Andy is a Missoula‑based skateboarder, photographer, and founding member of the Montana Skatepark Association, which began as a grassroots effort in 2000 and grew into a statewide model for building skateparks in rural and underserved Montana communities. He is the co‑author and photographer of Grit to Grind: Shaping Montana Communities One Skatepark at a Time, documenting how local organizing, creativity, and persistence helped create a lasting skatepark network across the state.

Mariah Gladstone, Piikuni (Blackfeet) and Tsalagi (Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana on and near the Blackfeet Reservation. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home where she began her work on food advocacy. She developed Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. She then earned a Master’s degree at SUNY-ESF in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Mariah has been recognized as a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow by the First Nations Development Institute, as well as a 2025 Castanea Fellow by the Earth Island Institute. She has shared the importance of reconnecting to traditional foods at events throughout North America and abroad, as well as through appearances on the Today Show, CBC, and numerous podcasts. In addition to all this, Mariah offers a variety of cultural experiences for visitors to the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park. Mariah released her first book, Mountains to Oceans: Kids’ Recipes from Native Land, in January 2025.

Gregory Rec got his start in journalism delivering his hometown newspaper, the Norwich (CT) Bulletin, as a teenager, reading the front page articles on dark winter mornings as he passed under streetlights.

Greg worked as a photojournalist at a weekly newspaper group in Connecticut for three years before attending the University of Montana to study journalism and Spanish. He interned at the Portland Press Herald in the summer of 1995 and the Boston Globe the following year.

He was hired at the Press Herald in 1997 and over the past 28 years, he has photographed throughout Maine, covered the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, twice embedded with Maine Army National Guard troops in Iraq, covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In 2004, Rec was named Journalist of the Year with columnist Bill Nemitz by the Maine Press Association for their work in Iraq. After only ten years at the Press Herald, he won the Master Photographer award from the New England Society of Newspaper Editors, an award usually reserved for veteran photographers.

Derek grew up near Bozeman, Montana, and built his photography career from 4-H livestock events to photojournalism studies and award-winning newspaper work. He later served as Chief Photographer at The Post-Star in upstate New York, and coached photographer teams into top award winners in the state. Now a County Executive Director with USDA Farm Service Agency in Southwest Virginia, Derek supports family farms through loan, price-support, and disaster-relief programs. 

Steven Adams is a documentary photographer based in Pittsburgh. He spent most of his career as an award-winning photojournalist at newspapers in Indiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

After studying communications and art at The University of New York at Albany in the 1980s, he explored advertising and marketing photography in Boston before moving to Alaska to document wildlife and landscapes. He found his niche in photojournalism while pursuing graduate studies at the University of Montana.

Steven joined the visual team at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 1999, where he spent two decades photographing everything from Steelers Super Bowl celebrations to the war in Iraq.

He currently lives in the city’s historic Mexican War Streets neighborhood, and works as a freelance photographer and visual communications consultant.

Award-winning filmmaker, producer and educator, Lynn-Wood Fields graduated with her  MFA in digital filmmaking from the University of Montana. Her work has since gone on to screen at over 50 film festivals and venues globally including “Are we There Yet”  screening at Indie Memphis Film Festival, 2016; Western History Association Conference, 2015; Frozen River Film Festival, 2014.

Her current projects include the feature film “Perma Red” in pre-production with the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, “House Calls”, which premiered on PBS in 2022, “Social Impact” with the Institute for Family and “Snqʷeyɫmistn” a documentary on Salish forever foster homes which premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

She owns Montana Film Tax Credits and Media Training Center, which focuses on training Montana filmmakers. She is also the Executive Director of the Montana Media Coalition(MMC), which works on legislation around the MEDIA (Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement) tax credits and cap raises. She is passionate about the work to connect Montanans to film and media rapid training courses for them to economically benefit from this industry through workforce development.

Joseph (Blackfeet/Cree/Assiniboine) served as the Associate Director for Montana 10 at the University of Montana/Missoula College from 2020 to this year where he stepped away to pursue his ambitions in film and acting. As the Associate Director, Joseph helped champion a student success initiative focused on improving retention and graduation outcomes for Pell-eligible, rural, in-state, and Indigenous students. In this role, he supervised a multidimensional advising and coaching team, oversight of program implementation, and elevating partnerships with institutional and statewide stakeholders.

Adjacently, Joseph is an artist, producer, and SAG-AFTRA actor with film and television credits including St. George, Who Do You Believe (ABC), Slant Streets, Subterranea, Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, and Winter in the Blood. His creative work draws focus to Indigenous identity, culture, and generational healing. His short documentary Return to the Blanket earned 1st place in its category at the 2023 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Joseph co-wrote the play TRAPS with friend and colleague Lily Gladstone. He’s represented by The Rocky Mountain Agency.

Joseph graduated from the Media Training Center's Production Assistant Course, where he later became an instructor. Joseph completed a year-long playwright/producer apprenticeship under William S Yellowrobe. Joseph earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in social work at the University of Montana. In his education, he focused on acting, public speaking, and film.

Derek Rowe is a Cybersecurity Consultant at LMG Security specializing in penetration testing, social engineering, and cybersecurity awareness training. Since joining LMG in 2020, he has helped organizations identify and address real-world security risks. Derek holds several industry certifications, including OSCP, CompTIA Operations Specialist, Security Infrastructure Specialist, A+, Network+, Security+, and Pentest+.

Rio is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at ALPS. In her role she works to build flourishing relationships with legal associations across the United States, and works passionately to educate lawyers on the importance of using technology and data to build better practices and drive the legal community forward.

Chris is Chief Operating Officer of ALPS Corporation and ALPS Property & Casualty Insurance Company, and has held high-level leadership positions in ALPS since 2007. Chris oversees ALPS operations, business development teams, sales strategy and served as ALPS’ chief liaison into the bar community until 2023. He speaks regularly before bar leaders nationally and regionally on subject such as legal trends, best practices in strategic planning, mandatory malpractice insurance and disclosure concepts as well as well-being in law topics.