Bethany Harbison has practiced law in Alaska for almost twenty-five years after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1993. She clerked for Alaska’s Judge Greene, worked as a public defender and magistrate judge, and currently works as the presiding superior court judge, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks. She will join the Alaska Court of Appeals.
Terrence Haas practiced law in Alaska for close to ten years after graduating from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2007. He clerked for the Rhode Island Supreme Court before moving to Bethel, where he has been the supervisor for the Bethel and Dillingham Public Defender Offices for the last ten years. He will join the Bethel Superior Court.
Daniel Schally has practiced law in Alaska for more than twenty years, clerking in Kodiak and working as an assistant district attorney for Southeast before becoming district court judge and superior court judge pro tempore in Southcentral in 2005. He will join the Juneau Superior Court.
Jason Gist has practiced law in Alaska for more than fourteen years after graduating from the University of California–Berkeley School of Law in 2004. He clerked for Alaska’s Chief Justice Alexander O. Bryner, worked in private practice, and has been an assistant district attorney for the State of Alaska since 2008. He will join the Kenai Superior Court.
Governor Mike Dunleavy appointed John MacKinnon as commissioner of the Department of Transportation. MacKinnon worked as executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska from 2008 to 2018. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marine resource ecology from Huxley College of Environmental Studies.
Kevin Linkenhoker has recently been hired as a full-time member of the Great Alaskan Holidays vehicle maintenance technician team. With more than six years of relative technical experience, Linkenhoker joins a long list of skilled technicians who are directly responsible for inspecting, maintaining, and ensuring the safe operation of Great Alaskan Holidays’ fleet of motor homes.
USDA appointed David Schmid as Regional Forester for the Forest Service’s Alaska Region. As regional forester, Schmid will oversee management of more than 22 million acres of National Forest System lands in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska.
Cobb is a Senior Mechanical Engineer with more than twenty years of experience in the oil and gas industry, working on both onshore and offshore facilities. He is a US Army veteran and a graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical and civil engineering.
Iwinski joins Stantec as its Projects Control Lead for petroleum work. She has more than ten years of experience in the oil and gas industry, working on projects ranging in value from $1 million to $8 billion. She is a graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Arnold joined Stantec in 2017 as a project engineer; in his new project management role he is responsible for the delivery of a wide variety of projects for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. He has ten years of experience in the oil and gas industry and is a registered project management professional. He is a graduate of the University of Idaho.
Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska promoted Frances Andrews to Tribal Court Administrator. Andrews joined the Tribal Court in July 2017 to serve as the lead clerk. In her new role, Andrews will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Tribal Court. Andrews is in her final year of school and will be receiving her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in management from UAS.
Northrim Bank announced two new hires and two promotions.
Glenn Schmitz, Cybersecurity Program Manager, joins Northrim Bank with twenty-four years of IT and cybersecurity experience with the US Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in information technology management from Trident University International.
Kristi Dent, Consumer Lender, comes to Northrim Bank after working at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union for the past nine years. She has worked in consumer lending for three years and holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Western Governors University.
Anita DeVore, VP Regional Sales and Service Manager, has been with Northrim Bank for more than fourteen years. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in the banking industry. DeVore holds a Series 65 securities license as an investment advisor representative for Northrim Investment Services.
Maia Hernandez, AVP, Branch Manager Float Team, joined Northrim Bank in 2015 and has eleven years of experience in the industry, starting as a teller and advancing to a business banker and float manager.
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center welcomed Dr. Michelle Oakley as the newest addition to the animal care staff. Oakley will perform veterinary duties including diagnosis, assisting in treatments, and researching medical conditions of AWCC’s resident animals. Oakley joins AWCC with eighteen years’ experience as a veterinarian, having previously worked at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and the Calgary Zoo.
Stacey Glaser has been hired as Director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue. Glaser has been with Chukchi Campus for more than twenty-one years. She served most recently as the director for the Chukchi Consortium Library in Kotzebue, a job that included managing the branch library in the village of Selawik. Glaser earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Washington.
GCI promoted Heather Handyside to Vice President of Corporate Communications and Community Engagement within the company’s legal and policy department. In her new role, Handyside and her team will bring even greater focus and intensity to GCI’s external messaging on policy issues. Handyside, who joined GCI in 2015, will continue to serve as the company’s primary spokesperson, utilizing her twenty years of government, nonprofit, and private sector communications experience.
Alex Hofeling has been selected as the Vice President and General Manager for TOTE Maritime’s Alaska office and operations. In this role, Hofeling will oversee both the Anchorage and Fairbanks offices. Hofeling has been with TOTE Maritime since September 2013. Over the last five years, Hofeling played an instrumental role in TOTE Maritime’s success in Alaska. Before TOTE, Hofeling worked for Coastal Transportation and served in the US Coast Guard.
Attorney General Kevin G. Clarkson appointed John Novak as the Anchorage District Attorney. Novak has worked in the Criminal Division of the Department of Law since 1990 and has worked on homicide cases, handling federal prosecutions as a Special Assistant to the United States Attorney, advising the Department of Public Safety, and more.
