Over the summer, the council said goodbye to two staffers and welcomed two new staff members to take their place.
In July, Eileen Collins replaced Serena Lopez as Project Manager Assistant for the council’s Anchorage office.
Lopez resigned from the council in early July to focus on her family and home life in Palmer. She started working for the council as Administrative Assistant in 2009, and was later promoted to Project Manager Assistant for the Anchorage office, where she provided support to project managers and the council’s Scientific Advisory, Information and Education, and Oil Spill Response and Prevention committee volunteers and their projects.
Collins began working for the council in late July. She recently relocated from Arlington, Virginia, where she worked for a federal contractor on projects in transportation policy.
Collins earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Delaware in Urban Affairs and Public Policy where she focused her research on the emerging curbside bus industry in the Northeast Corridor. She also earned Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, Collins says she is excited to be living in Alaska and to experience all it has to offer.
Jean Cobb retired from her position of Administrative Assistant for the Valdez office in August. Cobb and her husband Dave will be returning to Gig Harbor in Washington state, where they lived previously. One of the Cobbs’ daughters and three year old grandchild live in the area, and Cobb says she is excited to spend time with them.
Leigh Lubin took over Cobb’s position in September. Originally from Los Angeles, she has lived in Valdez since 2005. She has taught secondary education, including four years as a science teacher in Anchorage. She has also been a wilderness guide and a yoga teacher.
Lubin earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Alaska and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Prescott College in Arizona.