JUNEAU (AP) — Acting state Revenue Commissioner Deven Mitchell has been chosen as the new chief executive of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.
The announcement was made Oct. 3. The corporation said in a statement that the selection “is contingent on the successful negotiation of a salary and benefits package” and that a start date has not yet been set.
Mitchell has called Alaska’s nest-egg oil wealth fund the state’s “trump card” as a renewable source of revenue, the Anchorage Daily News reported. His message to the board was that he would not chase short-term cash yields, as the fund has been invested for long-term growth. He also said he doesn’t see his role as second-guessing investment decisions made by the corporation’s chief investment officer or as overriding his decisions.
Earnings from the fund traditionally have been used to pay annual dividends to residents. Since 2018, earnings also have been used to help pay for public services, providing the largest single piece of state general fund revenues.
Mitchell, a 30-year Revenue Department employee, last month stepped down as the state’s debt manager and executive director of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority when Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed him to be the acting Department of Revenue commissioner.
Mitchell is poised to replace Angela Rodell, who was fired by the board last year. An Anchorage law firm hired by a legislative committee to investigate the firing released its final report last week, finding that the board used a “deficient” performance evaluation process, but that a loss of confidence was reason enough to fire her and that there was no credible evidence that Dunleavy was involved.
A recruitment company whittled the list of applications for the CEO position to 10 finalists. The board’s hiring committee picked its five finalists last month and conducted interviews to choose its top three candidates to go before the full board for public interviews and the final selection process.
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