The Observer, May 2006

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After 14 years, Marilyn Leland is moving on

• REORG: Departure triggers staff changes

One of the citizens’ council’s best-known and longest-tenured employees has left for a new job.

Marilyn Leland, who had been on the council staff since 1992, started May 1 as executive director of the Anchorage-based Alaska Power Association, an umbrella organization representing the state’s electric utilities.

WAVING GOODBYE – Marilyn Leland, who has been involved with the citizens’ council since its earliest days, has taken a new job as executive director of the Alaska Power Association. Photo by Stan Jones, citizens’ council.

She spent her first three years on the council staff as special projects coordinator. During that time, she was “on loan” to the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C. There, she was instrumental in developing regulations to implement the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, passed in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.

Leland was promoted to deputy director of the council in 1994 and served in that post until she accepted the new job.

Before joining the staff in 1992, she had represented Cordova District Fishermen United on the council board.
“Her years of service will never be forgotten and her expertise will be greatly missed,” said John Devens, executive director of the council. “We wish her the best in her new endeavor.”

The transition was an emotional event for Leland.

“It will be hard to leave,” she said. “I’ve seen the council go from merely an idea when I was still in Cordova after the oil spill to what it is today, an organization that’s making a difference in the safety of oil transportation.  I’m grateful for the experiences it has given me and proud of the role I played.”

Upon Leland’s departure, Devens reorganized the council staff, eliminating the deputy director position and creating three new director positions.

Donna Schantz, who had been working as program coordinator in the council’s Valdez office, was promoted to Director of Programs and will oversee the work of the council’s project managers. She joined the staff in 1999.

Lisa Ka’aihue, who had been working as a project manager in the Anchorage office, was promoted to Director of Administration. She will oversee the administrative staff and manage the council’s administrative functions while retaining her previous responsibility for the organization’s invasive species project. She has been on the staff since 1993.

Ka’aihue’s former post as environmental monitoring project manager will be taken by Joe Banta, the council’s longtime project manager for Oil Spill Response Planning, and a replacement will be recruited for the post he is vacating.

Stan Jones, who had been working as public information manager in the Anchorage office, was promoted to Director of External Affairs. He will take on federal government relations, which had been handled by Leland, and retain his previous responsibilities for public information, Coast Guard recertification, and state legislative affairs. He joined the staff in 1997.