Gov. Bill Walker has appointed former Attorney General Craig Richards to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation Board of Trustees.
Richards, who left his job as Attorney General abruptly and without explanation in June of 2016, is vice president and general counsel for Bering Straits Native Corporation.
He served as attorney general from 2014 to 2016, during which time he was the lead advocate for the governor’s Permanent Fund Protection Act, a restructuring of the Permanent Fund into an endowment plan. The legislation has been debated by the Legislature for two years, and his tenure was marked by a testy relationship between him and the Republican majority in the Senate and House.
Richards was a Permanent Fund trustee from 2015 to 2016, while he was attorney general. He takes the place of Larry Cash, founder and CEO of RIM Architects
Richards earned an undergraduate finance degree from the University of Virginia, a master in business administration from Duke University, and a juris doctor from Washington & Lee University. He is from Fairbanks and was Walker’s law partner for several years, and was the lawyer for Valdez during the days of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.
