North Sound Leadership Conference Presenters
We are excited to offer two in-person days of professional development - one in Seattle and one in Tacoma - dedicated to thanking, inspiring, and empowering The Mountaineers current and aspiring volunteer leaders. Both conferences will offer equivalent content, with a similar line-up of presenters, expanding our reach and giving volunteers the flexibility to select the program that is most convenient for them.
Join us at one of our Leadership Conferences!
Breakout sessions
- Click here to view a list of the North Sound Leadership Conference breakout sessions
- Click here to view a list of the South Sound Leadership Conference breakout sessions
Presenters
- Jeannette Stawski
- Tom Unger
- Rumi Kodama
- Katja Hurt
- Liz Riggs-Meder
- Natasha Buffo
- Angie Marie
- Anastasia Allison
Jeannette Stawski
Keynote Speaker
Jeannette Stawski is the author of, “The Outdoor Leader '' which was released by Mountaineers in 2024. She currently serves as executive director for the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE). She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a Certified Executive Coach. She was the director of Outdoor Adventures at the University of Michigan for eleven years and has worked as a professional outdoor guide, a wilderness medicine instructor, and NOLS instructor. She is currently the chair of the Coalition for Outdoor Access (COA) and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and their two children.
Tom Unger
Tom Unger grew up in Michigan, family camping and messing around in small boats on rivers and big lakes. In 1989 he moved to Seattle to be near mountains and the ocean. In 1993 he joined the mountaineers, got equivalency for basic climbing, completed the intermediate climbing course, and became a climb leader. That started his 3 decade carrier of exploring the outdoors in various modes, including:
- hiking and backpacking, especially traverses in the Sierra
- crag and alpine climbing
- backcountry skiing
- canyoneering in Utah
- sailing in the great lakes and Salish sea
- scuba diving in Puget sound and the tropics
- flying small planes here and in the Idaho and Utah backcountry
- canoeing and packrafting locally and in the arctic
- sea kayaking in the Salish sea and the coast of Canada and Alaska
Rumi Kodama
Rumi Kodama is a paramedic in Vancouver, BC with roots in the outdoor/wilderness therapy industry in numerous roles for over 20 years from YMCA to BC Conservation Corps to NOLS, Outward Bound Canada and Alaska Crossings. Risk is inherent in everything we do and the power of bringing practices from across industry lines is something that just makes sense. Her passion extends to thinking about how we manage risk to reduce occurrences of stress injuries and teaching these topics with a tendency towards focusing on making things tangible and spreading practical ideas.
Katja Hurt
Katjarina “Katja” Hurt (she/her/hers) is the Founder and Director of the non-profit organization, Wilderness Chaplains. She is a master-level trainer with a background in behavioral health and public safety and volunteers as a chaplain with the King County Sheriff's Office. With over eight years as a member of The Mountaineers and 17 years as a Ski Patroller, you will most likely find her in the mountains.
Liz Riggs Meder
Liz Riggs Meder is an educational experience designer who most recently worked as the Director of Education at AIARE, an avalanche education non-profit. Liz draws on her teaching and curriculum design background to craft impactful workshops and presentations that help people build outdoor expertise. Based in Seattle, Liz holds an M.Ed from the University of Washington. A learning and cognitive science nerd, Liz loves combining her education interests with her love of traveling through the mountains.
nATASHA bUFFO
Natasha Buffo is a former business analyst for Google, Inc. turned outdoor adventurer, community mental health facilitator, and creative non-fiction writer. She’s been a Certified Adult Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) for over eight years. Since becoming an MFHA Instructor in 2021, she’s taught 30+ classes and certified more than 300 participants, from guides of Adventures in Good Company to teachers who take youth on a yearly backpacking trip to supervisors for Kirkwood Mountain Resort, and many more. When not at her desk, you’ll find her trail running with her puppy, backpacking the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, or cycle touring across states. Her written work has been published by Recreation.gov, ArborTIMES, TahoeQuarterly, The Link, and many more. Follow her on Instagram @dirtandtears or check out her website www.dirtandtears.com.
Angie Marie
Angie Marie is a speaker, author and recreational mountain athlete who's fascinated by the intersection of adventure and womanhood. Fueled by her nonprofit background in increasing outdoor accessibility to underserved communities, she inspires teams to think and act adventurously so they can face fear, beat burnout and live like leaders.
With experience as an adaptive recreation guide, outdoor curriculum writer, wilderness first aid instructor and search and rescue team member, Angie blends her multi-hyphenate background with storytelling that encourages a happier, healthier, more adventurous world.
She lives in White Salmon, WA in the Columbia River Gorge, where she enjoys ultrarunning, mountaineering, and, recently, learning to whitewater kayak. Find her work at www.itsangiemarie.com.
aNASTASIA aLLISON
Anastasia Allison is a former park ranger and backpacking instructor and the founder of Kula Cloth, an outdoor gear company that makes a reusable pee cloth for anybody who squats when they pee. Anastasia has been hiking, backpacking and alpine climbing in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years, and is on a mission to help others connect more with themselves and nature. Anastasia is also the violinist for a small duo called the Musical Mountaineers. With her musical partner Rose, they climb mountains with a violin and a piano to perform unannounced concerts for nobody. The duo has performed three times at Benaroya Hall to raise money for the Washington’s National Parks Fund and the Washington Trails Association. She lives in Granite Falls, Washington with her husband Aaron and their three cats. When she isn’t working for Kula, she enjoys spending time outside, dancing (pretty much anywhere) and riding her motorcycle.
