A spinoff of Cook Inlet Housing Authority gained a new CEO for the new year.

The board of Cook Inlet Lending Center (CILC) named Jeff Tickle as CEO. Tickle had served as the general manager for CILC since 2015. As CEO, he is responsible for expanding residential mortgage lending and small business lending opportunities to underserved people in communities across Alaska. Tickle is a UAA graduate with thirteen years of banking and mortgage experience.

The CILC team includes Joe Chavez, hired last July as Mortgage Loan Originator. Chavez has seventeen years of banking, consumer lending, and mortgage lending experience. In his role, Chavez supports the growth of CILC’s mortgage lending across Alaska by assisting homeowners in their pursuit of homeownership.

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union added two new vice presidents to its executive leadership team and promoted a current executive.

Jeff Gregg, previously vice president, Business and Commercial Lending, received a promotion to Executive Director, Business and Commercial Services. In his new role, Gregg is responsible for planning, implementation, direction, and control of all business and commercial lending and deposit activities, including coordination of operations, sales, and administration functions. Gregg has more than 35 years of commercial lending experience and has been with Alaska USA since 2016.

Bryan Rosbach takes Gregg’s place as the new Vice President, Business and Commercial Lending. In his new role, Rosbach manages commercial loan production with a team that spans Alaska; Washington; Maricopa County, Arizona; and San Bernardino County, California. Rosbach has been with Alaska USA for 5 years and started as a commercial loan officer prior to this promotion.

Noël Gabler was promoted to Vice President, Corporate Relations. In her new role, Gabler is responsible for management of community partnerships, employee engagement, and the administration of the credit union’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Gabler has been with Alaska USA for 12 years and served as marketing manager before transitioning to the corporate relations team in 2018. Gabler brings experience in nonprofit management, marketing, and advertising to her new role.

The first person to hold the position of Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at GCI is a 25-year veteran of the telecom company. In the new role, Deborah Ferrell focuses on growing the company’s Business Resource Groups, which are voluntary employee groups organized around a shared background, interest, or issue. GCI created the DEI director position last year, and a year earlier Ferrell was chosen as the first chair of GCI’s DEI Council. Ferrell was previously GCI’s director of consumer sales and retail operations since 2019. She joined GCI in 1996 after working her way up from teller to supervisor at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. Ferrell has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UAA.

Coffman Engineers added Process Safety Management (PSM) to the services in its Anchorage office and hired Sisi Cooper as the new Senior Process Safety Consultant. PSM complements many of Coffman’s process and mechanical engineering services, integrating technologies, procedures, and management practices to help organizations comply with federal regulations and keep employees and environments safe. Cooper has worked for firms specializing in process control and process safety consulting, engineering, and integration services and has overseen PSM teams. Much of her focus has been on process safety and risk management for upstream and midstream oil and gas projects in Alaska.

Jason Gresehover recently joined the staff at Nortech as an environmental engineer. Gresehover graduated from UAF with degrees in civil engineering and mathematics, and he holds a 40-hour HAZWOPER training certificate. Gresehover has conducted Phase I and Phase II investigations throughout Alaska. He has been project lead on several site remediation projects and has experience in all aspects of investigations, including site research, regulatory approval for sampling plans, conducting soil and groundwater sampling, and tank removal. He adds to Nortech’s expertise in fuel system decommissioning, environmental permitting, and water and wastewater systems design.

NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region selected Amilee Wilson as Tribal Relations Coordinator. Wilson previously served as the tribal coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regional Office in Lacey, Washington, and in Portland, Oregon. She worked extensively on grants administration, including emergency fisheries funding, and she revamped the Tribal Relations Training Program. Wilson is a descendant of the Shinnecock Nation on the eastern side of Long Island, New York, but she was raised on the West Coast at a 200-acre cattle ranch near Olympia, Washington. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and a master’s degree in public policy from Evergreen State College. She currently resides in Yakutat.

MCG Explore Design, formerly the firm of McCool Carlson Green, promoted an interior designer to Principal and Owner. As part of the ownership team, Melissa Pribyl plays a pivotal role in the future growth of the design firm. Raised in Alaska, Pribyl graduated with a degree in interior design from Northern Arizona University in 2007 and joined MCG in 2016. She is certified by the National Council for Interior Design Qualification and the American Society of Interior Designers and is an accredited professional in the WELL building standard.

The Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) promoted its controller, Michelle Maddox, as the new Chief Financial Officer. As head of the ARRC Finance Division, Maddox oversees the railroad’s financial planning and analysis, accounting, supply management, grant administration, technology, and risk management. The CFO also advises the railroad’s executive management team and board of directors in financial matters. Originally from Idaho, Maddox completed her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Utah State University. She and her husband moved to Alaska in 1998, and within weeks she secured a job as assistant controller with the railroad. Since then, Maddox has been in charge of payroll and accounts payable, and she was promoted to controller in 2020.

The acting Chief Fiscal Officer for the Municipality of Anchorage can keep the position for the long haul. Grant Yutrzenka has been doing the job since last September, working previously as CFO for the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility as well as its assistant general manager. Mayor Dave Bronson named Yutrzenka as his choice for CFO as of the new year. Yutrzenka has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from UAA. He has more than 30 years of financial and management experience in public accounting, fisheries, and telecommunications, working for Municipal Light and Power, GCI, and UniSea.

An active community volunteer in Palmer has a paid position with the local museum. The board of the Palmer Museum of History and Art hired Amber Lindstrom as Executive Director. Lindstrom was born and raised in Palmer. She has volunteered with Palmer Fire & Rescue and the Greater Palmer Chamber, currently serving on its board of directors. She has also been a board member for the museum. Lindstrom has been working for a Palmer engineering firm in its real estate service section, handling acquisitions and relocations, title research, document preparation, and appraisal review. That role took on greater responsibilities for public involvement and marketing.

The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) at the UAF Geophysical Institute selected Wade Albright as its new Director, overseeing a team of 100 people. He had been serving as interim director since late January 2022, when then-Director Nettie La Belle-Hamer left to become UAF vice chancellor for research. Albright has been with ASF since 1996, just five years after it became operational.