RIGHT MOVES

Credit Union 1

Credit Union 1 (CU1) solidified its top executive team with a couple of promotions. Mark Burgess is now President and CEO, after Burgess serving in both roles on an interim basis for the last six months. Burgess moved to Alaska from New Hampshire in 2018 to serve as CU1’s chief technology officer. CU1 Board Chairman Steve Cavin says, “After interviewing several talented nationwide applicants, we determined that Mark has exactly what Credit Union 1 needs to lead this organization into the future.” The credit union also promoted Chief Financial Officer Chad Bostick to Executive Vice President. Bostick is a born and raised Bostick Alaskan who joined the credit union movement in 2008 and has been CU1’s CFO since 2018. Cavin says, “Chad is a phenomenal team player and has helped make Credit Union 1 an incredible place to work. His ability to solve big problems and manage projects has continued to impress and inspire those around him.”

Northrim Bank

Northrim Bank recently hired two executive officers and also promoted three management employees. Stefan Saldanha joined Northrim in July as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Saldanha most recently served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General at the Alaska Department of Law in Anchorage. He also worked for Russell Investments. Saldanha earned his JD and MBA from Georgetown University. Dana Cherry started working at Northrim this summer as Vice President, Lending Branch Manager at the Ketchikan Financial Center. Cherry has eighteen years of lending experience in Alaska, Montana, and Oregon. She graduated summa cum laude from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in education. Deborah Bolton, a Northrim employee since 2009, is now Associate Vice President, Branch Manager at the Eastside Community branch. Bolton has nineteen years of experience in the financial industry and holds an associate degree from Weber State University. Samrie Canales is promoted to Assistant Branch Manager, Float Pool. Canales started at Northrim in 2021 and has more than ten years of customer service and management experience. Nikki Tandy is now Assistant Branch Manager at Midtown Financial Center. Tandy joined Northrim in 2014 and has worked with the float pool and at the Wasilla Financial Center before transferring to the Midtown Financial Center in Anchorage.

Arbor Capital Management

Two new Financial Advisors join the team at Arbor Capital Management’s Anchorage headquarters in the Dimond Center. Matt Knell, a certified financial planner, has more than eighteen years of experience in retirement plan consulting and investment management. Knell earned his bachelor’s degree from Liberty University and his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University. He serves as a board member for the Alaska Zoo and is an active member of the Anchorage Estate Planning Council. Paul Hurley joins Arbor Capital with more than nineteen years of banking, investment management, and ERISA plan consulting experience, specializing in Alaska Native corporations. Raised in Bristol Bay, Hurley earned the Accredited Asset Management Specialist designation, which helps him guide clients through complex financial planning conversations.

Knell

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Hurley

Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center

The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks named Tania Clucas as Executive Director, responsible for managing the Clucas building, promoting its use, and raising funds. The center, named for the former Doyon CEO, hosts Explore Fairbanks and the Alaska Public Lands Information Center. Clucas earned degrees in geography and science management at UAF and most recently worked as legislative staff.

National Park Service

The National Park Service selected David Alberg as Deputy Regional Director for Alaska. Prior to beginning the assignment in October, Alberg Alberg was the head of the resource management and compliance division at Lake Mead National Recreation

Committed to the Alaska Spirit

Area in Nevada and Arizona. He had served as Alaska’s acting deputy regional director over the summer. Alberg grew up in Colorado and Washington and received his bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and a master’s degree in education from the college of William and Mary in Virginia. He first visited Alaska in 1986 working on commercial fishing boats out of Dutch Harbor.

Corps of Engineers

The deputy legal counsel for the US Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District took over the top spot earlier this year. As District Counsel, Prieksat Matthew Prieksat serves as the chief legal advisor to the district commander, as well as other senior leaders and staff, while operating as a member of the organization’s corporate board. In 2007, Prieksat obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from Fort Hays State University in Kansas, where he was a member of the 2003 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion baseball team.

R&M Consultants

Engineering firm R&M Consultants expanded its team, including the first person hired at a new branch office in Juneau.

Amy Rodman joined R&M Consultants as an Environmental Geologist in the firm’s Earth Sciences Department in Juneau. In that role, Rodman supports contaminated site and geotechnical investigation work. Rodman has a bachelor’s degree in geology from UAF. She has conducted fieldwork from the North Slope to Southeast Alaska and managed contaminated sites as a regulator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Peter Smith joined R&M Consultants as an Engineering Associate in the firm’s Construction Services Department, performing field inspections and materials testing. He also supports R&M’s Anchorage Materials Laboratory staff. Smith has a bachelor’s degree in the German language from UAA and a master’s degree in German languages and literature from Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany. Prior to joining R&M, Smith was a materials lab technician for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Central Region.

Rodman Smith

Municipality of Anchorage

The new Airport Manager at Merrill Field in Anchorage is Rich Sewell. Mayor Dave Bronson selected Sewell to run the city-owned airport. Sewell spent the last eighteen years as an aviation policy planner for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Sewell previously worked for the municipality during the administration of George M. Sullivan after graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He earned an MBA from UAA in 1997.

Coffman Engineers

Tija Baker, at the Anchorage office of Coffman Engineers, earned her Alaska Professional Engineering license in mechanical engineering. Baker graduated from UAA with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and joined Coffman in 2011. She specializes in cathodic protection and facility piping corrosion inspection for oil and gas companies.

Baker

Great Alaskan Holidays

Great Alaskan Holidays added three RV Technicians to its motor home sales and rental technical support team. Adam Moody worked previously as a mechanic at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport for the Alaska Department of Moody Transportation and Public Facilities. Jordan Rhoades, who was born and raised in Wasilla, comes to Great Alaskan Holidays from Calista Rhoades Corporation, where he worked as a rig hand on a drill floor in the North Slope oil and gas sector. Robert Shomler also worked previously on the North Slope. Shomler A lifelong Alaskan himself, Shomler worked as a mechanic on facility maintenance with the oil field supply company Coville.

MTA

MTA promoted Jenna Deason to Sales Trainer, coaching the sales team on product updates. Deason has been in MTA’s marketing Deason department for three years, focusing on brand consistency and customer communications. Deason earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and new media from Colorado State University Pueblo and a master’s degree in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University.