Anchorage Mayor-elect Suzanne LaFrance has chosen her campaign manager, Katie Scovic, as chief of staff for her administration, which begins July 1.
Scovic, originally from Chicago, lives in downtown Anchorage and is a registered Democrat. Scovic previously worked for Agnew Beck, an Anchorage consulting firm that gets many city contracts. She was briefly communication director for interim Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, and worked at Cook Inlet Housing Authority as well as for organizations in Chicago.
As municipal manager, LaFrance has chosen Rebecca Windt-Pearson, who is senior vice president and general counsel, and chief administrative officer at GCI General Communication, Inc. She was appointed Anchorage municipal attorney by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and was law clerk to Alaska Supreme Court Justice Morgan Christen, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Windt-Pearson has said in a GCI blog post that the highlight of her career was the sale of Municipal Light and Power to Chugach Electric, a project that she led at the municipality. She believes the sale has had a positive effect on the city.
Both Scovic and Windt-Pearson signed the petition to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2019 — but so did Mayor-elect LaFrance, who is technically a nonpartisan. Windt-Pearson should have no trouble being confirmed by the Anchorage Assembly, while Scovic does not need confirmation.
