Coalition Members

The Coalition is made up of a variety of organizations that focus, in some way, on providing services to urban Native Elders.

June Kao

June Kao is the senior audience strategy manager for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) audiences at AARP. In her role, June focuses on collaborative and innovative efforts, including intersectional and intergenerational opportunities, to engage the diverse 50 and older communities on topics such as family caregiving, fraud prevention, and more. Specifically, she cultivates, curates, and communicates resources and events to support and empower the AAPI and AIAN communities as they age.

June was also the chair of AARP’s AAPI employee resource group and previously worked as the project manager on family caregiving grant work at the AARP Public Policy Institute. Her past board service included: chair of East Coast Asian American Student Union and board member of the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership. June graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

Ron Mori

Ron serves as national director of partnerships and advocacy at Native Reach, where he is a key player in fostering best practices in Tribal communities. Most recently, Ron was responsible for AARP’s outreach to Indigenous Americans, including American Indian, Alaska Native, and Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in consumer services and advocacy from Purdue University, and brings over 38 years of experience in marketing, public affairs, and corporate philanthropy to our Coalition. This, along with Ron’s vast experience in establishing programs, organizing, and directing efforts to bolster opportunities for these populations, gives him a powerful toolbox for bringing communities together to improve health and community outcomes.

Jena Pierce

Jena Pierce is the communications manager at the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Grand Forks. Among her responsibilities in this position, Jena provides leadership and management for communications and information dissemination, develops and directs media relations, and plans special events and projects.

Originally from Grand Forks, North Dakota, Jena has a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from UND. She is a member of North Dakota Professional Communicators and previously served on the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health Communications Committee.

Mashell Sourjohn

Mashell currently serves as the AARP senior associate state director of community outreach director of Oklahoma, where her focus is empowering people to choose how they live and age with focus areas of Native American outreach, caregiving, hunger, livable communities, financial asset protection, digital equity, and voter engagement.

Mashell is a current board member of the Central Oklahoma American Indian Health Council, Inc., a member of the International Association of Indigenous Aging’s Native American Elder Justice Initiative Advisory Committee, and member of the Indigenous Journalist Association. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in administrative leadership and holds a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian law from the University of Tulsa College of Law. She holds a diversity and inclusion for human resources management certificate from Cornell University and is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist accredited by the National Home Builders Association.

Michael Splaine

Michael Splaine is owner and principal of Splaine Consulting, a small advocacy and government affairs consulting firm based in Washington DC. Additionally, he teaches dementia policy classes at two US universities.

Mike is a consultant to the US Alzheimer’s Association/CDC Healthy Brain Initiative and recently was the lead on behalf of the Association on its 2019 Road Map for Indian Country document, served on the work group for its 2024 update, and now is engaged in related outreach. He also serves as a consultant to several community-based organizations serving persons with dementia, including managing and online community of persons living alone with dementia. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with a gerontology certificate from Rhode Island College.