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Members of the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission were appointed by the Attorney General of the United States. The Co-Chairs of the Commission represent both state and federal interests. These are the United States Attorney General for Alaska and the Commissioner of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Other members include the Commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Alaska, a representative from the Alaska Municipal League, a representative from an organized borough, a representative of the Alaska Federation of Natives, a tribal representative, a representative from a non-profit Native corporation that operates Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) programs, and a representative from the Alaska Native Justice Center. The chief judge for the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska also appointed a non-voting representative to the Commission.

Current Commissioners:

Nelson Cohen, Federal Co-Chair

Craig Tillery, State Co-Chair

Patrick Anderson, representing the Alaska Federation of Natives

Charlotte Brower, representing an organized borough

BRUCE M. BOTELHO representing the Alaska Municipal League, is currently Mayor of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, an office he held once before.  He served as Alaska’s Attorney General from January 1994 until December 2002.  He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He began his legal career in 1976 as an assistant attorney general and later served as Deputy Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Revenue.  Mayor Botelho became Deputy Attorney General in 1992 and served in that capacity until his appointment as Attorney General by Governor Walter Hickel in January 1994.  In that role, he served as a trustee to the Alaska Permanent Fund and the Alaska Children’s Trust.  He chaired the Criminal Justice Council, the Children’s Confidentiality Task Force, the state team on state-tribal relations, the Governor’s Conference on Youth and Justice, and co-chaired the Criminal Justice Assessment Commission.  He served as chief of staff for the Governor's Task Force on Civil Justice Reform and the Governor's Subsistence Task Force. He currently serves as a board member of the Alaska Immigration Justice Project.  He is the 2005 recipient of the Alaska State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award.

LORETTA BULLARD, representing a non-profit Native corporation which is operating a Village Public Safety Officer program, is the President/CEO of Kawerak, Inc. . Ms. Bullard serves on the Board of Directors of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and has served on the Alaska Women’s Commission, Rural Alaska Village Economies and Needs Commission and the Indian Reservation Roads Negotiating Committee.

WILSON JUSTIN, the tribal representative, is the Health Director/Vice President of the Mt. Sanford Tribal Health Consortium . Mr. Justin, also the Vice Chair of the Association of Tribal Health Directors, a working committee of the Alaska Native Health Board, serves on the Alaska State Community Service Commission and is former President of both the Copper River Native Association and Ahtna Inc.

Gail R. Schubert, representing the Alaska Native Justice Center as Board Vice-Chair, is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Bering Straits Native Corporation, and President/CEO of several of its subsidiary entities.  Gail is an attorney licensed to practice law in the states of Alaska and New York, and holds a Law Degree and Masters Degree in Business Administration from Cornell University.  She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University.  Gail serves as Chair of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Chair of Akeela Treatment Services, Chair of the Alaska Retirement Management Board, Vice Chair of the Alaska Native Justice Center, Vice Chair of Khoanic Broadcast Corporation, Treasurer of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, and a board member of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and the Alaska Native Arts Foundation.

JIM TORGERSON, representing the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska, has been the managing partner of Heller Ehrman’s Anchorage office since 1998.  Before that, he served in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage as Chief of the Civil Division from 1994 through 1998 and Chief of the Criminal Division from 1992 through 1994.  He also has worked in the Alaska Governor’s office in Washington DC, where he helped develop and advocate the State’s policy on Alaska Native issues, and in the Anchorage District Attorney’s office.  He is a past chair of the Anchorage Youth Court Board of Directors and the current Vice-President of the Disability Law Center Board of Directors.  Support Staff: Karen Bitzer, Special Assistant Julia Meier, Special Projects Coordinator

TIMOTHY M. BURGESS, was the Federal Co-Chair representing the United States Attorney General’s Office through January 2006 when he was appointed to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court.  Mr. Burgess was nominated by President George W. Bush to be United States Attorney for the District of Alaska in September 2001. Mr. Burgess served on the 16-member Attorney General's Advisory Committee, co-chaired the Department's Environmental Crimes Policy Committee and chaired the Anti- Terrorism Task Force for Alaska. Prior to his appointment as United States Attorney, Mr. Burgess served as an Assistant United States Attorney for 12 years.   

DAVID MARQUEZ, Attorney General for the State of Alaska, is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He was admitted to the Alaska Bar in 1973. His first job was with a private law firm in Anchorage doing title opinions for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline prior to construction. He later became General Counsel of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company that operates TAPS. He worked for ARCO for over 20 years where he was an Associate General Counsel servng in Anchorage as Vice President and Chief Counsel for ARCO Alaska and also Vice President of External Affairs and Environment, Health and Safety for ARCO Alaska. He served twice as the Chair of the Board of Junior Achievement of Alaska and was also Chair of the Board of the Alaska State Camber of Commerce. In addition, prior to his career in law, he served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

 WILLIAM TANDESKE, representing the Department of Public Safety (DPS), was appointed as Commissioner of Public Safety on February 3, 2003. Mr. Tandeske brings to the position, 26 years of public service as an Alaska State Trooper serving the citizens of Alaska. He joined DPS in 1973 and retired as Major (Deputy Director) of the State Troopers in 1999. Following his retirement from the DPS, Mr. Tandeske served as Security Director for Ahtna AGA Security Inc., providing security services to Alyeska Pipeline and clients in the Anchorage area and also for Doyon Universal Services managing security services for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

HAROLD N. “BUDDY” BROWN, representing the Alaska Federation of Natives, is President/CEO for Tanana Chiefs Conference. Mr. Brown argued the Alaska Supreme Court case of John v. Baker in 1998 as a member of a legal team representing tribal interests in Alaska. Mr. Brown then became General Counsel for TCC in 1999, a position he held until January 2002. During this time, he became a member of the Alaska Federation of Natives Legislative Committee. He also serves on the Alaska Native Justice Center Board of Directors.

ETHAN SCHUTT is currently Genral Counsel for Cook Inlet Region Inc., an ANCSA regional corporation based in Anchorage. During much of the Commission's work and process, he was General Counsel for Tanana Chiefs Conference, a tribal consortium organized as a non-profit corporation based in Fairbanks. Prior to that, Than was an associate with the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney, LLP, and a law clerk for Alaska Supreme Court Justice Walter "Bud" Carpeneti. Ethan was raised in Interior Alaska in the community of Tok. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and has an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Washington State University.