Malcolm Comeaux was born and raised in south Louisiana. He attended the University of Louisiana-Lafayette for his B.A., Southern Illinois University for his M.A., and Louisiana State University for his Ph.D. Malcolm came to Arizona State University in 1969. His specialty is cultural and historical geography. His major research interests focus on the Cajuns of Louisiana, fishing in the Mississippi River system, and on Arizona and the Southwest. He is also a recent winner of the Wilbur Murra Award for his dedication to the field of social studies. Malcolm retired in July of 2001 but he is still active with the Alliance.

Bob Mings was a co-founder of the Arizona Geographic Alliance in 1992, in partnership with Malcolm Comeaux. Bob and Malcolm were Co-coordinators of the Alliance during the formative years until Bob retired in 1997. With degrees from Indiana University and Ohio State University, his teaching included world regional geography, Latin America, recreation, and research methods. His geographic research focused on travel and tourism, with an emphasis on southwestern snowbird movements. As a Professor Emeritus of Geography, he continues helping plan and conduct Alliance functions such as GeoFest, Alliance Summer Geography Institutes, and GeoDayTrips. Along with Malcolm Comeaux, Bob is a co-recipient of the coveted Wilbur Murra Award from the Arizona Council for the Social Studies, in recognition of their lifelong service to the field of social studies.

Gale Olp Ekiss was a Co-coordinator for the Arizona Geographic Alliance from 2001 - 2019. Gale has a Bachelors of Education degree from the University of Arizona and a Masters of Education degree from Arizona State University. Gale taught for 28 years in the Mesa School District (1975-2001) as a teacher of social studies, gifted, and language arts. She has received the "Distinguished Teaching Award" from the National Council on Geographic Education (1999) and a "Great Moments in Teaching Award" from the Arizona Council for the Social Studies (1997). Gale was one of the original teacher consultants for the Arizona Geographic Alliance. She has been Project Manager for the Grosvenor GeoLiteracy and GeoMath Grants, LOC TPS grants, the TL3C Project grant, and most recently the start of the STEMSS CRUISE EL Grant.