Our Team
Meet the people preserving the world's languages.
CEO, Executive Director
Jennifer Weston
Weston, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is a lifelong learner and advocate for Native American languages. An alumna of Brown University, the Boston Bridges Fellowship at Hebrew College-Boston University, and a Vision Maker Media production fellowship, Weston brings 30 years of leadership across nonprofit, academic, and tribal government sectors to her current role. Jennifer has partnered with 300+ tribal nations’ language and public health programs through work with the National Foundation for the CDC, Cultural Survival, the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She has also served as a visiting community scholar at UMass-Boston and built early career experience as a grant writer, environmental policy analyst, and journalist on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in tribal government. Jennifer carries a great-grandmother’s name, Ptesanwin (White Buffalo Woman), from the Flying By, Grindstone, Kills Crow, Shoots the Enemy, and Taken Alive families on Standing Rock.
Lead Project Coordinator/Curriculum Co-Architect
Kayleigh Jeannette
Kayleigh began working for 7000 Languages in 2019 and has had the honor of supporting many Indigenous communities doing revitalization work for their languages. She has worked mostly in North and Central America but has also enjoyed the chance to work with communities on every continent. Kayleigh holds a BA in Spanish Language and Literature from Saint Anselm College and a MA in Applied Linguistics from Boston University. Her research at Boston University focused on language documentation and revitalization in endangered and dormant language contexts, with a focus on creating language learning materials. She is also TEFL certified and spent several years teaching English to international students as well as managing English language programs and the accreditation process for private English language schools. Throughout her work, Kayleigh’s goal is to use her skills in linguistics to support the wellbeing of individuals and communities around her and abroad.
Senior Advisor
Stephanie Witkowski
Stephanie has over 10 years of experience in both language revitalization and the non-profit sector. She holds an MA in Linguistics from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with an emphasis in Language Documentation and Conservation, and has worked with speakers of multiple under resourced languages, including Indigenous languages of California, the Pacific, and Russia.
Project Coordinator
Vivien Fröhlich
Vivien Fröhlich is an applied linguist from Berlin, Germany who started as an undergraduate intern with 7000 Languages. Her initial focus on language endangerment was sparked through several university projects on the creole language Palenquero, and she has since specialized in creating an extensive series of digital language learning courses with Native Alaskan educators and first speakers. Vivien’s second master’s degree in computational linguistics and machine learning includes substantive research on negative stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples inherent in today’s Large Language Models. A language enthusiast, Vivien is fluent in several Germanic and Romance languages and enjoys studying contrasting patterns among language families and shared vocabulary. Her special skill is her meticulous eye for locating typos, even in languages she doesn’t speak! Vivien is also an experienced project manager for an arts and music fest, and a volunteer language teacher connecting refugees and locals to learn from one another.
Communications and Development Associate
Alyssa Harris
Alyssa is a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and a graduate of Suffolk University, where she earned a BFA in Interior Design. Her professional experience includes residential renovation and design projects, as well as an internship with Ballinger in 2024. In addition to her design background, Alyssa is a dedicated home cook whose work has been featured in professional settings with the Greater Boston Concierge Association and Northern Spy. She is also among the youngest proficient speakers of the Wôpanâak language and the first student in Massachusetts to pursue the Seal of Biliteracy in Wôpanâak. Her work is grounded in the belief that language, food, and design are vital expressions of cultural identity, history, and community connection. As a Native language advocate and cultural steward, Alyssa is committed to supporting endangered language revitalization and ensuring Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and stories continue for future generations.
Board of Directors
Board President
Sheila Bong
Sheila is a Blackfeet Tribal member who gained an appreciation for Native language preservation transcribing oral traditions from Tribal Elders in her hometown of Browning, Montana. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Northwest Indian Language Institute at the University of Oregon and is also a Co-Founder of Avant Assessment, a language assessment company that delivers a test of Yup’ik and is developing additional Indigenous language tests.
