Our Board
Judy Sizemore
President & National Board Member
Judy Sizemore
Judy Sizemore is a retired History educator who also served on Congressman Bud Cramer's congressional staff. Judy had the honor to serve as the founding director of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, which was Alabama's first in 2009. Judy has a passion in sharing her love of history. She lives with her husband Ricky and standard poodle Dolly.
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Jessica Harper-Brown
Board Member
Jessica Harper-Brown
Jessica Harper-Brown graduated from Jacksonville State University with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and currently serves as the Executive Director of Landmarks of DeKalb County and is the volunteer Director of Winston Place 1821, Inc. She is an avid art and history lover who enjoys spending time on her Hammondville, Alabama farm with husband Nathan, son Baxter, and her menagerie of animals.
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Jeffrey Bibbee, PhD
Treasurer
Jeffrey Bibbee
Jeffrey Bibbee lives in Martin, Tennessee, and is currently Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He has also been instrumental in launching "Teach the Trail," an initiative to create K-12 school interdisciplinary curriculum on Southeastern Native cultures.
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Sean Jacobson, PhD
Secretary
Sean Jacobson
Sean Jacobson was born and raised in Louisville, KY. He is currently an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Alabama, where he teaches courses in public history, US History, Native American history, and religious history. He is the author of Lost Missions: American Indians, Religion, and Shifting Landscapes of Memory (University of Massachusetts Press, 2026). He is now in the early stages of a new biography on the missionary Samuel A. Worcester.
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Nancy Loriot
Board Member
Nancy Loriot
Nancy Edens Loriot is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an active community leader in her Cherokee Nation At-Large community, Georgia Cherokee Community Alliance. She currently serves as Vice-President on the board of Friends of New Echota and Co-Chair of the American Indian Committee, The Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR. She also serves on the Preservation Committee for GA-TOTA. She loves researching Cherokee history and teaching it to her Cherokee community and visitors at New Echota State Historic Site, Cherokee Nation capital, pre-removal. She currently resides in Sylacauga, AL with her husband and homeschooled son.
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Deidra Suwanee Dees, EdD
Board Member
Deidra Suwanee Dees
Dr. Deidra Suwanee Dees is an enrolled citizen of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Of Mvskoke and Scottish descent, she descends from the Hotvlkvlke (Wind Clan) following Mvskoke stompdance traditions. A graduate of University of South Alabama, Cornell University, and Harvard University, she worked as the Poarch Band archivist from 2011-2025 and teaches Native American Studies at the University of South Alabama. Dr. Dees recently received a Native Voices Award for her book "Vision Lines: Native American Decolonizing Literature and poetry in Modern Language Studies. She is also the author of "Indian Ice: Indigenous Witness/Estv-Cate' Het'ute" (Get Fresh Books Publishing, 2026).
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Lisa Hoffman
Board Member
Lisa Hoffman
Lisa Hoffman graduated from Lafayette College with a B.A. in Art History and Museum Studies and currently serves as the Museum Curator at Athens State University, Athens, Alabama. She has worked in various capacities managing fine art collections for over 20 years and her interest in the Trail of Tears began in Giles County, Tennessee when she served as Pryor Art Gallery Curator at Columbia State Community College, Columbia, Tennessee which led to a trip to Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
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Chris Haveman, PhD
Board Member
Seth Armstrong
Board Member
Seth Armstrong
Seth Armstrong is a graduate of the graduate history program at the University of North Alabama. He is currently the historical consultant for Native American history for the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, and serves on the board of directors for the Oka Kapassa Festival.
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