Alaska Governor Sarah Palin [on June 22, 2009] made appointments to the Alaska Children’s Trust Board, Marine Transportation Advisory Board, Municipal Bond Bank Authority and State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶1).
Alaska Children’s Trust Board
The seven-member board seeks to prevent child abuse and neglect in the state by awarding grants from the Alaska Children’s Trust’s net income to community-based programs, by applying for private and federal grants, and by soliciting contributions to the Trust (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶3).
Governor Palin appointed Ramona M. Reeves and reappointed Margaret A. Volz to the Alaska Children’s Trust Board (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶2).
Biographies of Romona M. Reeves and Margaret A. Volz
Reeves, of Fairbanks, has since 1998 owned and managed the Fairbanks Gold Co., a land development and landscaping firm. From 1983-96, she owned and managed Gold Dredge No. 8, an Interior Alaska tourism business. Reeves is active in Interior community sports. She has served on the board of the Tanana Valley Youth Sports Foundation since 2005, as president of the Northern Area Aquatics Committee since 2001, and as a member of Youth Sports Bingo’s board of directors since 2000. Reeves earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶4).
Reeves was appointed to a public seat.
Volz, of Wasilla, has been a nurse and pediatric nurse practitioner in Alaska since 1986, working at Alaska CARES, an abuse victims’ clinic, since 2006 and from 1997-99; at The Children’s Place in Wasilla from 1998-2007; at Matanuska Health Care Associates from 1994-98; and as a school nurse for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District from 1986-92. She was named the Alaska Nurse Practitioner of the Year in 2000. Volz earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶5).
Volz has served on the board since 2007 and was reappointed to a public seat (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶6).
Marine Transportation Advisory Board
The 11-member board advises the state on issues related to the Alaska Marine Highway System, the state’s ferry service. Board members work with the Department of Transportation to prepare a strategic plan for the ferry system that includes objectives, initiatives and performance goals, consults with the transportation commissioner on appointing the ferry system’s director, and makes recommendations regarding state ferry service to the governor and transportation commissioner (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶8).
Governor Palin appointed Seth D. Church and Patrick A. Owen to the Marine Transportation Advisory Board (MTAB) (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶7).
Biographies of Seth D. Church and Patrick A. Owen
Church, of Fairbanks, is vice president of C Company, a general contracting firm that has built housing in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Bristol Bay and remote villages. He also provides equipment and housing on the North Slope in partnership with Native-owned businesses, and is a partner in a Fairbanks housing ventures. As an intern in a U.S. Senate office, he researched Indian reservation road issues to help improve transportation links for Alaska Natives. Born in Fairbanks, Church has lived in the Philippines, Oregon and the Interior, and graduated from Nenana’s Cyberlynx correspondence high school. He served on the Alaska Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee from 2003-09 (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶9).
Church was appointed to an at-large seat on MTAB, and is one of two members residing in a community not directly served by the state ferry system (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶10).
Owen, of Juneau, is a retired able-bodied seaman who served 13 years with the Alaska Marine Highway System. He worked as a marine engineer and tugboat crewman in Seattle shipyards and as an engine crewman on federal research ships in Southeast Alaska and Hawaii in the 1960s. He worked on Alaska’s ferries from 1966-74, then worked in construction and commercial fishing before rejoining the ferry system in 1990. He had served as Petersburg terminal operator and on nearly every one of the state ferry boats, and was a member of the Masters, Mates and Pilots union (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶11).
Owen was appointed to a seat reserved for a current or retired ferry employee and member of a union representing ferry workers (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶12).
Municipal Bond Bank Authority
The Authority is a public corporation, established in state law to help local governments finance capital projects. Its five-member board borrows money and issues bonds and notes to make capital funds available for borrowing by Anchorage municipalities, and in turn receives bonds and notes from Alaska municipalities (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶14).
Governor Palin appointed Gregory J. Gursey to the Municipal Bond Bank Authority board of directors (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶13).
Biography of Gregory J. Gursey
Gursey, of Anchorage, has been co-owner of Benefits Broker, an Anchorage retirement and investment management firm, since 2002. He previously was vice president of investments for Wedbush Morgan Securities in Anchorage from 1990-2002. He was selected as the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Alumnus of the Year in 2002, and serves as chair of the Anchorage chapter of the University of Alaska College of Fellows. Gursey received an associate’s degree in business, and a bachelor’s degree in finance, both from UAA. He served on the state Board of Dental Examiners from 2005-09 (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶15).
Gursey was appointed to a public seat on the Bond Bank board (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶16).
State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board
The five-member board serves as the state’s licensing board for physical and occupational therapists, issuing licenses, taking disciplinary action against those who violate licensing laws and issuing regulations covering therapists (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶18).
Governor Palin appointed Dr. Darin M. Bell to the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶17).
Biography of Dr. Darin M. Bell
Bell, of Seward, is a family practice physician at Providence Seward Medical and Care Center. He earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology from Texas Tech University in 2000, and received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He served a family medicine residency at the Alaska Family Medicine Residency program from 2005-08. Bell is a member of the Alaska and national chapters of the American Academy of Family Physicians. His community involvement includes volunteering his medical services to homeless Alaskans and low-income children, and serving on the board of Seaview Community Services in Seward (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶19).
Bell was appointed to a physician’s seat on the board (Board Appointments, 2009, ¶20).
Commentary
Governor Palin has made 74 appointments and re-appointments this year, including two judicial appointments, an attorney general, and one state senate appointment. In the 174 days that have passed this year, she has averaged one appointment every two and one third days.
References
Governor appoints Alaskans to state boards. (2009, June 22). State of Alaska, Governor. Retrieved June 23, 2009 from: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=1921
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