A founding member of the GIS program in Alaska, Joni has been a GIS Specialist for the Alaska Region for 15 years. She is excited to move into a leadership position with "the best Team in the Service; I am very lucky to work with such a talented group of people in the greatest state in the Nation."

Joni has a BS in Natural Resource Management from the University of Alaska and a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Washington. Early in her career, she worked as a fisheries technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, sampling salmon on the Kenai River and along the beaches of Cook Inlet. In 1989 she began her GIS career with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Response Center. Primarily focused on the spill impacts in Prince William Sound, she also worked with NPS staff from Kenai Fjords NP and Katmai NP on their shoreline mapping projects. She joined the Alaska Region of the National Park Service as a GIS Cartographer in 1991.

A long-time Alaskan, she has called the state her home for 30 plus years. Although no longer employed by the State Fish and Game, she still enjoys sampling salmon on the Kenai River!