners Association.

Lisa was named one of Alaska’s “Top Forty Under 40” in 2013 and received the Messer Award in 2011 for her support of Eielson AFB and Fort Wainwright. She previously served as an honorary commander for the 354th Fighter Wing.

Born at Langley AFB and raised in New York and Massachusetts, Lisa has called Fairbanks home for 19 years. She lives with her husband, Jon, and their blended family of five children: Landon, Madison, Jacob, Hadley, and Ryan.

Ayyu Qassataq (Iñupiaq, Yup’ik & adopted Lingít) grew up between Anchorage and Uŋalaqłiq (Unalakleet) and was adopted by the Raven Kaach.adi Jackson family of Ḵéex̱ʼ (Kake) and gifted the Lingít name S’ikshaldeen.  She is proudly named for her great-grandmother Ayyu (Edna Eakon/Koutchak/Atchak) of Taciq (St. Michael), is the granddaughter of Stanton and Irene Katchatag, daughter of Doug and Vernita Herdman, and mother to Kutuukhuq, Talialuk, Qanigluk and Inuaałuuraq. She was raised by advocates and has served our Alaska Native and Indigenous communities throughout her entire career.

Ayyu serves as Vice President for Native Conservancy, working to permanently protect Alaska Native ecosystems for coastal communities and strengthen our inherent rights of sovereignty, subsistence and spirituality, and is a founding member of Gínga and Igniñ Collective, an Alaska Native nonprofit that seeks to honor and ignite the brilliance and rightful power of our Native peoples to heal, transform, and steward our world.

With experience building Indigenous-centered solutions that elevate awareness, healing, and advocacy around the social and cultural issues that impact our communities, she established Qulliq Munaqtuġuut in 2024, a consultancy to support the wellbeing and self-determination of Alaska Native and Indigenous peoples.

Prior to these recent endeavors, she worked for First Alaskans Institute from 2010-2024, most recently as CAO, where she helped grow a team and body of work that advanced racial equity and culturally-centered advocacy to protect our ways of life throughout Alaska. 

Ayyu earned an MA in Rural Development from the ҹɫ���� and a BA in Organizational Management with Nonprofit Emphasis from Alaska Pacific University. She serves as a board member for the Alaska Native Birthworkers Community, Alaska Public Media, Philanthropy Northwest, ҹɫ���� and Anchorage, and Caleb Pungowiyi Scholars Fellowship Program. .

Aaron Schutt has served as president and CEO of Doyon Ltd., the Alaska Native regional corporation for Interior Alaska, since 2011. 

Schutt works with Doyon’s board of directors to set the overall direction for Doyon companies and to provide leadership to the senior management team.

Schutt holds a law degree from Stanford Law School. He also holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in the same field from Washington State University. 

Before joining Doyon in 2006, Schutt was an attorney at the Anchorage offices of national law firms Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson, and Heller Ehrman, where he represented tribal and Alaska Native corporation clients in transactional and business matters.

Schutt serves on the boards of Northrim BanCorp Inc. and Akeela Inc. He also coaches youth hockey. 

Schutt is Koyukon Athabascan and an enrolled member of the Native Village of Tanana. He was born in Anchorage and raised in Tok. He is married to Marissa Flannery, and together they have two sons and a daughter.

Tracy Vanairsdale is president of Bettisworth North Architects and Planners.

Vanairsdale joined Bettisworth North in 1997 and was named president in 2023.

Her architectural expertise is evident in works such as the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center, North Pole Branch Library, Tanana Chiefs Conference Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center and Ryan Middle School.

Vanairsdale attended UAF and then finished her bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of Idaho through the Western Undergraduate Exchange program.

She has served on boards for the Rotary Club of Fairbanks and the Alaska chapters of the Association for Learning Environments and the American Institute of Architects. She is a long-time supporter of the Golden Heart Community Foundation.

Vanairsdale uses design as a powerful tool to celebrate and nurture a sense of connection and belonging. This principle has been the guiding force behind her designs for Alaska’s myriad cultures.

Vanairsdale was born and raised in Fairbanks, where she lives with her husband David, a proud UAF alumnus, and two spoiled dogs named for favorite Alaska rivers, Tsaina and Copper. They spend most days with Tracy at the office.