The newest member of the Alaska Business Publishing Company (ABPC) team has been part of the magazine’s extended family for years. As Associate Editor, Rindi White formalizes her previous status as a freelance writer and editor. Her byline has appeared in Alaska Business many times, and she has a regular role as editor of The Alaska Contractor, a quarterly magazine for the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, published by ABPC. Her new responsibilities include writing for Alaska Business and posting articles and event notices to the akbizmag.com website. White earned a degree in English literature at Montana State University in Bozeman and learned the journalism trade at the campus newspaper. She worked for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman for five years and was part of the Valley reporting team for the Anchorage Daily News.

A subsidiary of NANA regional corporation is counting on an expert chef to have the right recipe to feed students throughout Alaska. NMS Food and Facilities Management promoted Scott Evers to the position of Director of Operations, Education. Originally from Eagle River, Evers graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and has been with NMS since 2008, starting as an executive chef. He was promoted to general manager in 2011 and managed accounts such as UAA. Most recently, Evers has overseen many NMS accounts for K-12 schools, and he has taken a larger role supporting NMS Airport Fleet Services, the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma, and Diné College in Arizona. Evers has also owned a catering company that supported movie productions and events such as Arctic Man.

Chugach Alaska made two senior leadership changes, even as the Alaska Native corporation for the Prince William Sound region searches for a new chief executive.

Peter Andersen was appointed COO. In this role, Andersen oversees growth strategy and operations for Chugach’s operating companies and investment portfolio, as well as the business enterprise functions that support them. Andersen most recently served as president of Chugach Commercial Holdings. Prior to that, he held the position of president at Chugach Alaska Services. A Chugach shareholder born and raised in Cordova, Andersen spent many years as a commercial fisherman in Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island, and the Bering Sea.

Katherine Carlton transitioned to Vice President of Operations for Chugach Commercial Holdings, where she drives operational performance for Chugach’s commercial businesses. Originally from Cordova and a Chugach shareholder, Carlton started her Chugach career in 2005 in an entry-level finance role and moved her way up to president and general manager for the Education Division subsidiaries.

Three new managers are in charge of some social services provided by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Erinn Adkins-Franks is now Employment and Training Manager, transferring from her previous position as the tribes’ American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Manager. In her new role, Adkins-Franks leads a team that supports efforts by tribal citizens to obtain long-term employment. Adkins-Franks first joined Tlingit & Haida in 2021 as a customer service technician and program coordinator for the Rescue Relief Household program. She was promoted last year to ARPA manager. Adkins-Franks was raised in Portland, Oregon and currently resides in Eagle River. Her family originates from Ketchikan and Sitka, and she is Eagle Brown Bear. She earned a Bachelor of Administration in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

Also within the Cultural Heritage and Education Division, Benjamin K’uyáang Young is the new Early Education Curriculum Development Manager. In that role, Young develops and implements language curriculum and early education initiatives. Young was raised in Hydaburg and is Raven of the Yahgw’láanaas clan. He attended UAF and Butler University and holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. He also earned a master’s degree in First Nations linguistics from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Young learned Xaad Kíl (the Haida language) from his grandfather and has been teaching since 2014, most recently for the X̱ántsii Náay Haida Immersion Preschool in Hydaburg.

A recent reorganization gave Tlingit & Haida’s Family Services Division responsibility for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Chaix Johnson is promoted to serve as TANF Manager, overseeing financial assistance for Native families in Southeast Alaska. Johnson joined Tlingit & Haida’s team in 2015 serving as Head Start’s family engagement specialist. She transitioned to the TANF Department as a caseworker and has served the last three years as a benefit technician. She previously worked for the City & Borough of Sitka and Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Johnson was born in Glennallen and raised in Sitka. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science degree from UAS with concentrations in psychology, social science, and anthropology.

The Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) in Seward created two new executive leadership positions and selected John Fraser and Neisha Jones to fill them.

Fraser, a noted international conservation psychologist and architect, comes aboard as the center’s new Director of Mission Impact. Fraser works alongside Wei Ying Wong, ASLC’s chief science and education officer, to advance social science research, evaluation, and monitoring. Fraser leads strategies that use scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems. Fraser has led research on the social value of zoos and aquariums. His book with Tawnya Switzer, The Social Value of Zoos, is considered a definitive work on how the zoo and aquarium movement can advance conservation. He founded the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Research and Technology Committee and has continued service on that committee for the past fifteen years.

Human factors are also a focus for Jones as ASLC’s first Director of People and Culture. In this new position, Jones serves as the organizational lead for all human resources and diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion functions. Jones is a certified human resources professional with more than ten years of experience in the nonprofit, public, and education sectors. They have worked with national organizations in labor relations, talent strategy, leadership development, and strategic planning. In addition to their new role at ASLC, Jones serves as board president for New Life Development and as a board member for Best Beginnings.

A pair of managers at Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) in Anchorage are promoted to senior leadership positions.

Rinah Fifield becomes Director of Operations, providing operational leadership and overseeing human resources, supporting efforts related to cultural tourism, and helping to manage programs such as Indigenous Awareness Workshops, Culture Boxes, and the overall ANHC experience for Alaska Native peoples and visitors from across the globe. Fifield first joined ANHC as an events manager to oversee facilities, develop tourism relationships, and coordinate social enterprise operations and revenue streams within ANHC. Born and raised in Anchorage, Fifield previously served as corporate services manager for Cook Inlet Region, Inc.

Also joining the ANHC senior leadership team is Caroline Ulapiŋan Wiseman as Director of Cultural Programming. She notes that the center’s cultural programs played a tremendous role in her life: she began her involvement at ANHC in 2009 as a student in the Afterschool High School Program. Wiseman was born and raised in Anchorage and comes from Iñupiaq, Hawaiian, and European heritage. She received her undergraduate degree in elementary education at Haskell Indian Nations University and taught at Nome Elementary School and Alaska Native Cultural Charter School (ANCCS). Wiseman returned to ANHC in December 2022 as a program manager for the Tin Hoozoonh Apprenticeship.