Meet the Board
Board Members
Rachel Espejo
Name: Rachel Espejo
Position: Attorney Member
Board member since: 2021
City: Anchorage
Alaska resident since: 2013
Law School: Thomas Jefferson School of Law (San Diego)
Firm or Agency: Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
5 things you might not know about me:
- I grew up as a military brat and spent the majority of my life in Japan and Hawai’i.
- One Valentine’s Day I was walking on the beach, and I found a diamond wedding ring.
- In college (in Hawai’i) I minored in theatre and was classically trained in Jingju head dressing and makeup. Jingju is a type of stylized Chinese opera that dates to the Qing Dynasty. I also took an entire semester of haberdashery (hat-making). Both of these skills have obviously been extremely helpful in my work as a lawyer.
- I enjoy baking and making jams and jellies in my free time.
- During the lockdown in 2020 I got very interested in houseplants and now have close to 75 scattered around my house.
Bill Granger
Name: Bill Granger
Position: Treasurer
Board member since: 2001-2009 | 2011-Present
City: Anchorage
Alaska resident since: 1964
Firm or Agency: Wells Fargo
Education: Gonzaga University (Undergraduate), University of Washington (Graduate Pacific Coast Banking School), Notre Dame University (Graduate Catholic Charity Management, Mendoza College of Business)
5 things you might not know about me:
- I have been a pilot most of my life, flying a J-3 while attending Romig junior high school, and today owning a Cessna 185 and a Super Cub. Hunting/fishing and spending time at my cabin consumes most of my non-working time. My wife and I love to travel. Last year we visited Egypt, Israel, and Turkey.
- I have always had a fascination with the law. In high school while working at Matanuska Valley Bank I would spend my spare time in the law library, studying cases and writing briefs, finding this to be fun and very interesting, but I was the only guy who wore a white shirt and tie to school every day also. Maybe by today’s standards I would be considered a nerd. The middle of my junior year at Dimond High School I was accepted into Gonzaga University. After attending Gonzaga I returned to Alaska and my work in banking. If my love of banking had not been stronger I surely would have attended law school.
- Married 31 years (Diane Otto), and three children; Suzie, Andrew, and Christopher.
- Employed by Wells Fargo Bank N.A. Senior Vice President. Every bank I have worked for has been acquired by Wells Fargo. 40 years banking in Alaska. Currently supervise the Credit Management Groups in Alaska, Washington and Oregon.
Donald Handeland
Name: Donald Handeland
Position: Public Member
Board member since: 2024
City: Eagle River
Alaska resident since: Lifelong Alaskan
Firm or Agency: HDR, Inc.
Education: Oregon State University – Civil Engineering (B.S.), Finance (B.S.), University of Alaska Fairbanks – Master of Business Administration
5 things you might not know about me:
- I am a lifelong Alaskan, born and raised in Nome. I wouldn’t call anywhere else home.
- I went to boarding school in Sitka when I attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
- I love summer in Alaska. I spend as much time fishing, kayaking, and hiking as I can when the weather is nice.
- I am a professional civil engineer. Although I have mostly worked on transportation design, I have also worked on a variety of projects across the state. Most of my work now is focused on rural Alaska.
- I am not a lawyer, but I did do youth court in Sitka and Nome.
Steven Hansen
Name: Steven Hansen
Position: Attorney Member
Board member since: 2025
City: Fairbanks
Alaska Resident since: 2009
Firm or Agency: Office of the General Counsel, University of Alaska
Education: Earlham College (BA), George Washington University Law School (JD)
5 things you might not know about me:
- My first job out of school was as an instructor with Outward Bound in the Boundary Waters.
- I am unidextrous, meaning my right hand is slightly more agile than the left.
- I used to own a Washington Nationals baseball cap.
- On one side of my family, I am the third generation to be born in Chicago but not raised there, while on my other side of the family I am the third generation to marry a Texan without residing in Texas.
- I have Skyline Chili for my birthday dinner every year.
Andrew Juneau
Name: Andrew Juneau
Position: Attorney Member
Board member since: 2025
City: Juneau
Alaska resident since: 2021
Law School: University of Minnesota Law School
Firm or Agency: Faulkner Banfield Law, P.C.
5 things you might not know about me:
- Improbably, I was born near Juneau, Wisconsin, but have never visited. I now live in Juneau, Alaska. Yes, there is a relation.
- I own (and cherish) a tandem bicycle.
- During my first visit to Alaska, a Kodiak bear caught a fish that I was already reeling in. I did not end up with the fish.
