Jenny-Marie | Executive Director
Jenny-Marie Stryker (she/her) is the incoming Executive Director for the Alaska Democratic Party after having worked in Alaska politics since 2018. She comes to the party after spending more than five years as the Political Director for The Alaska Center, where she led The Alaska Center’s work to elect leaders that will champion a thriving, just, and sustainable future. This work included running The Alaska Center’s endorsement process, Independent Expenditure, legislative advocacy, and many political partnerships.
Jenny-Marie also has experience working as a campaign consultant in Alaska in 2018 and 2019, where she worked on over a dozen Alaska campaigns up and down the ballot, and briefly as a journalist.
Jenny-Marie fell in love with Alaska when she first came to the state in 2017, and she has felt lucky to call this place home since then. She loves spending every day focused on helping elect and support leaders who will champion a better future for Alaska, and she gets immense joy from seeing Alaskans feel empowered to engage in our democracy.
Outside of work, she can be found spending time outdoors with her partner and Malamute pup Nala, hiking (slowly), and cooking. She is honored to live and play on Dena’ina land, but originally grew up on Coastal Miwok land in the Bay Area, CA.
Daniella Tebib | Deputy Executive Director
Robert Hockema | Data Director
Robert was raised in the quiet fishing town of Homer, where he grew up working as a deckhand on his dad’s drift netting boat and playing music on the Spit. When Alaska’s budget crisis erupted in 2014, Robert immersed himself in local politics and organized with his community to try and save education.
Robert moved to Anchorage to attend UAA, studying Communications and International Relations. He joined his Planned Parenthood and College Democrats chapters, competed and coached speech and debate around the world, and fell in love with the city. Robert developed a unique passion for persuading others through political and community organizing. He ran field operations and managed campaigns for some of Alaska’s most committed progressive public servants from the local Assembly all the way to Congress.
During the 2024 presidential cycle, Robert joined us as ADP’s resident data nerd. He focuses on marrying data storytelling about Alaska’s political history and identity, as well as managing our statewide voter contact database.
Aside from politics, Robert loves getting lost in the Alaska outdoors, fishing, playing his guitars, and watching his favorite horror movies.
Eric Croft | Party Chair
Eric is a lifelong Alaskan with a commitment to progressive politics.
He served in the Alaska House of Representatives (1997-2007), the Anchorage School Board (2013-2016), and the Anchorage Municipal Assembly (2016-2019). He is also a fan of direct democracy, drafting and passing by initiative two statewide election reform efforts in 2004/2006, and most recently drafting and forming the coalition to pass Anchorage’s first dedicated funding for Pre-K and child care.
When not consumed by politics, he has intermittently held legal jobs, as an Anchorage prosecutor, starting a company to help people pass the Alaska Bar Exam, as a workers’ compensation attorney helping injured workers, and most recently teaching law at UAA.
Eric is married to the lovely and talented Joanna and is the proud father of Shannon and Burke. He enjoys boating, fishing, hunting, and riding his motorcycle in the summer, although he is consistently mediocre at all four.
He is proud to serve as the Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.
Jessica Cook | First Vice Chair
Charles Degnan | DNC Committeeman
Brenda Knapp | DNC Committeewoman
Elected at the May 2020 state convention, Brenda Knapp is Alaska’s Democratic National Committeewoman. She resides in Juneau and has been active in the Tongass Democrats for more than thirty-five years, serving multiple terms as Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and State Central Committee member. She was also a Southeast Regional Vice Chair for several years and has been a Democratic National Convention delegate. She served on the Party Plan of Organization (PPO) Committee, and received the Queen Bess and ADP Lifetime Achievement awards.
Brenda had a forty-plus year career in health and human services, economic development and community development. She worked for three departments of the State of Alaska, the University of Alaska, non-profit and tribal organizations. Now retired, Brenda continues to be an active community volunteer. Last year, the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly appointed her to a third term on the Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors, where she has served twice as Board President. She is a Regional Vice President of the Retired Public Employees of Alaska (RPEA) Executive Board and Southeast Chapter Chair, as well as a proud member of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 52. A strong supporter of public broadcasting, she has served on the KTOO Community Advisory Committee for many years. In addition to her volunteer work, she is an involved and committed grandmother who enjoys being actively engaged and traveling with her three grandchildren and her Goldendoodle.
Brenda received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Alaska.
Katherine Pfeiffer | Secretary
Katherine Pfeiffer was born in Fairbanks and has worked in the political non-profit arena, legislative and ballot measures, as a candidate consultant, manager, and union organizer.
She loves working to promote and elect candidates who reflect Alaska Democrats’ shared values, while getting to know new folks who come through the doors. Working together does not just make the Alaska Democratic Party party stronger, but helps neighborhoods, communities, regions, and cultures thrive. She is a graduate of Portland State University.
Monica Southworth | Treasurer
Monica is a born and raised Alaskan who grew up in Unalaska. She comes from a family of strong union Democrats (mostly longshoremen) and currently works for NEA-Alaska as a UniServ Direct/ARPA Coordinator. She happily calls Juneau home and also volunteers for the Tongass Chapter of Trout Unlimited in between hiking and camping.
Monica has an affinity for Excel and went to St. Olaf College where she received a major in political science, an intentional minor in statistics, and an accidental minor in Middle Eastern studies.
Mike Wenstrup | Immediate Past Chair
Mike Wenstrup lives in Fairbanks with his wife and two children. Originally from the Midwest, he moved to Fairbanks on a whim in 2005. He quickly fell in love with Fairbanks and his wife Annie (who initially agreed to speak with him because she liked the Alaska Democrats bumper sticker on his truck) and decided to make Fairbanks his home. He opened his own law practice, specializing in criminal defense, workers’ compensation, and elder law. In addition to private case work, half of the practice was dedicated to court-appointed work representing individuals in Nome, Kotzebue, Utqiagvik, Fairbanks, and surrounding areas. In 2015, he closed his practice and joined NEA-Alaska as a full-time union representative and organizer.
In addition to his work as a father, lawyer, and union representative, Mike is a past chair of both the Interior Democrats and the Alaska Democratic Party. A proud “Double-Domer,” he holds a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Eric Croft
Party Chair
Eric Croft | Party Chair
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