Anchorage, AK – June 26, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Governor Sarah Palin today made appointments to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors.Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Governor Palin appointed Jennifer Chambers and Jan K. Sieberts, and reappointed Sharon C. Gherman, David M. Rees and Lydia H. Wirkus to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education. The 14-member commission administers state student loan programs, and authorizes new facilities and programs for higher education in Alaska.
Chambers, of Anchorage, is a chemistry major at University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). She has been active in student government for more than two years, and serves as chair of the Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has worked for Hope Community Resources as an individual service specialist in Anchorage and as a resident assistant at UAF. She graduated from Polaris High School in Anchorage in 2006. Chambers was selected by the governor from among a slate of students who were nominated as a result of winning elections at their respective University of Alaska campuses. She was appointed to a seat representing full-time college students.
Sieberts, of Anchorage, has been Alaska manager of Washington Capital Management investment bank advisors since 2003, was senior vice president of National Bank of Alaska/Wells Fargo in Anchorage from 1975-2003, and has other state and national banking experience. He was a member of the Anchorage Economic Development Commission from 1987-92, a member of the Anchorage Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. board from 1990-97 and again from 2003-05, and serves as chairman or vice-chairman of AHFC’s budget and housing committee since 2003-05. After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Sieberts earned a bachelor’s degree in finance management from the University of Oregon. A member and treasurer of Alaska Pacific University’s board of trustees, Sieberts was appointed to a seat representing private higher education.
Gherman, of Fairbanks, has been president and chief executive officer of The Funding Exchange, Inc./Alaska Funding Exchange since 2007. She was executive director of the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska from 2003-06, outreach administrator for the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation from 1998-2003, a grant writer or acting district coordinator for the Alaska Cooperative Extension Service from 1992-96, and operated a consulting firm from 1995-2007. She has been a member of the University of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula College’s College Advisory Council from 2004-06. Gherman earned an associate’s degree in arts and sciences from Bellevue Community College in Washington, and a bachelor’s degree in rural development from UAF. She has been a member and past chair of the commission since 2005, and was reappointed to a seat representing community colleges.
Rees, of Eagle River, retired in April after a career in oil industry workforce development, safety and training, including the last 11 years with BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. He has served on numerous educational and training boards in Alaska, including the Governor’s Council on Vocational Education, Statewide Advisory Council for Vocational/Technical Education, Alaska Job Training Council, Alaska Human Resource Investment Council, and the Alaska Business Education Compact, and was a founding member of the Alaska Process Industry Careers Consortium board. Rees earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Stanford University, a master’s degree in physics from the University of Portland, and a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Oregon. A member of the Alaska Workforce Investment Board (AWIB), he was recently elected chair of AWIB’s Assessment and Evaluation Committee. Rees has represented AWIB on the commission since 2008, and was reappointed to a seat representing that board.
Wirkus, of Chugiak, is chair of the Alaska Student Loan Corporation. She previously had been a high school teacher for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School district from 1994-2006. She earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and international affairs from Florida State University in 1971, a master’s degree in special education from Florida International University in 1974, and a master of education degree in foods and nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in1980. She has been on the commission since 2007, and was reappointed to a public seat.
Alaska Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors
Governor Palin appointed Brent LeValley and reappointed N. Claiborne Porter Jr. and Frank Roppel to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) Board of Directors.
Managed by a seven-member board, AHFC helps provide safe and sanitary housing for Alaskans by providing mortgage loan financing, by serving as the principal source of residential financing and by functioning as a secondary mortgage market. Under federal programs, AHFC also operates the state’s public housing programs and subsidizes rents for certain low-income residents.
Porter, of Anchorage, has 35 years’ experience in architectural design and construction of housing and light commercial projects in Alaska. He has owned NCP Architects & Planners, a solo architectural practice, since 1972; been president of NCP Construction, Ltd., a design-build firm, since 1978; and been partial owner of Building Analysis Inc., a building inspection firm, since 1990. He has been an adjunct member of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s architectural and engineering technology faculty since 1980. He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Auburn University, and a master’s degree in architecture from Catholic University of America. He has served on the board since 2005, and was reappointed to a seat representing the energy-efficient home-building or weatherization industry.
Roppel, of Wrangell, retired in 2003 from a career in lumber and pulp mill management. He was general manager of the Alaska Pulp Corporation from 1983 to 2002, president and chief executive officer of Sealaska Timber Corp. from 1980-83, and held a number of jobs, including sawmill manager, at Ketchikan Pulp Co. from 1959-80. He served as director of the Alaska State Housing Authority from 1975-82. Roppel received a bachelor’s degree in business and chemistry from Oregon State University. He served on the AHFC board from 1975-87, has served again since 2003 and was reappointed to a seat representing the senior or low-income housing industry.
LeValley, of Fairbanks, has been senior vice president of construction loans for Denali State Bank in Fairbanks since 1994. He had previously been a branch manager at Farm Credit of Southwest Florida from 1989-93, and was senior vice president for mortgage lending at Mt. McKinley Bank in Fairbanks from 1975-88, and assistant branch manager of the Federal Land Bank Association from 1971-74. LeValley was a member of the Interior Alaska Building Association board of directors from 1996-2003, and was named Associate of the Year in 2002 and 2004. He has served on the Cold Climate Housing Research Center board of directors since 2005. LeValley received a bachelor’s degree in labor relations and economics from Michigan State University. He was appointed to a seat reserved for a representative of the finance or real estate industries.
