Adam Trombley signs with Team Sullivan as state director for Alaska’s U.S. senator

Adam Trombley, who served on the Anchorage Assembly and also as a chief of staff in the Anchorage mayor’s office, has been named the incoming state director for Sen. Dan Sullivan. He will take over for Chad Padgett, who announced his departure last month.

Trombley served as an Anchorage assemblyman from 2011 to 2014 for East Anchorage. He moved to the Sand Lake neighborhood and later ran again for Assembly, but this time didn’t win. Later, he served as director of economic development, real estate director, and building official in the Bronson Administration, and then as chief of staff, before returning to the private sector in April, 2023.

Until just recently, he has worked as a senior network planner for Alaska Communications Systems. A 1998 graduate of East Anchorage High School, he graduated from Lewis and Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.

Starting March 11, Trombley will be Sullivan’s point person in Alaska. He will coordinate the senator’s in-state schedule, and travel with the senator across the state. He will keep the D.C. office apprised of significant occurrences in Alaska and will be the first person many Alaskans will reach out to. A state director has several key roles, according to the description at the U.S. Senate, including:

• Representing the senator in all areas of the state, including meeting and maintaining professional relationships with federal, state, and local elected officials and agencies; staff from congressional delegation offices; community business leaders; and constituents.
• Directing state office staff including supervision, assignments, and workflow; implementing office policies and procedures for state office operations; including recruiting, hiring, and training new employees; scheduling and chairing state office staff meetings.
• Accompanying the senator on visits throughout the state; occasionally giving speeches, remarks, or awards at events in-state when the senator cannot be present.
• Performing other special projects assigned by Sen. Sullivan.

Padgett, who has served as state director for three years, is moving to a job at Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation.

Sen. Dan Sullivan is now in his 10th year serving Alaska in Washington, D.C. Before running for office in 2014, he was the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and also had served as Attorney General for Alaska.

Last month, the state director for Sen. Lisa Murkowski also announced he was leaving. Steve Wackowski is headed for a job at Santos, Ltd., an Australian-based oil company doing business in Alaska.