The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska promoted Royal Hill Jr. to Construction Project Manager for Southeast General Contractors, the Tribe’s new construction company. As the construction project manager, Hill is responsible for overseeing all construction projects, including in-house renovation, new construction, and general maintenance projects for Tlingit & Haida and for-profit public bid projects. Hill attended Haskell University seeking a degree in business administration and received an accounting endorsement through UAS. He has more than twenty years of construction experience and has worked on many projects throughout Southeast, including twenty houses he helped build in Hoonah for the Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority.

Fidelity Title Agency of Alaska hired Paula Price as Escrow Officer. Price was most recently commercial escrow officer for First American Title serving residential and commercial customers. Price brings experience in both escrow and the real estate industry, while excelling in communication and customer service.

United Way of Anchorage announced that Nancy Burke has joined the team as a Special Assistant to President and CEO Clark Halvorson for housing and COVID-19 response programs. Burke brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit, municipal, and state government services to assist in data collection, design, funding, and improvement of community and government systems serving people who are homeless or who experience a mental illness and disability. Burke has a master’s in social work focusing on family and mental health systems and has experience with clinical and housing service design needed for successful supportive housing programs for persons with severe disabling conditions. In her new role, she supports United Way’s Home for Good program on the clinical and housing components of the project as it continues in the first full year of a three-year Pay for Success financed program.

Kevin Larsen joined Peter Pan Seafood Company on the domestic and international sales team as Vice President of International Sales and Business Development. Larsen is a proven seafood sales leader with a diverse background in seafood sourcing and sales. Throughout his career he has worked up and down the West Coast, most recently at Bornstein Seafoods. In addition to extensive experience in domestic US sourcing and sales, Larsen brings extensive international sales and experience, particularly in Europe, from his experience at Icicle Seafoods.

Brody Pierson joined the Peter Pan Seafood Company team leading domestic and international sales for shelf-stable products. Pierson brings extensive domestic canned sales and logistics experience to the team, having most recently served as domestic canned sales manager at Icicle Seafoods and OBI Seafoods. Additionally, Pierson has prior export and trading experience.

Gayle Janzow has been named the Plant Manager for the Valdez plant. Janzow has more than twenty years of experience in seafood operations. She has spent time in production and processing, including value-added at Orca Bay Foods and in production technology at Marel. During college, she began working summers at Peter Pan on the can lines and now years later took the opportunity to return to Peter Pan.

Tiara Davis has accepted the position of Executive Director of Thrivalaska. Davis brings nearly a decade of education and counseling experience, including advocacy, career counseling, and program development. She is also an advocate of the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) model, and has led DEI efforts throughout her career which will be vital to Thrivalaska’s commitment to meeting the challenges of the families it serves.

Anchorage Community Development Authority (ACDA) has promoted Melinda Gant to Community Development & External Affairs Director. During her twenty-one years with ACDA, Gant has worked on a number of large projects including the development of Glenn Square Shopping Center, Northpoint Bluff housing project in Government Hill, rebranding the Anchorage Parking Authority to EasyPark, and development of ACDA’s Parking Program of Best Practices. She’s been part of the creation of community and donation programs and led critical stakeholder meetings for both the parking and development departments.

As the new director, Gant oversees redevelopment projects for ACDA, including the 6th Avenue project and 96 Flats and leasing for ACDA, as well as serving as the liaison for the Board of Directors and oversight of strategic planning.

Museums Alaska has hired Dixie Clough as its Director. Clough now serves as the lead administrator for the statewide organization that works to strengthen museums and cultural centers throughout Alaska. In this role, she manages Museums Alaska’s substantial grant program, oversees the organization’s programming and communications, and supports advocacy efforts. Clough holds a master’s in museum studies from George Washington University and has more than ten years of experience in both arts administration and museum practice. Her resume includes previous appointments with the American Alliance of Museums, the MuseWeb Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Drey Antonio recently joined R&M Consultants as a Staff Engineer in the firm’s airport engineering group. He will assist with planning and design of civil engineering projects, with an emphasis in analysis and design for airport and other civil engineering-related work. His experience includes working as an engineering intern with the Municipality of Anchorage’s Project Management and Engineering Department. In this role, he assisted in gathering ramp and sidewalk data for the City’s ADA compliance plan; completed an ArcGIS database catalog of all ADA ramps and sidewalks; inspected project sites and locations; and surveyed waterways and streams for environmental compliance. He has a bachelor’s in civil engineering from UAA and holds his Engineer-in-Training certificate.

Governor Dunleavy appointed James Cockrell as Commissioner for the Department of Public Safety. Cockrell has served several assignments with the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, starting in 1983 and retiring as a Colonel in 2017. Most recently he was working for Marathon at the Kenai refinery as their site security supervisor.

Mindy O’Neall has been named Executive Director of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center to lead the Alaska nonprofit in promoting and advancing the development of healthy, durable, and sustainable shelter for Alaskans and circumpolar people. She is a communications, marketing, and media consultant with an extensive background in policy and organizational development.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska (BBBSAK) has hired Jillian Lush as its CEO. Lush comes to BBBSAK after a decade of leading Sprout Family Services in Homer, where the core mission is to promote the healthy development of children in partnership with families and community. Lush earned a master’s of social work from Washington University in St. Louis and participated as a Fellow in the Parent Infant Mental Health Post-Graduate Certificate Program, now housed at UC Davis. For the past several years, she has helped lead a team of six Homer-area nonprofits in building a network committed to leading with a trauma-informed approach.