House Speaker Stutes announces two appointees to the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board

Kodiak Republican House Speaker Louise Stutes has announced two appointees to a new state ferry oversight board. That’s according to a Monday press release from the Alaska House Coalition.

Shirley Marquardt and Wanetta Ayers will be stepping up to staff the recently formed Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board.

Marquardt served on the Marine Transportation Advisory board for nine years, and represented southwest Alaska. She was formerly mayor of Unalaska, and has over forty years’ experience in marine transportation and the seafood industries. She was also the marine highway’s executive director under Gov. Bill Walker.

Wanetta Ayers also has previous experience on the Marine Transportation Advisory Board. She was involved with the Alaska Marine Highway Reshaping Work Group. She has decades of experience in the tourism and economic development of Alaska’s coastal communities, the release said.

They will be joined by Gov. Dunleavy’s appointees former Kodiak lawmaker Alan Austerman, Kodiak Island village corporation executive Cynthia Burns and Norm Carson, a retired Alaska State Trooper who lives in Pelican. Alaska Senate President Peter Micciche has yet to announce his appointees to the nine-member board.