Our Crew
WMC Staff and Personnel
Sabrina Simon
Director of Operations and Organizational Development
Sabrina is a farmer, a yoga teacher, a world traveler, an intentional community communard and has aspirations of contributing to a more connected and more just post-capitalist society. She is passionate about creating community, healing relationships with Mother Nature, singing, ritual and creating sacred space for individual and collective healing, growth, and connection.
Professionally, she is passionate about nonprofit work that focuses on the environment while creating greater access to education and programs that will shift our societies priorities toward protecting land, water, culture, food and nurturing its inherent relationship with the Earth. She recently returned to the states from Peru and is excited about continuing her intentional community tour which will take her to Portugal in the fall. She feels deeply honored to be working with WMC and is hopeful that she can be of great service to the organization.
Tamara Egans Harper
Administrative Assistant
Tamara joined the WMC in 2012 as coordinator of events at the Kennecott Recreation Hall, which WMC manages. She's worked for WMC since then, assisting with various administrative tasks, including maintaining the WMC’s database of donors, keeping track of all of our wonderful supporters and partners.
Tamara and her husband have lived in McCarthy since 2003 and she enjoys gardening, birdwatching, skiing, biking, hiking, cooking and welcoming guests to her tinycabin bed and breakfast during the summers.
Joey Boots-Ebenfield Program Coordinator, Field Studies Program
Joey first came to McCarthy as a WMC volunteer in 2021, and quickly realized he had found a place to take root. Returning as staff the next summer, he helped plan and run programs and worked on facilities projects while continuing to get to know McCarthy and the Wrangells.
Joey started a PhD at the University of Maine in 2022, focusing on social-ecological relationships of the circumpolar north. He is beyond excited to weave his research into the Wrangell Mountains Center Field Studies Program, where his roles as program coordinator and as an instructor will allow him to explore themes of community and place-based research, holistic systems science, and local climate adaptation while learning more about the land alongside students and other partners.
He loves wandering among the glaciers, rivers, and mountains, backcountry building projects, learning the lore of local flora and fauna, propagating mischief, and laughing with friends; all easy things to find in the Wrangells.
Kristin Link /
AIR Program Coordinator,
Field Studies Program Instructor,
Instructor for Field Sketching and Journaling Workshop and Community Group
Kristin Link is a fine artist, science illustrator, and educator who lives on the Nizina River just outside McCarthy. She works with the WMC as an instructor and facilitates the Meg Hunt Artist Residency Program. She has worked with the WMC in various capacities since 2010, including stints and Program Associate and as Executive Director. You can learn more about Kristin’s work on her website: www.KristinIllustration.com.
Ben Shaine
Field Studies Academic Coordinator
Ben has taught with the Wrangell Mountains Center’s college programs since their inception and provides a link for the Center with the academic community. His novel Alaska Dragon (Fireweed Press 1991), set in the Wrangell Mountains, explores the contemporary significance of wildness. He co-authored the Center’s Community and Copper in a Wild Land, an overview of the McCarthy area published in cooperation with the National Park Service. During congressional consideration of legislation designating Alaska parklands, Ben handled Wrangell-St. Elias issues for the Alaska Coalition. His master’s thesis evaluated management alternatives for the Wrangells and his PhD is in environmental studies. Ben and his family developed their homestead on the mountainside near Kennecott, where he lives, writes, wanders and wonders about the power of the Wrangells revealed in its details.
benshaine@gmail.com
A Peek back at WMC Staff and Friends
Video by Dave Sarbell