Adam “Familiar” McAleavey
Lakes of Fire Mobility Co-lead
Adam Rice
Adam Rice served on the Burning Flipside board of directors from 2012 to 2023, and has also been Flipside’s fire conclave lead, an art project lead, and a theme-camp lead at various points. He has been working as a Japanese translator for most of his adult life.
Alesia “Mother Unit” Clardy
Known affectionately as “Mother Unit,” Alesia has been an active member of the Burning Man community since 2015, taking on leadership roles at Interfuse and Gateway. This is her first year on the board for the community. Her Mundane world includes 25 years of experience as a Instructional Designer and Training Specialist and Contracted Convention Support.
Angela “Japangela” Andersen
Sustainability Lead, Art Grant Committee, Former Center Camp Lead, Decomp Board for Apogee
Anton Erik “Valemon” Vogt
After four years as Apogaea Prez, I stepped into a role supporting finances and procuring insurance. Insurance, as we all know, has gotten much harder to procure these past few years and there are definately things we can do to reduce risk and help ensure we can keep underwriters happy. This year I’ll be joined by two industry experts to talk about the industry, what to look for in policies, trends in permitting requirements, share best practices, and brainstorm ways of making sure our events have the coverage we need. My other job is being Fancy Pant’s emotional support animal.
Athena Demos
Athena Demos is co-founder and CEO of Big Rock Creative (BRC), an award-winning XR experience company creating groundbreaking experiences for global clients. Big Rock Creative won the Producer’s Guild Award for Innovation, the Aurea Award for creativity, the No Proscenium award for Best VR experience of 2020, the Hermes’ Platinum Award, the Auggie Award for Best Societal Impact of 2022 and the Global LiveWire Creative Innovators of the Year for 22/23 and most recently the Auggie for Best Indie Creator 2023, XR Women’s Trailblazer award, and named in the Top 50 Business & Marketing Visionaries by Adello magazine.
With over 20 years of experience producing iconic events, like the LA Burning Man Decompression Arts and Music Celebration, as well as the Art of Change Inaugural Ball for President Obama in LA, she transitioned to the metaverse to produce BRCvr (Black Rock City Virtual Reality). BRCvr is an official virtual Burning Man Experience whose scope is unprecedented in the VR space. Athena produced internationally recognized social impact projects such as Breonna’s Garden which premiered at SXSW 2022 and Pride has no borders which was a finalist in the VR Awards. She has developed a philosophical approach to guiding humanity to build a foundational fabric for creative collaboration in the metaverse. As a result, she has been quoted in leading books, articles, delivered key notes, and spoken at leading industry events and universities across the globe.
In August of 2022, Athena and the BRCvr team went to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert to film the community, art, event, and ethos in 360 and 180 3D formats to combine with the VR worlds and models they cultivated the past two years. Currently in post production, she plans to deliver a new format for storytelling that brings them all together into one participatory experience.
She spent 8+ years as the PM of two time Academy Award-winning documentary film company, Moriah Films.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/athenademos/
Breedlove
Cabbie
Ran the Lakes of Fire DMV for 10 years, now currently in the Infobot/Administration role. During my time volunteering for GLEA I identified the need for better ways to interconnect participant data across different departments. The need for this drove me to spend the last 7 years building Volunteeripate, a single platform for managing volunteer based ticketed events. It’s my hope to continue roll out this new platform to the burn community, so I can share something that has made managing a burn so much easier.
Cable King
Board President, San Diego Collaborative Arts Project 501(c)3 (Youtopia)
Corprew “Zeitgeist” Reed
Black Rock Ranger & Member of Regional Events Committee
Courtney “Deere Bringer” Weidner
Courtney Weidner is a burner insurance nerd (transitioning to self care coach) who loves cats, coffee, butterfly gardening and nature photography. ENFP, S/c on DISC, Enneagram sx2, Human Design Generator 4/6, Life Path 9, ADHD, Pisces, dreamer.
She attended her first regional Burning Flipside in 2014 and knew instantly – she’d found Home. Volunteer to her core, she’s worked as a zone czar, DaFT, VAS, perimeter line and is forever an Earth Guardian, currently serving as Clean Up Lead and a listener for Sanctuary at Flipside 2024.
Her default career for the last 26 years has been working as an agent with Farmers Insurance. She acquired the family business in 2007 and in September 2023, she fully retired from Farmers and launched her new commercial independent agency, EverSecure Insurance Solutions.
Courtney is now assisting regional burns with their insurance needs across the country. Her professional experience and insight into how burns operate give her a unique position to understand the risks and exposures at regional burns. She knows first-hand how restrictive the insurance market has become and how difficult it is to find coverage for our organizations. She will be leading a discussion on insurance needs and provide options as to what we can do to collaborate on solutions.
Damian Tarnawsky
I’ve been going to the burn since 2007, organized the regional The Forgotten City which ran from 2011 to 2015 and have been been involved with managing regionals through ticketing (GoMobile Events) and the dust app.
Dani “Rat Lady” Moore
Mobility Camp
Doc Holliday
Freezerburn TX City Manager & Burning Flipside Safety Area Facilitator
Eric “Eric G” Griswold
Burner since 1997. Co-founder of Snowflake Village and Lakes of Fire. Regional Contact for Wisconsin for 17 years. Current Meta-Regional Contact. Fire artist. Four-time performer in the Great Conclave at BM. Wrote fire safety protocols conforming to NFPA 160 both locally and for Lakes of Fire. Interfaced with LEO’s, fire officials and local governments to secure event permits. Since 2003, have coordinated the BurningSnow Center in Milwaukee, a year round Burner meeting space, build space, and event space. Have coordinated five Honorarium art projects for Burning Man so far.
