Kris Eilers
Executive Director
E-mail: Kris@StLouisRiver.org

Kris has been engaged in policy and program delivery in environmental protection, water quality, remediation and habitat restoration, intergovernmental affairs and community engagement/outreach in the Duluth area for a decade.  Her strong business and administrative skills, garnered with her 20+ year career in the private corporate sector, have set her and the St. Louis River Alliance (SLRA) up for many successes.

Under her leadership, the SLRA has secured and managed an array of federal, state and local programs, including the continued work of the St. Louis River Area of Concern Clean-up.

In addition, Kris led the effort to get a bonding bill passed from the Minnesota Legislature to fund a state agency to clean up the most contaminated sites in the St. Louis River Area of Concern. 

Kris has been instrumental to attracting thousands of people to the river through boat tours, volunteer opportunities, canoe/kayak trips and winter hikes.  She has also dramatically grown the membership of the organization by over 500 percent over the past 5 years. 

Kris is driven by her life-long passion for water, and a childhood dream of helping to restore the polluted waters of the St. Louis River that runs into Lake Superior.

Alyssa Johnson (she/her)
Program Manager
E-mail: Outreach@StLouisRiver.org

Alyssa graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a B.S. in Marketing and Finance. Since then her passions have led her down many roads including membership & community development for a start-up food co-op, teaching in the public schools, and working with many artists and small businesses to share their stories through photography, web development and social media marketing.

Alyssa served her first two years as the Alliance’s Marketing and Outreach Coordinator. Since then she has successfully developed her skills in organizational management, membership recruitment, fundraising and public relations, transitioning her into the Program Manager position.

Alyssa’s responsibilities at the Alliance involve grant and project administration, stewardship event planning, community outreach and education, social media marketing, membership communication, and website maintenance.

Alyssa is grateful for her life in Duluth and the daily lessons of Lake Superior and the surrounding waters. In her free time you can find her wandering the Superior Hiking Trail with her pup Addie, swimming on the beach of Park Point, or taking pictures of the flora growing along the St. Louis River.

Karen Sunderman
National Water Trail Neighborhood Leader
Email: Karen@StLouisRiver.org

Karen is the happiest outdoors and in every season. She grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, moved to Duluth for a job in TV, and fell in love with the water that shapes our northern communities. 

She's inspired by the history, mystery, and resilience of the St. Louis River and curious by nature.  She’s explored the Northland by boat, on skis, and by foot, fishing and camping on the river when the opportunity arises. She also developed an affinity for canoe adventuring, introducing friends and family to this simple and historic mode of transit. She’s clocked over twenty-five trips to the BWCA and countless jaunts along the river.

As a Neighborhood Leader with the National Water Trail, she’s excited to celebrate the river’s recovery, meet new friends, and share the story of Lake Superior’s largest freshwater tributary.

Annika Frazer (she/her)

National Water Trail Neighborhood Leader 

Email: Annika@StLouisRiver.org

Annika grew up on the Mississippi River near the Twin Cities before moving to Duluth, Minnesota in 2017. She currently lives in the western river communities and enjoys swimming, kayaking, photography, and being outdoors.

Annika studied environment, business, and language at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and stayed in this area because of how there is always something new to learn and how there is a tremendous amount of access to the outdoors.

Annika is excited to work as a Neighborhood Leader with the National Water Trail and to support local engagement with our beautiful waterways.

Jessie Peterson, President

Jessie has always been drawn to landscapes and communities that inspire, challenge, and foster connection. This led to many years exploring Montana and Alaska before returning home to Minnesota, where her love of place was first sparked. She majored in Environmental Studies followed by a year of service with AmeriCorps at the Montana Legal Services Association.

These early experiences cemented Jessie’s commitment to building community resiliency by addressing the connections between socioeconomic, environmental, and health equity factors. For over two decades she has worked for equity, access, and sustainability by serving in a variety of non-profit leadership roles with proven outcomes building organizational capacity. She is adept in strategic planning, fund development, policy analysis, community outreach, coalition building, and project management. As the Executive Director of Generations Health Care Initiatives, she is focused on efforts to advance health equity and build diverse community coalitions.

For Jessie, access to clean water, air, and land have always been an integral part of health and well-being. Serving on the Board of the St. Louis River Alliance provides the opportunity to engage, connect, and inspire community members to experience the joy that comes from an afternoon spent along a thriving river system. Jessie earned a BA in Environmental Studies from Carroll College, Helena Montana and a Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Jamie Harvie, Treasurer

Jamie Harvie is an accomplished living systems and impact consultant working at the leading edge of institutional and organizational change. Jamie applies an ecological, nature-based approach at the intersection of health, community and environment.

