Movers and Shakers for May 12

Amanda Moser was hired as the new executive director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership Ltd., effective April 29. Moser comes to Anchorage Downtown Partnership having served the Municipality of Anchorage working in areas of elections and serving as the Deputy Municipal Clerk. Through her tenure, she managed and administered all aspects of Anchorage’s municipal elections for 122 precincts. Moser was a major factor of creating and successfully implementing the Vote by Mail project for Anchorage. Moser has also worked for the State of Alaska where she developed and implemented strategy and messaging, including planning and organizing logistics for Alaskan business leaders traveling to Asia for Opportunity Alaska: China Trade Mission. Moser brings with her a wealth of volunteerism and community engagement experience including but not limited to: Alaska Journal of Commerce Top Forty Under 40; Parlor in the Round Song Board; Institute of the North; United Way Emerging Leaders Advisory Council; Blood Bank of Alaska, 5-gallon donor to present; Lead North Advisory Council; Engage Anchorage; and, Alaska Women’s Giving Circle, and more.

Coffman Engineers Inc. announced leadership changes to the mechanical engineering department. The commercial mechanical department is led by Brent Little, PE, and the industrial mechanical department is led by Trevor Buron, PE. Little and Buron are both principals and owners of the firm. Under Jeff Gries’ leadership the mechanical department has more than doubled over the last 15 years. As vice president of oil and gas services, Gries, PE, remains responsible for the development of Coffman’s oil and gas services throughout our company. Little has more than 15 years of mechanical design experience and has been with Coffman for a decade. He was born and raised in Eagle River and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University. Little leads a commercial mechanical engineering department of 10 staff and specializes in engineering for federal, corrections, utilities, education, and healthcare projects. Buron has 14 years of experience, all of which have been with Coffman. He was born in Fairbanks, raised in Healy and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Idaho. Buron leads the industrial mechanical engineering department of 12 staff and specializes in industrial facility engineering, pipeline design, and all aspects of implementing in-line inspections, integrity assessments, and repairs of oil and gas pipelines.

Stantec recently added three team members to its Environmental Services group in Alaska, expanding in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wasilla. Victor Ross, Steve Reidsma and Zach Baer join the 22-person Alaska environmental team, adding more than 75 years of collective project experience. Ross, Reidsma and Baer come to Stantec from another Alaska environmental firm, greatly expanding Stantec’s Environmental Services experience, with a particular focus on wetlands, baseline data collection, and permitting for mining and transportation projects. As a team, Reidsma, Ross and Baer have conducted baseline wetlands data collection and permitting around the state. They have completed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering permitting for major Alaska projects, including the Donlin Gold Project; Kivalina Evacuation Road; Cape Blossom to Kotzebue Road; and expansions at Fort Knox, Pogo, and Red Dog mines. Ross is a senior associate and senior regulatory specialist working from Stantec’s Wasilla office. He has 40 years of experience, most of it in Alaska, working for private firms and both the USACE and the Bureau of Land Management. He has been involved in key decision documents and permits for USACE and BLM, including mineral exploration, placer and hard rock mines, oil and gas, sand and gravel, airports, and roads. He is a 20-year member of the Alaska Miners Association and has worked on some of the state’s major mine projects—Red Dog, Fort Knox, True North, Pogo, and Kensington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Reidsma is a senior wetland scientist working from the Fairbanks office. He has more than 25 years of Alaska natural resources experience and leads teams conducting natural resource baseline and permitting work for small retail developments to larger transportation, mining and pipeline projects. Reidsma has completed wetland field delineations, functional assessments, and preliminary jurisdictional determination reports for projects throughout Alaska. He has conducted wildlife surveys, recreation management, reclamation and remediation work, and fisheries and wildlife management as the former environmental manager at Fort Wainwright. He is an Army veteran. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Baer is an environmental scientist and professional wetland scientist with 12 years of experience. He will work from the Anchorage office. Baer has focused on vegetation mapping, exotic and rare plant surveys and identification, stream characterization and monitoring, groundwater hydrology monitoring, GIS analysis, and other state and federal environmental permitting throughout his career. He earned bachelor’s degrees in both biological sciences and natural resources management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Kuna Engineering added Michael Willmon, BSEE, PE, CEM, as electrical engineering manager in the company’s Anchorage office. Willmon brings 27 year of experience in telecommunications, site design and construction. In this role, Willmon oversees the Anchorage office’s electrical projects and pursuits, as well as managing a team of electrical engineers and designers. Prior to joining Kuna, Willmon worked at GCI for 17 years as a project engineer including work on their terrestrial microwave network.