The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has hired Mary Johnson as the Tribal Family & Youth Services (TFYS) Director and Gail Cheney as the Senior Director of Organizational Development. It also announced the promotion of Alison Schoonover to Manager of its Sacred Grounds Café.

As the TFYS director, Johnson provides direct oversight of all department staff and the planning, development, and implementation of the Tribe’s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), elderly services, and wellness programs and activities. Johnson received a bachelor’s in social work and a master’s in community psychology from UAF. She previously served as the program manager of Tanana Chiefs Conference’s Child Protection Program. She also worked as a behavioral health clinician and became a licensed professional counselor before returning to work in child welfare.

In Cheney’s new position as senior director of organizational development, she supports Tlingit & Haida’s leadership and management team to develop strategies that foster organizational change and promote innovation and growth, enhance effectiveness, and uphold the mission and vision of the tribe. Cheney holds a bachelor’s in urban studies and planning from MIT as well as a master’s in business administration and management. She also holds a PhD in leadership and organizational change from Antioch University Seattle. Cheney has eighteen years of professional experience with Alaska Native regional and village corporations and in fields including consulting, academia, nonprofit, and environmental.

Schoonover joined the Sacred Grounds team in 2017 as a barista with six years of experience in the café community. As the Sacred Grounds Café manager, Schoonover oversees hiring and training new baristas, works directly with staff to expand the Sacred Grounds Café brand, and develops and executes sales and profit plans.

Vitus Energy announced several new hires and promotions.

Charlotte Long was hired as Inventory Manager. Long has more than twenty-five years of experience in logistics and inventory management, with twelve years in the Alaska fuel industry. Long came to Vitus Energy from JB Gottstein where she was the sales representative and handled logistics for the bypass system. Long has bachelors’ in business management and global logistics management from UAA.

James Ochoa has been promoted to Asset Manager. In his new position, Ochoa is responsible for procurement, logistics, and management of the company’s assets, as well as general asset compliance. Ochoa began his career in the oil and gas industry in 2014 and joined the Vitus Energy team 2016 as an operations support specialist responsible for organizing, coordinating, and administering support for marine operations. He provided ground support and logistics for multiple projects and operations across the state.

Douglas Peoples was hired as Facilities Manager. Peoples comes to Vitus Energy with more than twenty-five years of experience in facilities management. Prior to Vitus Energy, Peoples worked for Liquor Stores North where he managed more than twenty facilities and oversaw the renovation of five stores where he was responsible for directing crews of subcontractors and the direct hire of maintenance workers.

Cliff Brown joins Vitus Energy as Senior Retail Manager. Brown has more than twenty years of high-level management experience. He possesses strong planning, organizational development, office technology, and general management qualifications. Prior to Vitus Energy, Brown was a regional field trainer and recruiter and a district manager for Holiday Station stores, where he supported management in the development and implementation of personnel policies and procedures. Brown has a doctorate of business administration from Northcentral University, a master’s in business management, and a bachelor’s in management from National American University.

Brady Borum joins Vitus Energy as Senior Shoreside Manager for Central Alaska. Borum came to Alaska in 2005 with the US Air Force. Before joining Vitus Energy he was the director of fuel marketing and operation for the road system in Alaska where he was responsible for handling issues related to supply, logistics, trucking, business development, and marketing while working with a spectrum of customers from across the state.

Dr. Tod A. Burnett is the new President of the University of Alaska Foundation and Chief Development Officer of the University of Alaska. Burnett was previously the executive vice chancellor for advancement at Brandman University and has extensive experience in higher education philanthropy and nonprofit leadership. In addition to his advancement position at Brandman, Burnett served as the university’s interim dean for the school of education and as adjunct faculty. He earned a bachelor’s in political science from University of California, Riverside, a master’s in management/finance from University of Southern California, and a doctorate in education and psychology from Pepperdine University.

Italia A. Carson opened North Pole’s first law office. More than half of her twenty-year legal career has been spent as a federal government contracts attorney for the US Army and US Air Force. Carson’s civil practice focuses on counseling small business contractors on the full range of federal procurement matters such as proposal preparation, contract interpretation, bid protests, disputes and claims, and suspension and debarment. Carson received her juris doctor from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and holds a master of laws with a certificate in contract and fiscal law.

Trihydro Corporation has named Kurt Tuggle as its new President and CEO. Tuggle started his career with Trihydro in 1992 after completing a civil/environmental engineering degree from the University of Wyoming. For the last twenty-eight years, Tuggle has served in roles of increasing levels of responsibility and has been a key member of Trihydro’s leadership team for the last decade, most recently as chief operations officer. As a member of the leadership team, Tuggle helped advance the company’s culture of excellence by building strong teams, developing employee focused programs, and driving operational efficiencies.

Vanessa Crandell-Beck recently joined R&M Consultants as an Environmental Geologist in the firm’s Earth Sciences Department. In this role, Crandell-Beck supports contaminated site and geotechnical investigation work, including subsurface investigation and site characterization, chemical sampling, material site assessment, geologic mapping, engineering geology, aerial photo interpretation, planning, budgeting, executing environmental and geotechnical site investigations, technical report writing, and data analysis for a variety of Alaska infrastructure projects. She holds bachelors’ in geology and oceanography, both from Humboldt State University, as well as a master’s in geology from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

R&M also expanded its service offerings in Fairbanks to include environmental services with the addition of Erica Betts. Betts joins R&M as an environmental specialist focused on NEPA compliance in its Earth Sciences Department. She is responsible for environmental compliance tasks and other related office and field-based environmental services. Betts has six years of experience as an environmental specialist in Alaska, as well as an additional six years of environmental research and field experience. She holds a bachelor’s in biology with a specialization in ecology, evolution, and population biology from Purdue University and master’s in city/regional planning and civil engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Cameron Klatt has joined PND Engineers’ geotechnical team. Klatt earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Montana State University and a master’s in geotechnical engineering from the University of Washington. He interned with HDL Engineering and Kiewit Bridge and Marine.

Michael Ulmgren brings experience as a research professional at UAA, where he conducted wave and storm surge modeling, shoreline change modeling, and sediment transport studies. Before UAA, Ulmgren was a civil associate at Michael Baker International, where he performed hydraulic and hydrology modeling and analysis, stream stability, and scour analysis.