Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education

About the Commission Members

Milton B. Byrd, Ph.D.
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2014

Milton B. Byrd of Anchorage was first appointed to the Commission in 1994 and was most recently reappointed in April 2003 by Governor Frank Murkowski. Dr. Byrd is President and founder of Charter College, a private, for-profit institution founded in 1985 offering certificate programs, as well as two and four-year degree programs. A career postsecondary educator, Dr. Byrd has held faculty positions at Indiana University and Southern Illinois University; and held administrative positions at Southern Illinois University (associate dean of instruction), Northern Michigan University (vice-president for academic affairs) and Florida International University (provost). Dr. Byrd was also the president of Adams State College in Colorado and Chicago State University. An Alaska resident since 1981, he has been active on many regional and national boards and councils, including governmental and private, relating to education and public policy.

Senator Mike Dunleavy
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term is indefinite - President of the Senate Appointment

Mike Dunleavy was appointed to the Commission by the Senate President in February 2013. He was elected to the State Senate in 2013 to represent the Wasilla district. He currently serves as the Chair of the Senate Finance subcommittees for Education & Early Development, Environmental Conservation, Fish & Game and Labor & Commerce. He serves as Vice Chair for Education Committee, Co-Chair of the Senate Special Committee on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System Throughput, and is a member of Legislative Budget & Audit, Finance and World Trade Committees. Prior to his political involvement, Senator Dunleavy began a teaching career in 1984 in the Bering Strait School District, later moving to the Northwest Artic Borough School District and working his way to superintendent. He later served as president of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board for two years. He earned his BA in History at what was then College Misercordia (now Misercordia University), and his master’s in Education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Sharon Charnell Gherman, Vice Chair
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2013

Sharon Charnell Gherman of Fairbanks was appointed to the Commission in December 2005 as a representative of Community Colleges. Ms. Gherman is the owner & president of the Alaska Funding Exchange in Fairbanks. Her past professional roles include executive director of Challenger Learning Center of Alaska, outreach administrator for K-12 educational grants at the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation in the State's Department of Community and Economic Development, consultant and owner of Fisher Consulting and Gherman Group Consulting, and grants management for the Alaska Cooperative Extension, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She received her bachelor's degree in Rural Development in 1997, and is a graduate fellow of the WestEd National Academy for Science & Mathematics Education Leadership.

Jo Heckman
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires February 2015

Jyotsna "Jo" Heckman was appointed to the Commission by the Chair of the Board of Regents in January 2013. She was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2011 by Governor Parnell and serves as treasurer of the board. Ms. Heckman retired as the President & CEO of Denali State bank in December 2011 after twenty-six years of service with the bank. She currently serves as a director on the bank's board. In addition to her professional accomplishments, she is active in various community and civic organizations including the United Way, Foraker Group, Alaska Community Foundation, Rotary and the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Heckman earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in Business from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and has also attended graduate school for financial studies at Georgetown University and Southern Methodist University.

Rebecca Huggins, Chair
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2014

Becky L. Huggins of Meadow Lakes was appointed to the Commission in 2003 and reappointed in December 2005 by Governor Frank Murkowski. She has been a part of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough District for over fourteen years.  She established one of the first charter schools in the district, assisted in establishing seeUonline (the district's first online school), and started a choice school in the Meadow Lakes area before her current position of principal of American Charter Academy.  Ms. Huggins was successful in obtaining several federal and state grants on behalf of the students and staff of these schools.  She has been part of multiple working groups involved in educational activities through Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development.  Ms. Huggins previously served in the United States Army, attaining the rank of Major. She earned her BA in Art Education (K-12) in 1978 from Kearney State College in Kearney, Nebraska, adding an Elementary Education Endorsement in 1998, and earned a MA in Education Leadership from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2000.

Patricia Jacobson
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires February 2015

Patricia Jacobson of Kodiak was named to the Commission by the Board of Regents in February 2007. Ms. Jacobson taught various elementary grades, primarily gifted classes, for twenty-five years in Kodiak. She has written and received numerous grants, including the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship for Alaska in 1992. Ms. Jacobson graduated from the University of Arizona in 1969 with a B.A. in elementary education, and from the University of Alaska in 1972 with an M.A. in elementary education.

