Board of Directors

Dena Eakles, Co-Chair

Dena is a writer, farmer, and activist who loves life. Board Member of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice and president of Echo Valley Hope; Dena also writes a weekly blog LetKindnessWin. Author of The Peace Warrior, you can find radio and podcast interviews and conversations at Echo Valley Hope.org as well as links to TPRF’s Peace Education Program.

Christine Olson, Co-Chair

Christine (pronouns: she/her and Mama) and her spouse and are the parents of 4 beautiful wildlings. Christine is a full time stay at home parent. Her community involvement includes being a member of the core group of Northland Grandmothers for Peace where she organizes and participates in activist events and have successfully built many coalitions with other local groups around the issues of eliminating nuclear weapons and ending the genocide and occupation in Palestine. She has also organized and continued to lead weekly Women In Black silent vigils in Superior. She has also led a team that put together two “Community Education Forums for Justice in Palestine” in Superior. Christine was also recently appointed to the city of Superior Urban Forestry Tree Board (3 year term).

John Peck, Co-Treasurer

John grows vegetables and flowers with his partner on a 20 acre farm near Brooklyn, WI, he taught Economics part-time at Madison College, and is also the executive director of Family Farm Defenders, a national grassroots organization with a mission of promoting food sovereignty, agroecology, and socioeconomic justice.  John is also a longtime volunteer of other WNPJ member groups, such as the Madison Infoshop and WI Books to Prisoners.

Judy Miner, co-Secretary

Judy has played many roles within WNPJ over the last 23 years. She was volunteering in the Madison office on State Street in 2001 – when an office coordinator’s position opened up. She had the opportunity to be the Director of the Network for about 10 years working with dedicated volunteers and Board members. She now serves on the Board, answering e-mails, putting together the weekly e-bulletin  and posting events and Action Alerts on the WNPJ website and Facebook pages. Judy’s from South Dakota – and a world citizen, having spent many years traveling and living in Botswana, China, St. Lucia, and Germany. A nurse by profession, her aim is to promote international respect and peace, kindness and environmental activism. She’s been arrested with Nukewatch up at ELF, at the Madison Army Recruitment center, with the Poor People’s Campaign crossing a line on State Street, and for singing in the Capitol with the Solidarity Singers to protest union-busting. You’ll find her hanging out with grandkids in Portland OR, Minneapolis and/or Madison.

Erika Bach, co-Secretary

Erika joined the WNPJ board in 2020, in the midst of the global uprising and calls for an end to state sanctioned violence. She is compelled to action in collaboration with people who support the need for justice in the interconnected criminal legal carceral systems and our educational, environmental and economic infrastructures. Erika strives to build community in solidarity with lifelong learners and facilitators of social, racial and disability justice, accessible community well-being, human rights advocacy and peace education.

Tynnetta Jackson, Board member

Tynnetta is the Co-Director of Solomons Outreach and Urban Learning Sessions, Board member of Pastor’s United, a member of NAACP, Building Unity,  National Council of Negro Women, Community Organizer/Advocate, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer a on Air Radio Personality of her show “Tea Time With Ty”, and a Milwaukee Bucks Grand Dancer.

Debra Gillispie, Board member

Debra, a Milwaukee native, is a dedicated wife and mother who believes that faith calls for action. As the founder of Mothers Against Gun Violence (MAGV), she advocates for media equity and actively works to amplify the voices of gun violence survivors through media and the arts.

Nancy Stencil, Board Member

Nancy Stencil is a longtime activist in Marathon County, working mostly on political issues and various women’s issues. She is a retired Mobile Crisis Professional.

In 2013 Nancy became involved in mining matters with the Penokees. With a passion for learning, years later Nancy would lead the charge against Greenlight Metals when they attempted to drill in the Reef Deposit below the Dells of Eau Claire in Marathon County. Nancy is currently Chair of the Coalition to Save the Menominee River, better known as the Back 40. As a core member of Wisconsin Rights of Nature (WISDOM), she further came to understand and push forward with the inherent Rights of Nature as it pertains to our legal system. We cannot live without water. Water is Life. Nancy also has a heavy presence with union labor rights. She serves as Vice President of the Marathon County Central Labor Council and is the State Treasurer of AFSCME 32 Retirees.

In her spare time Nancy grows and cans her own vegetables and she can also be found hiking or snowshoeing at the beautiful Rib Mountain State Park where she also serves on the Friends of the State Park board

Babette Grunow, Board Member

Active daily on peace and justice issues since the 1970s, Babette initially focused on groups like the UWM Latin America Solidarity Committee, Pledge of Resistance, Peace Action and Cuba Coalition, She is a familiar sight at protests and literature tables, at organizing workshops and coalition meetings. She currently discusses US foreign policy weekly on the Grass is Greener radio program on Riverwest Radio in Milwaukee.