Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Biography

Commissioner Jason W. Brune

Email: [email protected]

Jason W. Brune was appointed as the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation on December 3, 2018. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Brune was the senior director of land and resources at Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI), an Alaska Native Corporation. Mr. Brune oversaw and participated in the development and administration of CIRI’s 1.6 million acres of subsurface resources, including oil, gas, minerals, sand and gravel, and coal. He supervised the team’s staff, environmental contractors, stakeholder management, and legal review, while building relationships with CIRI’s villages. Mr. Brune also worked to identify priorities for addressing contaminated lands. Prior to working at CIRI, Mr. Brune worked for Anglo American as the company’s public affairs and government relations manager.

Brune is also the former executive director for the Resource Development Council and past president of the Alaska Miners Association. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Carleton College and his graduate work was in environmental science at Alaska Pacific University.

Brune is a member of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council and serves on the board of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. He previously served on the board of the Alaska Sealife Center, Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Team, Tyonek Tribal Conservation District Board, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Public Advisory Committee, and numerous other business and civic organizations.

Deputy Commissioner Emma Pokon

Emma Pokon joined DEC in February 2020 from the Alaska Department of Law where she had most recently served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General assigned to support DEC. In her time with the Department of Law, she also worked with the Department of Natural Resources and the Regulatory Commission of Alaska and as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General. Previously, Ms. Pokon represented the North Slope Borough in natural resource and environmental matters and served as a law clerk for the Fairbanks Superior Court. She has bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in chemistry from Hamilton College and a JD and a Master of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School.