Jackie Schaeffer

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, an Iñupiaq from Kotzebue, Alaska, is the director of Climate Initiatives program at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. For decades she has worked across Alaska holistically infusing indigenous knowledge into a variety of sectors she has experience in, including comprehensive planning, energy, housing, water security, sanitation and climate change adaptation for rural communities. Her current work includes leading the team of the Center for Climate and Health and the Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities within the Climate Initiatives program.

Schaeffer has co-authored six regional Energy Plans for the State of Alaska and the Oscarville Tribal Adaptation Plan, 2019. She was instrumental in the publication of the Unmet Needs Report for Environmentally Threatened Alaska Native Villages, 2024. She previously served as a Co-Principal Investigator on the Human Wellbeing team for the Study of Environmental Arctic Change and on the National Academies Board on Environmental Change and Society, and currently as a Board Director for Arctic Encounter Summit and Rural Community Assistance Corporation. Schaeffer also serves as an Advisor on the Alaska HUB for Rising Voices Changing Coasts. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of Alaskan Native leaders and spends much of her time learning and exploring better ways to do this. She is an active fashion designer, artist and writer. She is a mother of six and grandmother of 11 and currently resides in Palmer, Alaska.