Anchorage Mayor LaFrance Announces Six New Appointments to Her Office

Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance announced six new appointments to the mayor’s office on Wednesday.

LaFrance took office on Monday.

His appointments to the town hall staff are as follows:

• Barbara Jones, a former longtime city clerk, will serve as LaFrance’s deputy chief of staff.

• Nolan Klouda serves as Director of Policy. Klouda has been the Executive Director of the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development for 10 years.

• Farina Brown will serve as LaFrance’s special assistant for homelessness and health. Farina Brown is leaving her position at the Rasmuson Foundation, where she oversees the foundation’s homelessness initiatives as a program manager, according to LaFrance’s statement announcing the appointments.

• Graham Downey was named special assistant to LaFrance for housing and transportation and joins the mayor’s office from the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, where he served as economic justice manager.

• Marie Husa joins the mayor’s office as director of constituent relations. Husa comes from a job with the Bering Straits Native Corp., the release said.

• Amanda K. Moser, former executive director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, serves as LaFrance’s director of external affairs.

“Our team is driven by a shared approach: collaborative problem solving, with a goal of serving the people of Anchorage,” LaFrance said in a statement. “Each of these individuals brings deep expertise and a deep commitment to our community.”

Jones retired from the city clerk’s office in 2023 after 11 years in the role. She previously worked as a city ombudsman and spent six years as executive director of the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission, which investigates discrimination and harassment cases in the municipality.

After retiring, Jones worked as a volunteer coordinator for LaFrance’s campaign.

Klouda, who has worked for the university for more than 14 years, will help lead a team of the mayor’s staff to implement the administration’s priorities, according to LaFrance’s statement.

Recently, Klouda has advocated for the city to reform zoning and land-use regulations to address Anchorage’s housing shortage. As part of his university duties, he conducted the economic analysis of a recent sales tax proposal by the Anchorage Economic Development Corp.

As special assistant for homelessness and health, Brown will “work to advance key administration priorities to address homelessness and promote community health and safety.”

Brown previously served as deputy director of the Alaska Division of Behavioral Health before accepting a position with the Rasmuson Foundation in 2023, according to the foundation’s bio page.

Downey, as special assistant for housing and transportation, will work to advance LaFrance’s priorities in housing, transportation and community development, the release said. At the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, he focuses on housing, debt and economic issues affecting working families, the release said.

Husa previously worked for the city, where she spent six years as an investigator for the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission. In her new role as director of constituent relations, she will “ensure that Anchorage residents of all backgrounds have a direct line of communication with the mayor’s office,” the statement said.

Moser, who will oversee communications for the mayor’s office, held a similar role as communications director in former Gov. Bill Walker’s administration. She also worked as Anchorage’s deputy city clerk, where she managed the city’s elections and helped lead the transition to the current mail-in voting system.

Moser began working as executive director of the Downtown Partnership in 2019, then left the organization in 2022 for a position as strategy director at the pro-ranked voting group Alaskans For Better Elections, where she focused on the state’s transition to its new ranked-choice voting system.

LaFrance has made several other senior appointments in the past month. They include Katie Scovic as chief of staff and Becky Windt Pearson as city manager; Eva Gardner as city attorney and Bill Falsey as chief administrative officer; and Sean Case as chief of the Anchorage Police Department.