Lu-Anne Haukaas Lopez (Sicangu Lakota & Mestiza) brings a background of Indigenous restorative and social justice, community organization, and senior leadership to her role as ACLU of Alaska’s Deputy Director. Previously a Senior Advisor at Southcentral Foundation (SCF), she has consulted and presented nationally and internationally on ending cycles of intergenerational violence through culturally rooted and trauma informed approaches. Under her team’s leadership, Southcentral Foundation’s domestic violence, sexual abuse, Veteran/First Responder, prison and reentry programs were broadly expanded state and nationwide, all guided by the strength and wisdom of Alaska Native Elders. Selected as part of SCF’s Executive Leadership succession planning program, Lu-Anne is also an Alaska Forty Under Forty Awardee and board member of Alaska’s Institute for Justice. Some of her favorite places to volunteer locally have included Hiland Mountain Correctional Center and as an English as a Second Language and Citizenship Class teacher.
Born in Colombia, South America, Lu-Anne's family was displaced from her birth country because of war, and moved to Interior Alaska where she grew up living a rural, subsistence, communal lifestyle on Ahtna Athabascan homelands. She is a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (Rosebud Sioux Tribe) as well as Mestiza, Indigenous to the mountains of Boyacá, Colombia and San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is married to the proud son of a Kurdish refugee, and resides on Dena’ina Elnena in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband, son, daughter, and dog, (Fern)ie Sanders.