NASAA is delighted to introduce Jake McIntire and Jessica Riehl as our 2025 Executive Forum facilitators. Jake and Jessica have led planning processes, networking projects, public art initiatives and professional development programs for numerous government agencies and cultural organizations. Clients have included the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Utah Division of State History, Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, Washington State Government Performance Consortium, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Higher Ed Coordinating Consortium, Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, Clackamas County, the City of Tigard and the City of Ogden. Jake and Jessica are rooted in a desire to host meaningful conversations, open opportunities for intentional change, and hold space for hard conversations.
Jake McIntire is the principal of Union Creative Agency, director of the Matthew S. Browning Design Lab at Weber State University and former chair of the Ogden City Arts Advisory Committee. Jake is passionate about the role culture, art and design play in the transformation of communities and has spent his practice exploring this dynamic relationship. He approaches his work in cultural planning and organizational consulting as a collaborative artistic practice backed by creativity and a passion for communicating collective meaning. Through his work, Jake has helped develop arts related master plans and strategic plans for communities and arts organizations throughout Utah and beyond.
Jake has a master’s degree of fine arts in collaborative design from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, and a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in intermedia sculpture with a minor in business from the University of Utah.
Jessica Riehl is a collaborative designer, visual communicator, participatory facilitator and artist who helps individuals, organizations and systems navigate complexity, foster dialogue and move from ideas to action. Through her consultancy, Jessica Riehl Consulting, LLC, she blends strategic thinking, creative practice and systems-oriented approaches to help service-driven clients design collaborative and adaptive solutions. A codeveloper of the Drawing Systems method and coauthor of Systems Scribing: An Emerging Visual Practice (2023), Jessica advances the intersection of visual practice and systems thinking.
Jessica’s “secret sauce” combines design thinking, visual storytelling, character strengths inquiry and systems theory—seasoned with pragmatism, authentic curiosity and a focus on discovering each client’s unique context. She believes in honoring diverse perspectives, asking questions and fostering experimental mindsets to empower clients. Jessica is driven by a mission to help people and systems do their best work.
A U.S. Navy veteran based in Tigard, Oregon, Jessica has a master’s degree of fine arts in collaborative design from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, a master of science degree in environmental science and policy from Johns Hopkins University, and a bachelor of science degree in environmental science from Oregon State University.