ANDREW SEESSEL - President
Drew grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives in Bozeman, Montana because of its excellent winter recreation. While he still attempts to get in his requisite days of skiing, he is currently in his tenth year as a manager of his family’s investment business. He has served on several non-profit boards, and is familiar with the operations of 501 (c)(3) organizations. Drew is married and has two daughters, ages four and six, already making the ski decisions for the family. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and working experience in finance, Drew currently serves as both president and treasurer of the Hans Saari Memorial Fund.

Email: drew@hansfund.org

KRISTOFFER ERICKSON - Vice President
Kristoffer Erickson has a bachelor’s degree in photography from Montana State University’s Arts & Architecture department, and has owned a successful photography business for the past nine years. In conjunction with his photography business, Kristoffer has extensive experience in fundraising and organizing expeditions throughout the world’s last frontiers and great mountain ranges. He has worked with several non-profit organizations such as the Himalayan Cataract Project in Nepal, the Central Asia Institute in Pakistan, and Global Giving in Morocco. Kristoffer has made a conscious effort to integrate philanthropic causes into his work. He was a close friend and mountaineering partner of Hans Saari. Kris currently serves as vice president of the Fund.

Email: kris@hansfund.org

HANS JOHNSTONE
Hans grew up competing as a Nordic Combined Skier and was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team. He graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. with a B.S. in civil engineering and took his degree to Jackson, Wyoming where he worked in engineering for three years. In 1993, with the excitement of civil engineering fraying his nerves, Hans began guiding climbs and ski descents in the Tetons and Alaska Range, regularly guiding heli-skiers in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. Currently, Hans and his wife Nancy live in Jackson where they own and operate The Alpine House Inn while raising their three children.

ANDREW McCLEAN
Andrew McClean joined the Fund’s Board with him a wealth of ski industry knowledge and experience. Andrew is regularly recognized as one of the greatest skiers of our time, and continues to pursue ambitious ski objectives. Andrew has represented the U.S. as a member of the International Ski Mountaineering Council and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Ski Mountaineering Association. Andrew lives and works in Salt Lake City where he is a freelance writer and outdoor gear designer.

PER SAARI
After studying philosophy at Colby College and Columbia University, Per Saari began his film career as an assistant to director Robert Redford. Two years on location with Redford earned Saari an executive position with Redford’s Wildwood Enterprises, where he helped develop the films Spy Game, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Motorcycle Diaries. In 2004, Saari became head of Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films at Twentieth Century Fox. While overseeing Kidman’s development and production slate, Saari co-wrote a screenplay with Jenny Finny Boylan based on Boylan’s novel The Planets and made his directorial debut at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival with The Magic Knot, a documentary about a Sherpa climbing school in Nepal. Saari’s latest documentary film, Why He Skied, explores the life and death of his brother, extreme skier Hans Saari.

MOLLY STRATTON
Molly Stratton lives in Bozeman, Montana, where she works as a graphic designer. While earning her degree in fine arts from Colby College in Maine, she spent five months studying art and culture in Kenya. Molly returned to Montana to serve two years as Executive Director of the non-profit Danforth Gallery in Livingston. She studied furniture design and construction at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, and stayed on as an assistant instructor after completing her training. In addition to graphic design, Molly oversees Poppy, a line of totes and bags she designs and produces.

ANNE TRYGSTAD
Anne Trygstad grew up in New York and received her bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. After receiving a Fulbright award for a year of study in Norway, she continued her move west and earned a Master of Arts in eEducation at Stanford University and became a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington in Scandinavian languages and literature with an emphasis on Old Norse. Anne and her husband George Saari and their children lived in Neah Bay, Washington, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Seattle area before moving to Bozeman, Montana, in 1985. She is a member of the Gallatin County Planning and Zoning Commission in Bozeman. Anne recently climbed the Grand Teton and has completed numerous Bridger Ridge Runs across the local Bridger Range.