Inclusion isn’t just a statement - it’s a way of being.
The Board of Directors and Staff of the Aviation Youth Empowerment Foundation seek to model and “live out” our core values by examining our own biases continually. From this posture, we lead the organization.
President
Jennifer Lopez Ibrahim (she/hers)
Jennifer is a professional civil engineer and project manager in Los Angeles, CA, serving as a consultant to premier transportation agencies on the west coast. In 2020, she received Engineering News Record's Top Young Professional (top 10 under 40) award for the Pacific Northwest Region.
On her first day of work as a field engineer, Jennifer noticed that she was the only female engineer working on the project and one of two people of color working in her office. It did not take very long for Jennifer to realize that she needed to build a support system as a young professional and turned to the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) for mentorship, volunteerism and networking.
Currently, Jennifer serves on the board of the WTS Orange County Chapter as Scholarship Chair. She also provides leadership and technical expertise to organizations which seek to eliminate the barriers that many girls face in pursuit of their STEM aspirations. Jennifer has been an educator, leader, and volunteer at organizations such as the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, Techbridge Girls, Society of Women Engineers, and Encorps - all for the purpose of increasing access to quality STEM programming and education for underrepresented students.
Jennifer remains focused on supporting and retaining STEM students/young professionals from non-traditional and under-represented backgrounds. She brings her passion and expertise to the Aviation Youth Empowerment Foundation as president and looks forward to continuing to serve under-represented groups across all STEM industries.
Treasurer
Luke Abare (he/him)
Luke is a captain flying a Bombardier Challenger 300 for Clay Lacy Aviation out of Boeing Field in Seattle, WA. His professional flying experience includes flying a season as an aerial survey pilot for Northern States Aviation, private flight instruction and he worked as a captain on the CRJ-200, 700 & 900 and first officer on the EMB-175 for SkyWest Airlines, where he was also on the Pilot Recruiting Team.
Growing up in the Midwest, Luke always had his gaze set on the sky, checking out airplanes and dreaming of flying. At the age of 12, a family friend took Luke flying in a 1969 Cessna 172. The pilot let Luke take the controls when he was in the air and from that point forward he knew he would become a pilot. His excitement for aviation has led him to various positions in the aerospace industry including building, maintaining, servicing and flying aircraft - everything from seaplanes to jets.
Luke has spent many years volunteering with various organizations including Hope Africa, where he was the program coordinator for their economic youth empowerment course, Angel Flight West, Big Brother Big Sister and MATA, where he volunteered for their summer camps allowing youth the chance to experience general aviation firsthand. His focus and passion in his volunteer work has consistently been diversity and inclusion.
Secretary
Southisone “Sou” Souvanny Garner (she/her)
Sou is a senior land use and project manager for a Communications, Planning and Design firm. She is also a participating member of the firm’s Equity Studio and Native Nations Building Studio. Sou has been in the field of urban planning, public policy and public administration for over 10 years. She also sits on the Board for Institute Village Studies, a non-profit that collaborates and connects college students and professionals with village communities in developing countries to achieve their vision for a better future by empowering women and creating self-sustaining opportunities for resiliency.
A refugee from Southeast Asia in the early 1980’s, Sou arrived in Seattle with her family after two years in camps. She grew up in poverty and limited access to resources. At an early age, she understood that she lived in a world of have and have-nots, with her family being part of the have-nots. Using the inequality she experienced in her youth as motivation, Sou pursued urban planning after a professor told her that a community that excludes any one group of people is a failure of the urban planner. She decided early on that she would use her education and create opportunities for herself that allowed her to give back to the community and help lift up youth of color and women. The mission of AYEF is so important to Sou because she understands first hand the challenges of finding and securing financial support for higher education and the career opportunities that are available within STEM fields.
Founder
Nathan Rix (he/him)
Nathan is a private pilot and aircraft owner, General Aviation enthusiast, and senior executive manager with the State of Oregon. His career dedication is creating and improving public and non-profit organizations, with a focus on strategic designs, organizational change management, and public policy development and implementation. Nathan is an educator at heart, having served as a Middle School Special Education Teacher in The Bronx, New York with Teach for America and as an Adjunct Professor in Economics with the College of Business, George Fox University.
Growing up in New Jersey, Nathan was Cadet Commander with the Civil Air Patrol where he attended the Falcon Flight Encampment. As an undergraduate, he was President of the Pepperdine Aviation Club. Nathan has served on the Board of Directors for numerous private and public organizations in the greater Portland, Oregon area, including as the Chairman of the City of Tigard Budget Committee where he distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to social service organizations in Washington County, Oregon. He recently served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors with the Regional Arts and Cultural Council, which provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants annually to dozens of arts organizations in the greater Portland, Oregon community.