Board Treasurer
Dr. William Rivers
Dr. Bill Rivers leads global language advocacy work, serving Tribal Nation and Native Hawaiian delegations as adeptly as he connects international educator teams creating new pathways for multilingual learners in academia and the research sector. Passionate about his Irish and Russian language heritage roots, Bill is a proud multilingual parent and partner co-nurturing 5 languages in his household while serving on the boards of language focused nonprofits like 7000 Languages and the Planet Word Museum. Prior to his current role as 7000 Languages’ treasurer, Dr. Rivers co-led our organization as founding president of the board, ushering in a diverse range of staff, fellows, board and advisory board leadership from a broad range of language communities. Bill’s visionary leadership also catalyzed 7000 Language’s early advocacy on Indigenous data sovereignty, including deep respect for Tribal/First Nation local data governance frameworks, Indigenous intangible cultural heritage, intellectual property and knowledge systems.
Board Secretary
Susan Bronson
Dr. Susan Bronson is president of the Yiddish Book Center (YBC) where she and her team lead a wealth of creative intergenerational programming, digital, and archival efforts aimed bringing Yiddish language and culture to a global audience. Based in western Massachusetts, YBC collaborates with a wide range of educational and cultural organizations and has thrived under Dr. Bronson’s decades of service and leadership. An unmatched advocate for language education and storytelling in community, Susan brings her leadership expertise spanning international multilingual networks to her current role as 7000 Languages’ Board Secretary – carefully stewarding our 7000 Languages community across the past decade of growth and digital classroom expansions here in the Americas and globally.
Board Member
John Strauss
John Strauss is a business consultant with extensive experience founding and supporting early-stage organizations, both commercial and charitable. He has more than 10 years’ experience serving as an officer or director to 501(c)(3) organizations, some of which he helped establish.
Board Member
Walter Winshall
Walter A. Winshall is a private investor with substantial experience in business strategy and startup organizations. He graduated from MIT in electrical engineering and from Harvard Law School.
Board Member
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell
Xʼunei Lance Twitchell (Lingít, Haida, Yupʼik, Sami) is an Associate Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, and lives in Juneau with his wife and bilingual children. He speaks & studies the Lingít language, and advocates for indigenous language revitalization through teaching, program development, and legislative changes. Twitchell is an author of poems, stories, and screenplays, and is a filmmaker, musician, and Northwest Coast Artist. X'unei hosts a podcast about language revitalization titled, "Tongue Unbroken".
Emeritus Board Member
Pila Wilson
Professor of Hawaiian Languages, Founding Member of the 'Aha Pūnana Leo (Hawaiian Immersion Preschool).
Indigenous Languages Advisory Board
Advisor
Ajuawak Kapashesit
Ajuawak Kapashesit has a BA in Linguistics from Macalester College where he focused on Language Revitalization and Hispanic Studies. He has worked in Indigenous communities across North America on language revitalization projects including documentation and materials development. In the nonprofit sector, he specializes in development and project development.
Advisor
Allan Hayton, MA
Allan is the son of Lena Pauline Hayton from Fort Yukon, Alaska, and James T. Hayton from Natick, Massachusetts. He was raised in Arctic Village, Alaska, and his grandparents are Robert and Lena Albert from Tanana and Fort Yukon, Alaska. Allan studied theatre and film at Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas, finishing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992. He continued studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, graduating spring 2013 with a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics. Allan brings together his love of language and the arts, translating and adapting works for the stage and screen, as well as curriculum and language learning materials for educational settings. Allan’s work focuses on carrying forward his ancestral Gwich’in language, culture, and values in today’s world. Nakhwatsii govehłeech’agohkhyaa shro’... "do not stray from the path left for you by the ancestors."
Advisor
Danielle Boyer
Advisor
Heather Souter
Advisor
Mariana Poblete-Rodriquez, MA
Advisor
Ramdane Touati, PhD
Advisor
Rani Ukhenching Marma, MS
Advisor
Royce K. Young Wolf, PhD
