The Observer, September 2007

return to this edition

New boss moves in at tanker terminal

It would be fair to say that Kathy Zinn’s career got off to an explosive start. One of her jobs before coming to work for Alyeska Pipeline was helping making sure that, when an automotive airbag detonates to save a life, emissions from the explosion don’t create a hazard of their own.

That was in Florida, after she graduated cum laude in 1992 from the Florida Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science degree in marine biology.

“I even got to watch the crash test dummies,” she recalls. “That was cool.”

Today, her job has nothing to do with cars or crash test dummies, but minimizing hazards is still a big part of it. On Sept. 1, she became director of Alyeska Pipeline’s Valdez Marine Terminal, where several hundred thousand barrels of North Slope crude arrive every day for loading onto oil tankers.

Her job entails overseeing operations and maintenance of the terminal, as well as its modernization. One modernization project there has been of special interest to the council: upgrades to the Ballast Water Treatment Facility that should dramatically reduce hydrocarbon vapor emissions.

Zinn was born in a little town near St. Louis and lived there till she started college in Florida. Her move to Alaska came in 2000, when a contractor sent her up to run the laboratory at the Valdez terminal. The lab was in charge of quality control for incoming oil, and for most water-quality testing at the ballast water facility.

In March 2006, she became executive director and then chief of staff for Kevin Hostler, Alyeska’s president and chief executive officer.

When Zinn’s not working, she likes bicycling and has just taken up rock climbing, though only at the gym so far. Her companions in life are Kit and Nyla, two pound hounds she adopted from the animal shelter in Valdez on her earlier tour there.

She replaces Tom Stokes in the top job at the terminal. He’s becoming senior advisor to Greg Jones, Alyeska’s vice president for Valdez operations. In his new job, Stokes will work on – among other things – long-range planning for the terminal and for the Ship Escort/Response Vessel System.

“It was time for Tom and me both to move forward in our careers,” Zinn said. “It’s a good move for both of us.”