Brit Galanin

Head Creative Officer & Founder

Brit is responsible for driving client brand innovation and strategy at Element. A lifelong Alaskan and a sociologist by training, Brit combines her deep knowledge of human behavior with her social science research skills to help clients efficiently position their brands and reach new audiences. She brings fifteen years of client service and project management experience to Element.

A lifelong Alaskan and a graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage Honors College, Brit is very active in her community and on the state level. She is co-owner of The Boardroom, Alaska’s first coworking company, and was recently named one of Alaska’s Top Forty Under 40. Brit currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Sitka Legacy Foundation, is a past President of the Anchorage Federation of Community Councils, and has served on the Anchorage Downtown Partnership and Institute of the North boards. Brit holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and is a graduate of Leadership Anchorage.

Nora Gecan

Design Director

For the past ten years, Nora has provided high-quality and award-winning work to a wide variety of clientele in Alaska. As Element’s Design Director, she brings a unique blend of creative vision, design skills, and leadership skills to the team, crafting strong client solutions while encouraging a positive team culture.

Nora is committed to listening to clients, creating work based on research and collaboration, and providing a high level of professionalism and creativity. She provides a flexible suite of services that can be scaled and tailored to your goals, from full-blown brand creation to one-off creative design projects.

View Nora’s personal portfolio at https://www.noragecan.com/.

Katie (Franciosi) O'Neill

Projects Director

Katie is the Projects Director at Element. A skilled listener with a penchant for problem-solving, Katie creates and executes content strategies that meet clients’ goals and audience needs. A planner at heart, Katie also wears the hat of a project manager, keeping projects running smoothly with client objectives top of mind. Her strong strategy and content development skills make her a vital asset to any Element team. 

A world adventure traveler, we love keeping up with Katie’s stories from the road. Born and raised in Valdez, Katie has strong ties throughout the state and has called many Alaska communities home. She currently lives in Juneau with her partner and their two dogs. She holds a BA in English from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Mike Kirkpatrick

Senior Designer

The newest addition to the Element team, Mike Kirkpatrick brings decades of design and print experience to our roster. Mike is the brains behind Screamin’Yeti Designs. Widely recognized in creative circles, Mike needs little introduction; his prolific design work and branding projects are visible throughout Southcentral Alaska. Known for his sharp wit and lighthearted demeanor, Mike infuses every project with witty humor and a fresh perspective. We are thrilled to have him on staff.

Born and raised primarily in Palmer, Mike currently resides in Anchorage with his family. Unlike his creative moniker, Mike can be found amongst trails and mountains throughout Alaska, or attending a wide array of live music shows. He obtained his BA in Graphic Design from Montana State University in Spring of ’01.

View Mike’s personal portfolio at: Screamin’Yeti Designs

Matt Lowber

Creative Lead

Matt is a strategy-driven creative with a passion for brand building, campaign development, and practical ideas. Having spent the last decade in Colorado honing his craft at A-list agencies and a wide variety of brands, Matt brings a versatile set of skills and award-winning creativity to help grow Alaskan businesses.

A collaborative creative with a DIY ethos, Matt has worked with the industry’s top talent and multi-million dollar budgets, but enjoys the challenge of the smallest budgets just as well. Simply put, this guy likes making stuff: whether it’s designing, building campaigns or woodworking, Matt approaches every project with true craftsmanship.

Matt is born-and-raised and passionate about all things Alaska; a lover of conservation, resource management, and wild foods.

Jenna Hooley

Special Projects Advisor

Jenna has a knack for taking big ideas and coming up with execution strategies, down to the last detail. She approaches her clients as partners and maintains collaboration, communication and commitment to meeting their goals.

Jenna brings a decade of client service and project management experience to the Element team. With a background in advertising, brand development and web, she has worked on strategy, messaging and production for a range of organizations from large corporations, to start ups, and non-profit groups.

Originally from Indiana, Jenna spent her summers in Alaska as a kid and returned full time after college. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University where she studied Retail Management and Organizational Leadership. Jenna has served on boards for United Way of Anchorage and the American Marketing Association Alaska Chapter.

