Board Members and Employees
President
Brian Hanson
Brian was raised in Sitka. He is a graduate of Sitka High School, University of Oregon, and Pepperdine University School of Law. He has been in private practice in Sitka since 1985. He served on the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association. He is a longtime coach and administrator of Sitka Little League. He is currently a member of the STW Finance Committee.
Vice President
Don MacKinnon
Don was born in Juneau and grew up in Hoonah and Cordova before returning to Juneau as a teenager. A graduate of Juneau Douglas High School he also has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. He grew up hiking, hunting and skiing in the woods of Southeast Alaska. Don worked as a volunteer instructor for the Juneau Youth Sailing Foundation. He also has been a swim coach, swimming instructor and skiing instructor. Don operated his own tour boat business from 1993 to 1995. For the past 11 years he has worked as a telecommunication tech for Jeffus & Williams CO. Inc. He moved to Sitka in 2001 when Juneau became to big for him. While in Sitka he has continued to be and avid hiker and back country skier while learning to surf. He can be found most days on one of the trails around Sitka walking his dog.
Secretary
Sara Hess-Bruhl
Sara is Co-chair of the Sitka Mountain Bike Association since 1999. She is a performing member of the New Archangel Dancers and a supporting member of KCAW public radio station.She is a practing physical therapist. She is responsible for diversifying the trail plan to include bicyclists.
Board Member
Sarah Bell
Born in Tacoma, Washington, Sarah grew up in the San Francisco Bay area at a time when she and her sisters could safely ride all over the city in buses and when there were still orchards in the south bay area. Her father always involved the family in some kind of outdoor activity, so they were sailing in San Francisco Bay before she was out of diapers. This was followed by years of hiking and backpacking. The north always exerted a pull and Sarah found herself attending the University of Oregon and UW. She even spent several years in Kotzebue before moving to Sitka in 1977 where she was employed as the librarian at Sitka High School until 2004. Sarah is currentlly the Kettleson Memorial Library Director.
Board Member
Maxwell S. Rule
Max is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of Alaska and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants. He has been employed as the Corporate Controller for Hames Corporation for 12 years. Active in sports, Max enjoys long distance cycling and was one of the founding members of the Southeast Shootout Basketball Tournament and has coached both basketball and baseball.
Board Member
Charles Horan
A Sitka businessman since 1976, Charles is the owner and senior partner of Horan Appraisals and a member of the American Institute of Real Estate appraisers. He has been a Boy Scouts of America, Hiking and Backpacking Merit Badge counselor since 1993. Charles is a founding member of the Sitka Trail Works Board of Directors and served as Board President for six years. He brings sound business judgment and practical experience to the organization. He has planned and selected the hiking club routes, and often leads the hikes. He received the 2003 American Hiking Society Volunteer of the Year Award for the State of Alaska.
Board Member
Deanna Bennett
Deanna is a born and raised Sitkan who has split her time between raising three daughters and working in various fields including 15 years for Davis & Associates/Greg Scheff & Associates Land Surveyors as a draftsman/secretary/bookkeeper, 8 years at Lakeside Grocery and currently employed at Sitka Community Hospital. “Thanks to Sitka Trail Works, I have been able to gain access to some of the most awe inspiring areas in our back yard. I want to help others to experience this beauty so that they too can connect with nature and be rejuvenated in this busy, hectic world.”
Board Member
Mary Alice Hamberg
Mary Alice is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After graduation she held the Finance Director position at Islands Counseling for 13 years. She has also been self employed accountant specializing in non-profit businesses for 20 years. There is rarely a day that goes by when Mary Alice misses a hike on our fabulous trails with her dog, Roscoe, her devoted hiking buddy.
Board Member
Roslyn Dailey
Ros is an avid hiker and has lived in Sitka since 1981. She is CFO for Samson Tug and Barge Co, Inc. and spends most weekends hiking, biking or running on the Sitka trail system. She holds a BA in Economics from Williams College in Williamstown MA. "I think the improvements in the local trail system are of the best things that has happened in Sitka over the past 10 years. I am very pleased to be a part of the board of the organization that has made so much of this possible."
Executive Director
Deborah Lyons
Deborah was hired as STW Executive Director in October of 2002 and was responsible for the publication of the 2003 Sitka Trail Plan. She has a background in the natural sciences and attended Oregon State University before coming to Alaska in 1976. She is the Secretary Treasurer of the NSRAA Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Sitka Cancer Survivor’s Society.