James R. Johnsen
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2015

Jim Johnsen of Fairbanks was appointed to the Commission in July 2012 by Governor Sean Parnell as a representative of the general public. Currently Johnsen is Alaska Communications Systems’ (ACS) Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Process Transformation. He has previously served as Vice President of Administration at Doyon, Limited, an Alaska Native regional corporation, and Vice President of Administration at the University of Alaska, where he also taught. Johnsen earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a master’s from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He is active in the community as a member of the Alaska State Chamber’s board of directors, a trustee of the University of Alaska Foundation, and a commissioner on the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Johnsen’s interests include higher education policy, finance, leadership, transformation, and student success.

Suzanne Linford
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2015
Sue Linford of Anchorage, Private Higher Education Representative, was appointed to the Commission by Governor Sean Parnell in July 2012. She is a member of the Alaska Pacific University Board of Trustees, and was bestowed an Honorary Degree in Business and Public Service from APU in 2008. Linford is owner, president and CEO of Linford of Alaska, a food distribution business that has been serving Alaska since 1973. Previously she was employed in accounting roles in various fields such as the territorial tax office, insurance, oil, arts and retail. Since coming to Alaska in 1954, Linford has been extensively involved in numerous business, volunteer and civic organizations in the state, and is currently a member of the University of Alaska Foundation, UAA Alumni Association, College of Fellows and the APU Denali Society. Her leadership and contributions to the many community and philanthropic organizations are widely recognized and she is an inductee in the Alaska Business Hall of Fame.

Andrew McConnell
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires May 2013
Andrew McConnell of Palmer was appointed Student Representative to the Commission by Governor Parnell in April 2011.  As a freshman at the University of Alaska Anchorage, he is planning to major in Business.  He currently works as a graphic design assistant for UAA Student Life and Leadership Publicity Center.  He is a graduate of Palmer High School.  McConnell was selected by the Governor from among a slate of students who were nominated as a result of winning elections at their respective University of Alaska campuses.

Jim Merriner
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2015

Jim Merriner of Anchorage was appointed to the Commission in July 2010 by the State Board of Education and Early Development as its representative. Mr. Merriner is the Anchorage site administrator for the Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA) statewide correspondence school. He has worked as a consultant, and as a teacher and administrator in public, private, and home schools in Alaska. He served as Lt. Governor Sean Parnell's Chief of Staff. Mr. Merriner has commercial fished in Bristol Bay every summer since 1985. He holds a bachelor's degree in modern European history from Harvard College and a master's degree in educational leadership from Cambridge University.

Randy L. Weaver
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2015

Randy Weaver, CPA, of Fairbanks was appointed to the Commission by Governor Sean Parnell as a representative of the general public in July 2012. He is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Denali State Bank. He previously held Controller and Director of Internal Audit positions at the University of Alaska. Weaver received his Bachelors of Business Administration- Accounting from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is continuing his education in accounting and auditing, balance sheet management, interest rate risk management and bank investment portfolio management.


Representative Tammie Wilson
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term is indefinite - Speaker of the House Appointment

Tammie Wilson was appointed to the Commission by the House Speaker in February 2013. She was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Alaska State Legislature House of Representatives in 2009 to represent the North Pole area, was elected to the seat in 2010 and re-elected in 2012. She currently serves as a member on the House Finance Committee and chairs the House Finance Subcommittees on Education & Early Development and Labor and Workforce Development. Representative Wilson received a BS in Education from Illinois State University.

Lydia Wirkus
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
Term Expires March 2013

Lydia Wirkus of Chugiak was appointed to the Commission by Governor Sarah Palin in March 2007 as a representative of the general public. Ms. Wirkus was a professional educator in the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District for almost fourteen years at Wasilla High School and Burchell High School, formerly Mat Su Alternative School. She created and taught several governmental courses, with an emphasis in special education/learning disabled student participation. She was successful in obtaining several federal state grants on behalf of the school district. At the time of her departure from teaching, she became very involved in various activities surrounding the Governor's campaign. Ms. Wirkus is a graduate of Florida State University, with a B.A. in Arts, International Affairs. She has a Master of Science in Special Education from Florida International University, and a Master of Education, Foods and Nutrition, from the University of North Carolina.