- I downhill ski, cross-country ski, ski tour, and snowboard. I can also water ski and wakeboard. I even sandboarded once. I have yet to telemark.
- On average, I watch 41 movies per year.
Grace Lee
Name: Grace Lee
Position: Attorney Member
Board member since: 2023
City: Juneau
Alaska resident since: 1990
Education: Seattle University School of Law
Firm or Agency: Attorney General’s Office
5 things you might not know about me:
- I hate cucumbers but love pickles.
- The first concert I attended was on accident. It was The Velvet Underground.
- I’m on several boards but am especially proud of the work of Juneau Ghost Light Theare, a non-profit community theater group.
- The theme of my wedding reception was ‘outshine the bride’. My dog won.
- I dislike hiking, hunting, fishing and anything else that involves being outside when it’s rainy, snowy or buggy.
Nick Ostrovsky
Name: Nick Ostrovsky
Position: President-Elect
Board member since: 2022
City: Anchorage
Alaska resident since: Lifelong Alaskan
Law School: Seattle University School of Law
Firm or Agency: Ahtna, Inc.
5 things you might not know about me:
- I love to go on long mountain runs with my wife.
- I have hiked across the entire country of Switzerland
- I have the world’s laziest border collie.
- I have one long-skinny thumb and one short-fat thumb.
- I am addicted to true crime podcasts.
Rebecca Patterson
Name: Rebecca Patterson
Position: President
Board member since: 2022
City: Anchorage
Alaska resident since: 2011
Law School: Harvard Law School
Firm or Agency: Sonosky Chambers Sachse Miller & Monkman LLP
5 things you might not know about me:
- I told a story at Arctic Entries in an owl-patterned onesie when I was 9 months pregnant.
- When I first moved to Alaska, I lived in Juneau, in one of the last houses on the road to Perseverance hiking trail. I encountered both tourists taking pictures of me and black bears out my front door.
- I came fairly close to having three kids all with the same birthday. Instead, the birthdays of my four-year-old and two-year-old twins are exactly one week apart.
- The town I grew up in is often recognized either because of their Supreme Court cases or for being mentioned in the movie the Usual Suspects.
- When I first arrived in Alaska, I was a snowboarder. After starting to venture into the backcountry, I got tired of lugging my board up the mountain and learned how to ski. My husband and I then became big skiers. Before kids, we used to backcountry ski every weekend there was snow and now we regularly ski (in-bounds) with our kids.
Patrick Roach
Name: Patrick Roach
Position: Secretary
Board member since: 2024
City: Fairbanks
Alaska resident since: 1996
Education: University of Alaska, Fairbanks (Bachelor of Arts in English Literature); University of Alaska, Southeast (Master of Arts in Teaching); CUNY Law School (Juris Doctorate)
Firm or Agency: Alaska Public Defender Agency
5 things you might not know about me:
- I did my Peace Corps service in Zhangye, Gansu, China, teaching at a local medical college.
- I was a cooking teacher at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau, AK.
- I was a grill cook at two different diners in Newport, RI.
- I rode a bicycle from the Netherlands to Spain.
- I lived on a hundred-year-old sailboat for seven years.
Meghan “Sigvanna” Tapqaq
Name: Meghan “Sigvanna” Tapqaq
Position: Vice President
Board member since: 2020
City: Nome
Alaska resident since: 2017
Law School: University of Oregon School of Law
Firm or Agency: Kawerak, Inc.
5 things you might not know about me:
- My father’s family has lived on this land since time immemorial, specifically around Nome and the Imuruk Basin. I spent many summers and school breaks in Ambler, Anchorage, and Fairbanks as a child visiting family and had several fellowships and internships during college and law school throughout Alaska (Anchorage, Juneau, Nome). There’s never been any question in my mind that Alaska is my home.
- My partner, Mike Hoyt (who is a high school social studies teacher), and I have four furbabies – two rambunctious dogs (Pamii & Kuvlu) and two cats (Bobby and Charlie).
- We love spending time out on the land and recently took up kayaking. Over the summer of 2020, we paddled 70 miles from the Kuzitrin Bridge to the village of Teller spending time in the places where my paternal grandfather was born and raised.
- I am an enrolled tribal citizen of the Native Village of Ambler and my passion is tribal court development and supporting tribes in exercising their sovereignty.
- In my spare time, I enjoy teaching as an adjunct for UAF Northwest Campus, including teaching college and high school level classes on Inupiaq language, the history of colonization in Alaska, and tribal governance.
