Nancy Marie Spears – President

Nancy Marie Spears is currently based in Colorado, covering Indigenous children and families with a focus on the Indian Child Welfare Act. She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She can be reached at nspears@imprintnews.org .

Montoya Whiteman – Vice President

Growing up in a family of leaders, teachers, and artists, Montoya was taught to use her voice to help others. Working at AISES – the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society – is one way for her to bring awareness to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as life changing
opportunities for Indigenous people and their communities. She has learned that that when we stand together, advocating for one another, incredible things can happen.

When Montoya joined AISES in 2017, she was the Director of Communications and is currently the Managing Director of Editorial and Special Projects. Montoya leads multifaceted marketing operations for broad impact in STEM education and workforce development that aligns with the AISES mission and its goals.

One of the greatest rewards for Montoya is working with a dynamic creative team to produce the Winds of Change magazine – an acclaimed print and digital magazine with awards from National Native Media. Winds of Change is an impeccable publication for AISES members and is a channel for partners and organizations to engage with Indigenous STEM talent.

Montoya enjoys working with organizations to push them to excel in their work. Her perspective has earned her opportunities to work with the Denver Art Museum as a member of the Indigenous Community Advisory Council and the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance as a board member.

A proud graduate of Regis University, Montoya received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

Montoya is an award-winning photojournalist. Her stories and images have appeared in print and video materials by local and national nonprofits, museums, television, and print and online media. This includes Winds of Change magazine, DiversityComm, Keep It Colorado, Friends of the Front Range, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Tribune, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Jennifer ”Jamie” Folsom, Ph.D. – Treasurer

Jennifer “Jamie” Folsom, Ph. D., is an educator and researcher who has devoted her professional life to cross-cultural education, public health, and journalism, particularly working with individuals and organizations in Indigenous communities. She is an assistant professor of American Indian & Indigenous Studies at the South Dakota State University School of American & Global Studies. She is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and a member of the Indigenous Journalists Association, Society of Professional Journalists, the Indigenous Inquiries Circle, CSU Center for Science Communication Advisory Council, and the Intercontinental American Indigenous Research Association.

Folsom comes to the IMFA board of directors with a deep commitment to ethical journalism that strengthens Tribal communities and sovereignty.

Paula Peters- Secretary

Paula Peters is a politically, socially and culturally active citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. For more than a decade she worked as a journalist for the Cape Cod Times and is now co-owner of SmokeSygnals, a Native owned and operated creative production agency. As an independent scholar and writer of Native, and particularly Wampanoag history, she produced the traveling exhibit “Our”Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History and The Wampum Belt Project documenting the art and tradition of wampum in the contemporary Wampanoag community. Paula is the executive producer of the 2016 documentary film Mashpee Nine and author of the companion book, a story of law enforcement abuse of power and cultural justice in the Wampanoag community in 1976. Paula lives with her husband and children in Mashpee, Massachusetts.

Todd Hall

Todd Hall is married to Patti Jo and has four sons. He received his bachelor’s degree from Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND. He has a master’s degree in management from the University of Mary, Bismarck, ND. He was raised by his folks on the outskirts of Dragswolf Village, north of the Blue Buttes. He calls the Badlands of the Missouri River breaks his home, but is very fond of both Paha Sapa and the Rocky Mountains. He is an Awa-Adaatsa Dux Baga and his Hunkpapa Lakota relatives still claim him and his pack. He has family, friends, and relatives from “all-over” the United States of America. In his younger days, he used to prefer running with the wolves on the rodeo trail, but nowadays likes to keep things at a slow trot.

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear – Executive Director

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear now serves as the director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck and the Fort Berthold Reservation. The IMFA publishes news online at Buffalosfire.com The project assists the public in making informed news choices within a free and responsible press. Prior to founding the IMFA, Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press.

She has won journalism awards from military, mainstream, university, and Native press organizations. Some of those awards include: a Silver Telly Award for video; Paul Savanuck Military Print Journalist of the Year; Society of Professional Journalists Pacific Northwest for education reporting; the Thomas C. Sorensen Award for Distinguished Nebraska Journalism; Columbia University’s “Let’s Do It Better” for a portfolio of work and column writing; and the Native American Journalists Association for column writing.

Jodi holds the distinction of receiving both Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships from Harvard and Stanford universities, respectively.

She also was named a 2020 Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. She also received a Bush Fellowship in 2021 in recognition of her leadership and for her vision and commitment to helping independent media better serve Indigenous communities.

Jodi’s writing is featured in, “The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity,” published by Columbia University Press. In 2023, Jodi was selected to serve as a national board member of the Society of Professional Journalists, an organization that represents about 6,000 journalists. She is also an SPJ Foundation board member and now serves as chairperson of SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee. Prior to returning home to North Dakota, Jodi reported on Native issues for Lee Enterprises for more than a decade. Her last reporting post was with the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.