For Immediate Release
Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

The University of Alaska Foundation Board of Trustees elected Mike Felix as board chair and Jo Michalski as vice chair at the board’s annual meeting Nov. 18 in Fairbanks.

Felix is president of AT &T Alaska and Michalski is owner and president of Portfolio and Classic Woman, a woman’s clothing store. Both are from Anchorage. The leadership terms are for the coming year.

Carla Beam of Anchorage, recently retired from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., continues serving as secretary until the 2010 annual meeting. Retiring from the board was Sharon Gagnon of Anchorage, a longtime trustee and former member of the UA Board of Regents; and Will Anderson of Kodiak, chief executive officer of Koniag Corp.

Twelve Alaskans were elected to the foundation’s Board of Trustees. Five of the 12 are new to the board; seven were elected to second terms.

New trustees are Susan Anderson of Anchorage, president and chief executive officer of the CIRI Foundation; Leo Bustad of Anchorage, a practicing cardiologist at the Alaska Heart Institute; Betsy Lawer of Anchorage, vice chair of First National Bank Alaska; Mike Powers of Fairbanks, chief executive officer for Fairbanks Memorial Hospital/Denali Center; and Melody Schneider of Fairbanks, owner of
Schneider & Shilling, certified public accountants.

Reelected trustees are Alison Browne of Juneau, a longtime community advocate; Ted Fathauer of Fairbanks, lead forecaster of the National Weather Service in Fairbanks; Greg Gursey of Anchorage, president and owner of Benefit Brokers Inc.; Wendy King of Anchorage, vice president of external affairs for ConocoPhillips Alaska; Michalski; Ann Parrish of Anchorage, owner of Strategic Services; and Eric Wohlforth of Anchorage, attorney and senior partner of Wohlforth, Johnson, Brecht, Cartledge & Brooking. Trustee terms are for three years.

The 30 member Board of Trustees governs the non-profit UA Foundation, which seeks, secures and stewards philanthropic support for the benefit of all University of Alaska campuses. The foundation manages over 1,100 privately donated funds, including 600 endowments. As of September, the foundation managed over $268 million in assets.

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For high resolution photos of board officers, go to http://www.alaska.edu/opa/enews/2009/1120/.

For more information, call Mary Rutherford, foundation president, at 907/450-8030, or check out
http://www.alaska.edu/foundation/about/BOT/.