Movers & Shakers for May 21, 2023

After a nationwide search, the Alaska Travel Industry Association has selected Jillian Simpson as its next president and CEO. Simpson has worked in the Alaska tourism industry for more than 20 years and spent much of her career at ATIA, from 2004 to 2021, rising from director of travel trade and international marketing to vice president in that time.

Simpson begins her new role at ATIA on May 22.

Simpson began her career at the Alaska SeaLife Center in 2000 before joining ATIA in 2004 to manage the travel trade and international marketing program. In 2013, she transitioned to overseeing ATIA’s membership and tourism policy initiatives and was promoted to vice president in 2016 and was tasked with overseeing the State of Alaska’s destination marketing program. Simpson is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Arctic and northern studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

A professional engineer with more than 25 years of experience with a leading energy company in the Upper Midwest is joining Chugach Electric Association, Inc., as chief strategic officer. Allan Rudeck Jr. will join Chugach in June 2023.

Rudeck comes to Chugach from ALLETE, a publicly held energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. ALLETE is comprised of regulated utilities as well as non-regulated operations and other energy-centric businesses. Rudeck played a key role in growing ALLETE to become the top ranked investor-owned utility for investment in renewable energy based on market capitalization. He has extensive experience with renewable energy development and acquisitions, including the addition of multiple large-scale wind projects, acquisition of a leading a distributed solar company, as well as the diversification and decarbonization efforts at Minnesota Power, where the company transitioned its power supply from 95% coal in 2005, to 51% renewables in 2022.

Rudeck has worked with ALLETE in various capacities since 1996 including engineer, plant manager, director of Engineering Services; Vice President, Generation; Vice President, Strategy and Planning; President, ALLETE Clean Energy; and, most recently, as ALLETE Safety and External Affairs Officer.

Some key responsibilities for Rudeck at Chugach will include leading the planning and development of key strategic initiatives, developing and maintaining Chugach’s Strategic Plan, preparing and maintaining the utility’s integrated resource plan, as well as working closely with key accounts and government and non-government organizations. Rudeck has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Northrim BanCorp announces the retirement of Residential Mortgage Chief Executive Officer, Steve Aldrich. Residential Mortgage is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrim Bank which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrim BanCorp.

Aldrich’s last day with the company was May 5. He had been with Residential Mortgage since they opened their doors in 1998 and served as the executive vice president, chief operating officer, and president, before assuming the chief executive officer role.

Aldrich remains connected to Anchorage and will continue to serve on the Residential Mortgage Board of Managers after his retirement.

Residential Mortgage President Mike Baldwin is promoted to the position of president, CEO and COO, effective May 8. Baldwin has 37 years of experience in the mortgage industry, 32 years as an executive in management and has been with Residential Mortgage as the chief operating officer since 2021. He was promoted in 2022 to the position of president and chief operating officer.

MTA has announced that Ryan Ponder has been promoted to Vice President of Legal, Regulatory, and Government Affairs from Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs. In this role, he will continue to make significant progress to MTA’s tribal and government relations strategies. Carin Yeh has been promoted to Manager of Grants and Regulatory Affairs from Grants Officer at MTA. Jess Gilbert has been promoted to Director of Marketing and Communications, after serving as Corporate Communications Manager since 2019. In this new role, Gilbert will oversee marketing along with all external and internal communications at MTA, including initiatives involving the MTA Foundation and MTA Gaming.

The University of Alaska Anchorage Office of Alumni Relations and the UAA Alumni Association are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 UAA Alumni of Distinction awards. These three distinguished UAA alumni were honored for their outstanding contributions in their chosen fields and communities at the university’s annual Alumni of Distinction Celebration Banquet.

Alumni Emerging Leader: Marie-Sophie Boggasch. B.S. Aviation Technology ‘16, M.S. Interdisciplinary Studies ‘20. Women’s gymnastics head coach at UAA. Originally from Germany, Boggasch came to Anchorage in 2012 when she was recruited to UAA as a student-athlete. After graduating and working in Alaska’s aviation industry, Boggasch returned to UAA as a gymnastics coach. In that time, she helped lead fundraising efforts to save Seawolf gymnastics from elimination, raising more than $900,000.

Alumni Humanitarian: Maggie Winston. A.A. General Program ‘13, B.A. Psychology ‘15. Program director at Independent Living Center. When Winston was 21, she was diagnosed with idiopathic transverse myelitis, leaving her without the use of her arms and legs. Since then, Winston has become a fierce advocate for expanding services for people with disabilities through her work on various boards, councils, nonprofits, and her current position as director for independent living programs at the Independent Living Center in Kenai.

Alumni of Achievement: Kenneth McCoy. B.A. Justice ‘96. Division chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Providence. As division chief DEI officer at Providence, McCoy promotes culturally-competent patient-centered care across the organization in Alaska and Puget Sound. Before joining Providence in 2022, McCoy retired from a 27-year career with the Anchorage Police Department, starting at the patrol level before culminating as chief of police. McCoy is returning to law enforcement as the new chief of police in Tempe, Arizona, and begins in that role in June, according to the Tempe Police Department.

Ben Kellie is joining the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development (UA CED) as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR). In this role, Kellie will apply his years of experience as an startup founder to entrepreneur development programming, coaching and mentoring, and broader entrepreneurial ecosystem building while maintaining his role as CEO and Founder at The Launch Co.

Kellie has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, as well as a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University. Before returning to Alaska, Ben worked in rocketry at SpaceX, designing and operating launch sites, and ran the first missions to return a first-stage from orbit. In 2021, Kellie’s startup, The Launch Co. was acquired by Voyager Space. Kellie joins UA CED as Katherine Jernstrom, former EIR, wraps up three years in the role.

Mt. McKinley Bank announced the promotion of Kaye Kingkade to executive vice president and chief operations officer. Kingkade joined the Mt. McKinley Bank team 35 years ago as a teller and has worked her way up through the department, working side-by-side with the previous COO for many years, to become its newest leader. Mt. McKinley Bank also announced the promotion of Stephanie Smith to Vice President, Operations Development Officer. Smith has been an integral part of the Operations Department since joining the bank in 2009. Having worked her way up through the ranks, Smith has extensive knowledge in all aspects of Mt. McKinley Bank’s depository services and her primary responsibilities are within the New Accounts area. Mt. McKinley Bank also announced the promotion of Linda Benson to Assistant Vice President, Mortgage Lending. Benson has been a member of the Mortgage Loans Department since she joined the bank originally in 2012. She has a background in law and degrees in Political Science and Business Administration. Mt. McKinley Bank also announced the promotion of Matt Bradbury to Assistant Vice President, Branch Manager. Bradbury has been a member of the Operations team since coming to Alaska and starting his career at Mt. McKinley Bank in 2014.