• Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot has announced that Holly Wells has become a shareholder. Wells joined the firm in 2008. Her practice focuses primarily on Alaska municipal government and admiralty matters affecting government ports and harbors. She also represents Native and private corporations as well as individuals in various actions involving complex litigation, construction, contracts and land use. Wells provides general counsel services for health care institutions with emphasis on the unique needs of government-owned health care facilities. She routinely acts as lead counsel to municipal boards and commissions regarding ethics disputes, conditional uses, variances, and other matters.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, selected Randy Bowker as the new chief of the Programs and Project Management Division. In this position, Bowker operates as the highest ranking civilian employee in the organization. He provides management and direction of planning, engineering and construction programs throughout the state. He is responsible for assuring efficient and timely delivery of military, civil works, environmental and other agency construction projects valued at more than $500 million annually. He previously served as chief of the Military Branch in the Programs and Project Management Division.
• The Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web and Choices Inc. have jointly hired a new shared executive director, Akila Osakwe, MA, formerly of Cook Inlet Tribal Council and the Bristol Bay Area Health Corp. She is a graduate of the LIOS program at Saybrook University, with a master's degree in experiential learning. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in interdisciplinary studies from The New York Institute of Technology. Osakwe worked for much of the last three years in Dillingham, where she was responsible for the revitalizing mental health programs in the areas of outreach, assessment, crisis intervention, quality control, outpatient management and coordination of services.
• The following were recently elected to serve as officers on the 2015 Alaska Association of Realtors board of directors: Angie Tallant, Somers & Associates, Realtors, president; Dave Somers, Somers & Associates, Realtors, president-elect; Mike Rasmussen, Rasmussen Properties, vice president; Don McKenzie, Re/Max Dynamic Properties, secretary/treasurer; Paddy Coan, Jack White Real Estate, past president.
• Foley, Foley & Pearson, P.C. announced that Chelsea Ray Riekkola has joined the firm. Her practice will focus on estate and business planning, probate wills, and trust administration. Riekkola graduated from Dimond High School in 2006. She received an athletic scholarship to Missouri State University where she was a member of the NCAA Division I swimming and diving team. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing from Missouri State University. Riekkola received her J.D. from the University of Oregon, focusing her studies on estate planning and probate law. She returned to Alaska in 2013 as a clerk for Anchorage Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay. She serves as president of the Young Lawyers Section of the Anchorage Bar Association.
• CRW Engineering Group, LLC recently announced that Matt Edge, P.E., has earned his Professional Traffic Operations Engineer certification. Certification as a PTOE is a demonstration of requisite knowledge, skill and ability in the specialized application of traffic operations engineering. Matt has a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master's of Science in environmental quality engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He holds professional licenses in both civil and an environmental engineering.
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