Organization: thread Alaska
Location: Anchorage, AK
Alana Humphrey
Board Member
Before retirement in 2022, Alana spent 35 years either working directly with or advocating for preschool and school-age children – first as a preschool/daycare provider, then as an elementary teacher, and finally joining the Boys & Girls Club movement in 2002 as Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tanana Valley in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Alana facilitated a successful merger with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska (BGC–Alaska) as its operations expanded statewide and served in Clubhouse Operations and Resource Development roles before being named CEO in 2011.
In her tenure at BGC–Alaska, Alana focused on deepening impact and increasing financial sustainability across the organization. She led two staff teams through BGCA’s Advanced Leadership Program in 2014 and 2016. In 2018, Weikart Youth Program Quality assessments were adopted across the Organization. In the same year, recognizing that high staff turnover in licensed childcare providers weakened the relationships young children need to thrive and learn, an instructional coaching and training model was developed and introduced, and a structured infant, toddler, and pre-K curriculum was implemented.
Alana has served on many local, state, and national committees, including the Alaska Statewide Suicide Prevention Council (2010-2017), United Way’s 90% by 2020 Executive and Leadership Teams, which focused on improving 4-year high school graduation rates (2014-2021), the Boys & Girls Clubs Native American Advisory Committee (2011-2018), the Mat-Su Health Foundation Prevention Steering Committee (2014-2015), and as a Boys & Girls Clubs of America Great Futures Ambassador (2019 – 2021).
Alana served as an officer of the Midnight Sun Swim Team’s Board of Directors (1995-2004) and as a board member of the Boys & Girls Club Professional Association (2019-2021). She was also a Trustee of the 501(c) Agencies Trust (2014-2022).
Recognizing that the childcare sector is severely in crisis, she joined the Board of thread Alaska, a childcare resource & referral organization, working to advance the quality of early education and child development by empowering parents, educating childcare professionals, and collaborating with our community for systemic change (2022-present). She currently serves as Chair of the Public Policy Committee. Thread Alaska is a 501(c) Agencies Trust member (Childcare Connection, dba thread Alaska).
Alana holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Missouri—Columbia (1985) and completed Elementary Education certification at the University of Alaska—Fairbanks (1997). She held a Type A (K-8 endorsement) State of Alaska teaching license from 1998 to 2008. Additionally, she completed coursework in Early Childhood Education and served as an early education licensed childcare administrator. She also completed about two years of coursework in photography and graphic arts.
Her hobbies include gardening, photography, travel, cooking, baking, and reading.
