Michelle Tabler is the Alaska Regional Manager for the Better Business Bureau Northwest. Michelle grew up in Anchorage and has more than 35 years’ experience in insurance, including 22 years as the owner of an Allstate agency, business development with Wells Fargo Insurance Services, and research-based consulting with McDowell Group.

On behalf of BBB, Michelle is working throughout the State of Alaska to continue building relationships with business owners, community organizations and consumers. Michelle does presentations state-wide to business groups and associations, senior citizens, military personnel and families, as well as high school students on various topics, such as Top Scams, ID Theft, Fraud, Senior Scams, Young Consumer Credit, and Financial Fitness. Michelle also provides public relations and communication support to all Alaska media outlets on current topics and scams.

Michelle has been a member of Anchorage East Rotary since 2007 and is currently on the Board.

Michelle Tabler

Greg Durocher recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey, where he was the chief of the Science Information Services, Alaska office. He is looking forward to his wife’s retirement next year, and increasing their travels.

Greg is Director, Friends of Nike Site Summit (FONSS), which is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Nike Site Summit”, part of a Cold War missile defense system that surrounded many cities and military installations between 1959 and 1979.

He is active with Anchorage Concert Chorus, Chugach Gem & Mineral Society, and Anchorage Ski Club (Arctic Valley Ski Area lies directly across from Site Summit).

Greg Durocher

Jenny Fast writes as “Superwife” on her blog, The Adventures of Superwife. She shares real, messy, and often humorous stories of marriage and parenting while running the occasional product giveaway for her readers. The Adventures of Superwife has been named “Best Local Blog” three times by the Anchorage Press, and Jenny’s writing has been featured in several local outlets, including the Kaleidoscape play center’s blog, Alaska Parent magazine’s social media, and in The Salmon Project’s book, Made of Salmon. “Superwife” also occasionally guest-posts on other marriage and parenting blogs around the ‘net. Jenny is a full-time working mother of three daughters under the age of 7. She and her husband live in Wasilla, but spend much of their time taking their girls and their two red labradors fishing, rafting, and camping out of town. Visit Jenny on Facebook at www.facebook.com/superwifejenny

Jenny Fast

Mara Severin is a freelance writer with a bi-weekly food column in the Alaska Dispatch News.

She grew up on the East Coast, eventually landing in New York City, where she earned her BA in Literature from Columbia University. She worked as a publisher’s assistant before becoming a writer and researcher for a dealer in rare historical manuscripts. For seven years, she and her husband lived in a 300-square-foot Manhattan apartment with a tiny galley kitchen. Thus began her life-long love affair with restaurants. The kitchen was for coffee and ice cubes. The city was for eating.

In 1999, she and her husband moved to Alaska looking for adventure, but at the time she did not expect them to be of the culinary kind. In fact, she did not expect the Anchorage food scene to be as vibrant, challenging and sophisticated as it has proven to be. She is happy to eat her own words.

She began writing for local industry publications like Petroleum News Alaska, among others. She then branched out to write for a series of local lifestyle magazines including Alaska Home Magazine which regularly profiles extraordinary local chefs. These food-related features quickly became her favorite assignments.

When a restaurant reviewer position opened up at the ADN, she threw in her hat. She was offered a few pieces on spec, which then turned into a regular column. In the last four years, she has reviewed over 100 Alaska restaurants and doesn’t plan to stop until her appetite does.

Mara Severin

Dr. John Tichotsky is a professional economist, who has worked as an academic, entrepreneur, policy and political advisor, and analyst. He specializes in the financing and economics of wealth management and natural resource development in Alaska, Northeast Asia, Europe and Central Asia. John Tichotsky’s experience includes working as an international advisor and consultant for Roman Abramovich (Sibneft, Evraz) on Chukotka-US issues (oil and gas, electricity, whale quotas, governmental relations), and as an expert on Northeast Asian energy issues. Until recently, John was the Chief Economist and Advisor to the Alaska Governor and is now with the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation. He also worked as the Chief Economist and Audit Master for the State of Alaska’s Department of Revenue, where he led a group of economists that provide the State of Alaska with a revenue forecast and policy advice on all of Alaska’s economic activities, especially investment and petroleum revenue. He introduced decision science, including probabilistic modeling, as the backbone of the group’s work. John Tichotsky has worked extensively with indigenous communities in Alaska, Russia, and Mongolia. He is married to Mary Core, and has two daughters, Mara and Annie, ages nine and thirteen. The entire family likes winter sports, especially skijoring, and his thirteen-year-old recently competed as a junior dog musher.

John Tichotsky

Frank Soos moved to Alaska in 1986 and taught at the University of Alaska from then until 2004. As an educator and award-winning writer, he is a Professor Emeritus for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an Alaska State Writer Laureate.

Described by the Alaska Historical Society as a natural promoter of literary arts and artists, Soos is a prolific writer of both poetry and prose. Many books of his have been published, including Unpleasantries that was just released by the University of Washington Press.

His book Double Moon: Constructions and Conversations, is a collection of mini-essays in collaboration with the work of his wife, visual artist Margo Klass.

Soos enjoys cross-country skiing in winter, and fly fishing and biking during the Alaska summers.

He challenges us to consider that how we communicate, and what we do with our lives, is important and meaningful.

Frank Soos’ Presentation 03-02-17

Frank Soos