Formal training was in engineering and philosophy.
Eric “Pirate” Branson
Former board member & current DMV lead, Lakes of Fire
Greg “Wulff” Swift
Safety Area Facilitator, Freezerburn TX.
Jared “Epic Fail” Granberry
Jared “Epic Fail” Granberry has served in a variety of roles in regional burning, including organizer of Unbroken Spring, Safety AF of Unbroken Spring, organizer of Safetyside, and Theme Camp Operator/Treasurer of Black Rock City Theme Camp. He is currently serving as social media/newsletter lead of FreezerBurn (Texas version), Member of the Lone Star Regional Ranger Council, and routinely presents on safety topics including various levels of Rangering and Incident Command System. He is active at Burning Man Gate, ESD Comms, and Rangers at various levels. In his free time, he enables your fuckery at Pyropolis H3, and FU Telecom theme camps.
Jennifer Heath
Jen is currently serves as POrtalBurn’s Treasurer and is a member of its Board of Directors. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the State of New York University at Plattsburgh, and has worked in the accounting and tax fields for over 25 years. Her career has included public accounting, with a focus on small businesses, and corporate tax.
Jessica “Cuddlefish” Smith
I have held leadership positions in volunteer organizations since I was in high school. When I find something I like I want to work to make it the best it can be and leave it better than I found it. Burns have a special place in my heart because it is the perfect fusion of art, nature, and community for me. I also met my husband through Lakes of Fire and our second date was Frostburn. We have three kiddos between the two of us and four cats. I work in tech but understand code better than I write it. My favorite thing to gift is food and my favorite principal at the moment is communal effort.
Jimmie “WiFi” Lundie
Jimmie “WiFi” Lundie’s involvement with the burner community started in Texas at Flipside in 2007. Over the years, he has taken on many leadership responsibilities, from theme camp lead to event safety and eventually board positions and producer roles at FreezerBurn, TX and Critical Northwest. WiFi currently serves on the board of directors for Ignition Northwest where he is dedicated to building a sustainable organization fueled by an active and engaged year-round community of empowered leaders, volunteers, artists, and participants of all stripes.
Joel “LoveRhino” Eastland
Joel Eastlund is a 17-year veteran of Fire/EMS with specialties in Search & Rescue and Dive Rescue. Joel attended his first Burn in 2016 at Lakes of Fire and is now a Co-Lead for their Emergency Services Department.
just ben
just ben is the exiting President of the G.L.E.A. Board of Directors after burning at Lakes of Fire for over a decade.
Prior to joining the G.L.E.A. board, he was a core organizer and event lead for Chicago’s Official Decompression party through the B.U.R.N. operations committee.
Leanne “Phoenix” Unruh
Leanne, aka Phoenix, is from Toronto, Canada. As a board member of SideBurn regional she currently manages the event’s art department, and has previously done communications for SideBurn. On playa, Leanne volunteers at the Artery supporting artists as they arrive on playa, and leading bicycle art tours.
Lisa “Sassy Cat” Scheinkopf
Burning Man Regional Contact, AZ Burners board member, 25-to-Thrive project team member, and camp lead for Ignited States.
Mike “Big Mike” Heath
POrtal Burn board fluffer and BRC VR photogrammetry 3D modeler
Mitch “Giraffe” Hoffman
Art Director of Apogaea, the Colorado Regional Burning Man Event, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Arts Organization. Mitch Giraffe is also a metal artist, owner of Model Metal, a Denver-based commercial art and fabrication business. He is working on way too many different projects including fundraising events for Apogaea, community arts and education projects, and recently created a new non-profit organization: the Flame Effects Artist Guild.
Patty Simonton
Patty is a producer of the Mid-Atlantic Leadership Conference, a member of the 25 to Thrive project team for Burning Man Project, and a volunteer for the ARTery while at BRC. Throughout her burner career, Patty has served as a Regional Contact for Washington, DC, was the president and treasurer for FirePony Creative Society, and produced FIGMENT DC. When not involved with the Burning Man Regional Network, Patty works to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Maryland and beyond. She is an IEDC certified entrepreneurship development professional and believes business can be a tool for good.
Pitter Patter
Freezerburn TX board member
Renegade
Freezerburn TX board member
Rick Diaz
Representative, United Nations Insurance, LLC
Robin “Bossy Spice” McShaffry
Robin “Bossy Spice” volunteers behind the scenes at burns. At Flipside, she is currently facilitating Site Ops with a crack team of 10 leads and dozens of volunteers. Think BM DPW but about 5% of the size event. She loves to spend time at her theme camp, KFLiP, where they run a low power FM radio station. At Burning Man, she works with the DMV and also with her own Mutant Vehicle team, The Dirty Goat Roadhouse. In her professional life she is a makeup artist and wig stylist in live theater, film and TV. You can hear Bossy Spice sometimes on Friday nights on ‘KFLIP Hot Mics and Dead Air’ on Shouting Fire Global Burner Radio, www.shoutingfire.com.