 He brings a collaborative leadership style and practice which has resulted in two highly successful national multistakeholder environmental health campaigns. Jamie led the successful coordination and passage of mercury legislation and phase out of healthcare mercury products nationally. He founded and directed the Healthy Food in Health Care campaign and credited with raising the alarm and initiating the transformation of healthcare food policy and practice to sustainable, nutritious foods nationally. Jamie was selected as a Businesses Aligned for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and helped launch The Food Commons, a functional agroecological economic stewardship model. 

A dynamic presenter and educator he offers keynote presentations and co-facilitates leadership workshops internationally. Mr. Harvie is the author of numerous health and prevention journal articles and textbook chapters. With practice as an Emergent Interbeing Catalyst and former President and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute, Jamie brings an understanding and experience in both inner and outer landscapes. 

Jamie has received numerous awards for contributions to ecological health including recognition from the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Minnesota Public Health Association for lifetime achievement and contributions. 

As an improv coach, actor and community ceramic muralist he is skilled at engaging the imagination and creative self of others to engage their whole person. Jamie is driven by a passion to help us fall in love with our shared humanity and a reconnection and realignment with the community of life.  In his free time he can be found on mountain tops or skiing through the woods. Jamie has been a long-time St. Louis River Alliance member and is excited to serve on the board of directors.

Terry White

Terry White, a member of Lac Courte Oreilles band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, was born and raised in Superior where the waterfront was his playground. His early years were spent on Conners Point and Barkers Island. His curiosity continually pushed him to explore more of the St. Louis River and Wisconsin Point to find whatever was around the next bend!  

Terry worked at Berkeley National Laboratory for almost 12 years in California.  An old friend once told him, “If we don’t get involved and protect the areas we love, who will?” Terry started living those words by starting a lifetime of action by serving on the Douglas County Board of Supervisors for 9 years. 

Being on the county board was just the beginning, as it opened his eyes to the many opportunities locally, regionally and internationally to work with the many organizations that are protecting our watershed, Lake Superior, as well as clean water throughout the entire Great Lakes system. 

Terry is a former member of the Lake Superior Bi-National Forum, currently sits on the International Joint Commission Great Lakes Water Quality Board, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Council, and Douglas County Land and Water Conservation Committee.

A long-time St. Louis River Alliance member, Terry is excited and honored to use his skills and passion for the river to serve on the board of the St. Louis River Alliance.

Sara Boots

As a lifelong resident of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, Sara has spent many years admiring Lake Superior and the numerous rivers, estuaries, and sloughs that flow into it. These waterways support the lake and help create home for a wide variety of wildlife and plant species.
As an avid outdoors person, Sara has found much of life's pleasures in the majesty of these waterways. As an artist, her most powerful muse has been met on the shores of the rivers, flowages, and estuaries, and the world's second largest, freshwater inland sea. Lake Superior and the St. Louis River have been the backdrop to thousands of photographs, countless pages of story, tremendous insight and imagination all supporting Sara in living out her artist's nature.

In 2020, Sara attended Lake Superior College, one of her many dips into higher education, specifically drawn to their Eco-Entrepreneurship program. Simultaneously, she worked for an indigenous non-profit whose mission was to protect Menoomin (wild rice), and the waterway's that flow through Minnesota to the Atlantic Ocean, and of course, Gitchi-Gumi.

With thirty years of business ownership and management experience, Sara is a seasoned entrepreneur. Her skills in leadership, ideation, and vision, combined with a strong desire to create better environments led her to become involved with the St. Louis River Alliance. Through this organization, she hopes to help her community maintain a healthy, reciprocal relationship with clean water, ensuring its preservation for future generations.

Most days of the year, you can find Sara somewhere on the river or lake watching the ever changing landscape, creating art from its inspirations, and offering gratitude for all that the water gives to her and her community. Water is life, and life is worth standing for.

John Ludwig

John has spent most of his life near Lake Superior, drawn back to it whenever he moved away. After settling in Superior over thirty years ago, he became an active community member, enjoying outdoor activities and working to restore the region. Inspired by conversations with Sen. Gaylord Nelson in his youth, John developed a commitment to environmental advocacy, witnessing pollution's effects firsthand, such as malformed fish and hazardous waters.

After retiring as an IT Support Specialist at UW-Superior, health challenges led him to further engage in activism, exploring restoration efforts across the St. Louis River estuary. His wife’s work as a city councilor introduced him to local environmental initiatives, and informative tours expanded his perspective.

John values the respect indigenous communities hold for nature and believes in learning from them to protect local ecosystems. He acknowledges past harms to the river and its native peoples, especially the loss of wild rice and eroding shorelines, and is dedicated to preserving recent restoration.

He views the St. Louis River Alliance as crucial in ongoing restoration, supporting education, community involvement, and collaboration with Indigenous groups. Recent signs of recovery, like returning eagles, beavers, sturgeon, and prospects for improved fishing, give him hope. Throughout his career and volunteer work—from military service to creating community gardens—John continues to support environmental protection for future generations and is happy to serve on the board of the St. Louis River Alliance.