Rocky Elerding has been promoted to Vice President, Mortgage Sales Manager for First Bank in Ketchikan. He’s been with First Bank since 2004 and has worked in the field of finance for the past twenty years. He manages all the bank’s mortgage lenders in Southeast Alaska. Elerding graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington’s MBA program.

Alaska Humanities Forum hired George Martinez as its new Director of Leadership Programs. In this role, Martinez will be the lead for Leadership Anchorage and he will oversee leadership programming across the organization. Martinez comes to the Forum from the Municipality of Anchorage where he spent the past four years as special assistant to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, focusing on economic development, youth development, education, and diversity.

Design Alaska promoted, Emily Winfield PE, to head its Mechanical Engineering Department. Winfield is a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, with a degree in mechanical engineering. She will oversee a department of nine engineers who perform design, cost estimating, commissioning, and construction administration.

Evergreen Business Capital promoted Theo Ransum to AVP/Loan Officer. In addition to administering Evergreen’s SBA Community Advantage Program, Ransum will also take the lead on connecting Alaska small businesses with access to capital under Evergreen’s SBA 504 Loan Program. Since 2016, Ransum has served as Evergreen’s Programs Loan Officer, where he educated small businesses about the benefits of the Community Advantage Program.

First Alaskans Institute announced that Barbara ‘Wáahlaal Gíídaak Blake has recently been hired as its Alaska Native Policy Center Director. ‘Wáahlaal Gíídaak will promote the self-determination of Alaska Native peoples through strengthening opportunities for indigenous voices to be at the forefront of leading, solving, confronting, and advocating for their communities. She earned her master’s degree from University of Alaska Fairbanks in rural development, focused on fisheries development in rural Alaska.

J. Nathan Boltz has been selected as the Executive Director of Challenge Alaska. In his new role Boltz will lead Challenge Alaska operations. Boltz brings more than twenty years of professional experience, including more than a decade of experience leading organizations dedicated to serving Alaskans with disabilities.

Cornerstone General Contractors announced that Senior Project Manager Jonathan Hornak has become the company’s newest Partner. Hornak started his career with Cornerstone in 2008 as an intern on the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic project. After graduating with a bachelor of science in construction management from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2009, he joined Cornerstone as a full-time employee. Over the last decade, Hornak has served in nearly every role that Cornerstone offers.

Schwarz joined Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot after practicing with a prominent law firm based in New York for thirteen years. Schwarz has represented and counseled clients in a wide variety of matters including real estate, land use and zoning, municipal law, environmental law, foreclosure, contracts, commercial disputes, and business torts.

Widmer joined the firm in November 2018, bringing more than thirteen years of civil and criminal litigation experience throughout Alaska. Widmer began his legal career in private practice in Bethel. After five years, he moved to Anchorage where he worked for the Office of Public Advocacy and the Public Defender Agency, handling felony-level offenses, parole, and post-conviction relief. Widmer graduated from William & Mary Law School.

Kendall Auto Alaska hired John Guintu as Community Relations Manager. In his new role, Guintu is responsible for managing the organization’s community engagement initiatives and charitable giving. He brings with him more than eight years of experience working in community development and nonprofit management. Guintu holds a BBA with an emphasis in marketing from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Maddy Herrin has recently been named as the new Service Writer at Great Alaskan Holidays. As a service writer, Herrin is directly responsible for the coordination of customer RV repair and service needs with the company’s entire sales, production, and technical teams. Prior to joining Great Alaskan Holidays, Herrin held a similar position with Kendall Ford.

John Golick joined UIC as General Manager of the Rockford Corporation. Golick has nearly thirty years of experience in general and mechanical construction. His leadership roles inside of the industry have included overall management, estimating, business development, and marketing. Golick has previously worked at SKW Eskimos, Alaska Mechanical, and various other mechanical and general construction companies.

Coffman Engineers announced the addition of Richard (Rick) Harvey, FPE, to its Anchorage office team. Harvey brings to Coffman more than thirty years of experience in fire protection engineering, mechanical engineering, and project management of government and industrial projects including both new facility design and renovation of existing systems. He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Breeden joins Northrim with fifteen years of experience in the financial industry, ten of those years as a lender. He holds a bachelor of applied science in management from Wayland Baptist University.

Hill comes to Northrim Bank with more than twenty-five years of experience working with public and private companies with an emphasis on SEC filings and board of directors and shareholders meetings.

Toller comes to Northrim Bank with fifteen years of experience in the financial industry, twelve of those in training. He holds a BBA from Wayland Baptist University. Toller is Integrity Selling for Service Professionals certified.

Liska joins Northrim Bank with more than sixteen years of experience in the financial industry. During her time at Alaska USA she developed policy, procedure, training and other materials for systems and front line related processes.

Watkins joins Northrim Bank with more than thirteen years of experience in the financial industry. He has worked in banking in both Nome and Fairbanks. Watkins holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and an MBA from the University of Alaska Southeast.