OUR TEAM

Vivien Fröhlich
Independent Contractor
Vivien Fröhlich is a linguistics and computational linguistics student with experience in teaching German, English, French and Spanish. She did research on the endangered creole language Palenquero in different university projects.

John Strauss
Board Member
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.

William Rivers
Board Member
William Rivers has 20 years of experience in culture and language for economic development and national security, with expertise in research, assessment, program evaluation, and policy development and advocacy. Dr. Rivers received his Ph.D. in Russian from Bryn Mawr College and his MA, BA, and BS from the University of Maryland. He speaks Russian and French.

Walter Winshall
Board Member
Walter A. Winshall is a private investor with substantial experience in business strategy and startup organizations.

Susan Bronson
Board Member
Executive Director, Yiddish Book Center.

Sheila Bong
Board Member
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.

Pila Wilson
Board Member
Professor of Hawaiian Languages, Founding Member of the 'Aha Pūnana Leo (Hawaiian Immersion Preschool).

Alexa Little
Executive Director
Alexa Little is a computational linguist with 10 years of experience in endangered language activism, research, and revival. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from Yale University, graduating cum laude and with distinction in the major.

Kelsey Riggs
Digital Marketing Manager
Kelsey Riggs studied photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and has worked as a creative director, copywriter, and graphic designer for various brands and startups around the country. With a passion for making a difference and an extensive background in marketing, Kelsey is excited to utlize the positive platform 7000 Languages has created to help sustain endangered languages.

Kayleigh Jeanette
Project Coordinator
Kayleigh Jeannette has a MA in Applied Linguistics from Boston University. Her research there focused on language documentation and revitalization in endangered and dormant language contexts. She is also TEFL certified and enjoys teaching English to international students. Throughout her work her goal is to use linguistics to support the individuals and communities around her.