The USAJPA Year Round Volunteers

Valerie is a lifelong puzzler and began competing in the year 2000 after moving to Duluth, Minnesota. Early success as a puzzler led to opportunities to organize and host competitions. And thanks to being featured in the jigsaw documentary Wicker Kittens, Valerie met other puzzlers that eventually became fellow co-founders of the USAJPA. She loves hosting livestreams of competitions and promoting speed puzzling to new audiences.

Aly grew up puzzling with her family every Iowa winter. However, she only puzzled for fun until 2017, when a friend suggested a competition. After a few events with friends, they expanded to host events in bars as the Pacific Puzzlers. Her team (including Tammy McLeod) placed sixth at the 2022 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship.

Faith has been doing jigsaw puzzles for more than 40 years. Her fondest and oldest jigsaw puzzle memories are of doing old wooden jigsaws with her godmother and her family. She wants to share her love of puzzles and the positive attributes it brings to others. She currently lives in Decatur, GA with her husband and two daughters.

Heather has always loved puzzles but really started doing them regularly in 2018 when she and fellow Puzzle Moms started meeting once a month to puzzle while their children were at school. Team competitions soon followed and her involvement in the puzzle community continued to grow. She currently lives in Plymouth, MN with her husband and two boys.

Becca has loved getting lost in jigsaw puzzles since early childhood. She discovered speed puzzling right after the first USA Jigsaw Nationals event and has found so much joy in the puzzling community. Becca has been a steadfast USAJPA volunteer. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and helps lead several local & state puzzling events, too.

Website Team

Alison has loved jigsaw puzzles for as long as she can remember. She discovered speed puzzling in 2023 - and has been hooked ever since. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, and their cat. Alison spent many years in tech as a user experience researcher and designer. As a volunteer, she focuses on making the JPA website more user-friendly and engaging for the community. Outside of puzzling, she enjoys running and being outdoors.

Sanctioned Events Team

Description coming soon!

State Org Resource Team

Dakota has always enjoyed doing puzzling and recently fell into speed puzzling and went full steam ahead. They are very excited about growing the puzzling community within Wisconsin and creating a one place stop for all things puzzling within the State. Dakota lives in Fitchburg with their partner and two amazing dogs, Oliver and Warren. Dakota is the current president of the WI-JPA and happy to be a part of the SORT team and help get more state orgs off the ground.

Social Media Team

Diane is a lifelong puzzler who finds joy in the tactile experience of puzzling (and doesn't consider herself a speed puzzler). By day, she works as the Art & Marketing Director for an online tutoring company. In her free time, she escapes the digital world with jigsaw puzzles. In addition to her role on the social media team, Diane is the Vice Chair of the Puzzle Parley, a gathering of puzzle enthusiasts where they exchange ideas, techniques, and history related to wooden jigsaw puzzles.

JPAR Team

Isa got into puzzling right before the pandemic and has been making up for lost time ever since, keeping up a daily puzzle streak. While they're definitely hooked on puzzling, their favorite part has been the friendships they’ve made—connecting with other puzzlers in real life and through the Twitch puzzling community. As a volunteer, they're helping to streamline the JPAR calculation process and uncover new puzzling insights.

JPAR Team

While Jacob enjoys puzzling, he is most excited by the data behind speed puzzling and the questions it can answer. He was first introduced to the sport through Karen Puzzles’ coverage of the 2023 Nationals and has followed the speed puzzling community and competition results ever since. As a member of the JPAR team, he hopes to use his background in data analysis to help the organization and its members make full use of and draw insights from the competition data.

Sanctioned Events Team

Jeanne has always loved the visual and spatial thrill of puzzling. A National and World jigsaw puzzle champion, she's competed globally and seen what makes competitions shine. For her, puzzling should be fun—that's non-negotiable. It's about the challenge, the fair play, and the community. She brings that enthusiasm to the Sanctioned Events team, ensuring quality events with a consistent, enjoyable experience for all puzzlers.

Social Media Team Lead, State Org Resource Team

Jessica doesn’t know how to have casual hobbies, and since discovering speed puzzling in 2023 has practiced daily, competed almost weekly, and attended some of the best puzzling events around the world! She currently serves as the Founding President of the OHJPA and shares her experience building that organization as a member of the USAJPA State Org Resource Team. Jessica also loves working on the USAJPA social media since she does that kind of work in her professional life too.

Social Media Team, JPAR Team

Kevin is a lifelong puzzler from Michigan, having picked up the hobby from his mother and grandparents. His first steps into competitive speed puzzling were the Speed Run Puzzle in 2023 and the 2024 USA Jigsaw Nationals, making it to the finals. When he's not speed puzzling, Kevin is a Digital Services Librarian, helping the public connect and learn to use technology. As part of the social media team, he focuses on reporting on JPAR scores and the Speed Run puzzle.

Event Results Team

Michele is an active member in the Pacific Puzzlers group in San Diego and enjoys competing and casually puzzling with friends, like the Puzzle Gals, every month. She was actually part of the OG Pacific Puzzlers competitions with board member, Aly Krasny. She also loves organizing data and does so for multiple hours every month, logging the finishing times for participants of USAJPA Puzzle Club, Speed Run, and Sanctioned Events throughout the year.

Social Media Team

Nicholas began doing puzzles on an old card table in his bedroom every morning before the bus came to pick him up from elementary school. Now, he keeps a puzzle table in his home office, and still puzzles most mornings before working as a copywriter and editor. He's a recovering competitive Magic: The Gathering player, and now trains for speed puzzling competitions and The World Series of Board Gaming in his free time. As a member of the USAJPA social media team, he loves sharing member stories and successes.

State Org Resource Team

Sarah, also known as @SarahDoesPuzzles, is a popular puzzle Instagrammer and competitive speed puzzler from St. Paul, MN. She has been competing in speed puzzling contests since she was 13. She has traveled to Spain, Australia, and across the United States to participate in various championships. Sarah turned her passion for puzzles into a full time job in 2021, and now hosts puzzling competitions across Minnesota, sells rare jigsaw puzzles, and consults for various puzzle related companies. As a USAJPA volunteer, Sarah focuses on state org connections.

Sanctioned Events Team

William is co-founder of Orange County Speed Puzzlers, a group that hosts local competitions throughout the year and hosts 12 and 24-hour puzzle marathons. He serves as the Head Competition Room Monitor at the USA Jigsaw Nationals each year, a Herculean task which he says brings him great joy. Additionally he serves in a new role as Compliance Officer on the Sanctioned Events Team.

Traveling Puzzle Shipment Lead

Yvonne is a fierce competitor and a very prominent member in the speed puzzling community - she was the 2022 USA Jigsaw Nationals champion! She is always sharing puzzles with others, by participating in her local Burbank puzzle swaps, hosting a wooden puzzle library at her house, and through her volunteer work with USAJPA. As the Traveling Puzzles Shipment Lead, she spends many hours each month dealing with all shipping logistics of the ever-growing pile of Traveling Puzzles.