Shelby Ellingsen

Production Manager

Born and raised in Sitka, Shelby spent her summers commercial fishing for Dungeness crab with her family. While her time on the water formed an unbreakable bond between Shelby and the love she feels for Southeast Alaska, she wanted to see the world. After graduating from the Metropolitan State University of Denver summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations, Shelby spent a decade traveling, volunteering, and living abroad. During this time, Shelby shared her travel adventures on social media and successfully grew her personal Instagram account to over 14K followers. After realizing there’s no place quite like Sitka on a sunny day, Shelby settled back into island life.

Shelby brings her enthusiasm and love of a color-coded calendar to Element as the production manager. She lives for the nitty gritty tasks and finds joy in researching new systems and procedures to make sure things are running as efficiently as possible. Her attention to detail and organizational skills ensure that every project Element takes on is executed in the most productive and effective manner possible.

Rachel Klein

Communications Strategist

As Element’s lead social media strategist, Rachel oversees social strategy, production and content curation for a variety of clients and platforms.

With a clean eye for design, a precocious aptitude for social strategy, and an uncanny ability to write engaging content, Rachel has organically grown her personal Instagram account, @thenortherncurrent, to over 11k followers. She uses this social media savviness to help Element clients better reach, attract and communicate with their audiences, and to develop a strong brand voice.

Rachel hails from Bristol Bay and obtained an English degree and a Masters in Education from Washington’s Pacific Lutheran University. Rachel is also the co-owner of Galanin + Klein, a brick and mortar boutique located in Sitka.

Ramie Kraun

Designer

Ramie is an independent designer and visual artist driven to create work that is captivating and informative. With a background in printmaking and photography, she has always been passionate about visual communication and mixed media storytelling. Her coastal heritage and love for wild places drive her design work forward to build meaningful relationships and inspire stewardship of our natural world. Ramie is Alaska Native and returns home every summer to her ancestral village of South Naknek to catch the annual Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run. She is a recent graduate of the Seattle Central Creative Academy and holds a BA in Visual Art from the University of Washington Seattle.

Previously on staff, Ramie continues to support Element clients through contract work. More of Ramie’s work can be seen at www.ramiekraun.com.

Vern Smith

Web Developer

Vern brings over a decade of web design and development experience to the Element team, and is our go-to lead developer for crafting complex online solutions. Over the years, Vern has managed large-scale website projects on multiple platforms and languages including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, MySQL, WordPress, and Woocommerce.

Vern has a background in graphic design and is uniquely suited to blend the worlds of design and web development. He works seamlessly with our team members to incorporate smart, goal-based user experiences; implement beautiful, effective designs; and to create mobile-to-desktop optimized, immersive, online experiences for all of our website projects.

Jontue Hollingsworth

Designer

Originally from The Bahamas, Jontue Hollingsworth is an independent designer focused on creating a clear message through bold expression. His mission is to be brave, thoughtful, open-minded and ultimately, make something good.

Jontue primarily works as a brand designer, lending his design expertise across traditional media and interactive platforms. A firm believer in using his powers for good, he routinely uses art and design to explore ways to support important causes and ideas. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Communication and Design from the University of Nebraska and has hands-on experience as a designer, art director, and creative director at multiple agencies and design studios. In over an 18-year career, his work has received numerous statewide awards and has been recognized nationally.

Previously on staff, Jontue continues to support Element clients through contract work. Jontue’s work can be seen at https://hollingsworthdesign.co/.

Jerrod Galanin

Artist & Consultant

Born and raised in Sitka, Jerrod comes from a long lineage of Tlingit artists  spanning multiple generations, who live in the truth that their art is a calling more than it is a career. Jerrod grew up watching his father and uncle, both professional artists who were also his primary mentors, practice and speak about their art and culture through skills and stories. He lives in awe of the Tlingit art form’s visual language and the way it can embody both simple elegance and infinite complexity at the same time. Through his work, which can be found in galleries across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, Jerrod strives to stay true to those before him. His hope is to share with the world the beauty and sophistication of his culture and its art.