Our Team

Peggen Frank

Executive Director

Peggen Frank, Executive DirectorPeggen is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. She joined the Salmon Defense team in 2011 and has helped nurture and grow Salmon Defense into the capable functioning tool that it was envisioned by its founders to be.

Peggen’s creativity, passion for protecting tribal treaty rights, and experience in sustainable business practices has added great value to the team. Peggen has evolved into a natural-born fundraiser. She has helped create winning proposals that were submitted to our local Tribal funders such as the Nisqually Tribe, The Muckleshoot Tribe and the Tulalip Tribes. She also has a skill for developing and expanding relationships needed to bridge gaps between tribal and non-tribal communities.

Peggen received her BA from Evergreen State with an emphasis in sustainable business, human resource management, and marketing. Peggen has earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Tribal Government.

Fran Wilshusen

Advisor

our-team-franFran Wilshusen is actively engaged in work to protect and restore the landscapes and eco-systems critical to the recovery of our region’s salmon. She has a particular interest in the challenges and opportunities created with the interface of those processes with tribal people and governments.

She has 28 years of experience working with Indian tribes on treaty resource protection and natural resource management issues throughout the Pacific Northwest. Policy and program development skills combined with a love of the region, its places and people maintain her focus.

She is currently both the Habitat Services Director at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and the Executive Director of Salmon Defense. She lives in Olympia with her husband, Kurt, and son, Sky.