Brit Galanin

CEO

Brit is responsible for directing creative and driving strategic communications at Element. Since co-founding our agency in 2015, Brit has led a range of research-based strategic messaging projects for clients such as Arctic Winter Games, the Alaska Travel Industry Association, Rasmuson Foundation, and The Salmon Project. A lifelong Alaskan and a sociologist by training, Brit began her career as a research associate at Alaska’s Institute for Social and Economic Research. She now combines her deep knowledge of human behavior with her social science research skills to help clients efficiently position their brands and reach new audiences.

Brit is co-owner of The Boardroom, Alaska’s first co-working company, and was named one of Alaska’s Top Forty Under 40. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the UAA Honors College and is a graduate of Leadership Anchorage. Active in her community, Brit is a past President of the Anchorage Federation of Community Councils, and has served on the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, Sitka Legacy Foundation, and Institute of the North boards. She brings over fifteen years of project management and client service experience to Element.

Nora Gecan

Design Director

Nora brings over fifteen years of design experience providing high-quality and award-winning work to a wide variety of clientele in Alaska. Nora is a graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, one of the world’s leading art and design schools, and led a team at NJG Design Co. before joining Element in 2021. Nora is adept at listening to her clients and creating design work based on research and collaboration. At Element she has led design for a range of
projects, including some of those that are included in our work samples: ATIA, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Shee Atika, ICC, and many more.

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/.

Matt Lowber

Creative Director

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.

Alex Lowber

Operations Director

As a seasoned marketing leader, Alex specializes in bridging creative vision with strategic execution to drive brand success. With extensive experience in creative production, project management, and cross-functional team leadership, she excels at transforming ideas into high-impact marketing campaigns and strategic business initiatives. Calm in the chaos, competent, and detail-oriented, she brings a steady hand and a sharp eye to every project.

A proud southerner and Georgia Bulldog, Alex spent over a decade working with Colorado brands and agencies before relocating to Alaska in pursuit of adventure and wild foods. Depending on the season, you’ll find her tending her garden, testing wild game recipes in the kitchen, or skiing with her three pups.

Now rooted in Alaska, Alex is excited to bring her creative and strategic expertise to support local businesses, brands, and organizations—and help them tell stories as unique and bold as the place they call home.

Katie (Franciosi) O'Neill

Projects Director

Katie is a 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.

Shelby Ellingsen

Projects Director

Shelby is a Projects Director at Element where she oversees processes and coordinates all details of production activities and operations. Shelby has a sharp eye and keen sense of aesthetics. She joined Element in 2021 and is a key member of our content production team.

Born and raised in Sitka, Shelby spent a decade traveling, volunteering, and living abroad while earning her BA from the Metropolitan State University of Denver.  During her time abroad, Shelby shared her travel adventures and stories on her social media, successfully (and organically) growing her personal Instagram account to over 14K followers.

Jay Baldwin

Designer

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Jay is a designer with a focus on brand, publication, environmental, and print design. Jay is thoughtful, with an acute attention to detail and a commitment to creating design that is effective, unique, and delivers on client vision.

Previously, Jay served as the art director at Fresh Ale Pubs, designing beer labels, concert posters and restaurant spaces for Moose’s Tooth, Bear Tooth and Broken Tooth Brewing.

Jay holds a fine arts degree in printmaking and design from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is currently based in Seattle, Washington, where you may find him playing cards or hiking with his dog, Walter.

Mackenzie Mancuso

Designer

Mackenzie is a graphic designer whose work is deeply shaped by place and story. She is Yup’ik and Iñupiaq from Naknek, Alaska, a small community in Bristol Bay where her family’s roots run deep. Growing up surrounded by the culture and landscapes of Alaska, she developed a strong sense of identity and an appreciation for visual storytelling that continues to guide her design work today.

She graduated with a degree in Fashion Marketing from the Art Institute of Portland in 2015, where she built a foundation in branding, layout, and creative strategy. Since then, Mackenzie has blended her love of design with a thoughtful approach to communication, helping clients bring their brands to life in ways that feel authentic and lasting.

At Element, her work centers on branding, brand identity, and layout design, creating visuals that are clear, cohesive, and built to last.

Emily Sullivan

Communications Strategist

Emily brings over a decade of experience as a strategic communications leader and multimedia creative working in Alaska and across the global north. Her background in community-led land advocacy drives her passion for meaningful storytelling, sharp strategy, and just, collaborative work. She is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker who brings a curatorial eye and journalist’s instinct to every project.

Emily earned a B.F.A at Virginia Commonwealth University and spent eight years guiding in Denali National Park before planting full-time roots in Anchorage. When she’s not at her desk, you’ll find her deep in the backcountry on skis, picking berries on the tundra, or visiting friends and communities across the Arctic.

Victoria Wright

Communications Lead

Victoria is a communications lead with over five years of experience working in destination marketing. Her work focuses on clear, consistent messaging and strong relationships in the community. She is especially passionate about brand consistency and helping tell a local story in a way that feels genuine and authentic to the place and community.

She moved to Sitka in 2019 and has been proud to call it home ever since. In 2025, Victoria received the Alaska Travel Industry Association’s Aurora Award for Emerging Leaders, and currently serves on the organization’s Board of Directors. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, trying new recipes, and spending time tending to her plants and garden.

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.

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.