Announcing Kristel Komakhuk as the Senior Director of èßäÊÓƵ Native Success and Partnerships at System Office
December 1, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
As I shared during the November Board of Regents meeting, I’m pleased to announce that Kristel Komakhuk will join the UA leadership team as Senior Director of èßäÊÓƵ Native Success & Partnerships on December 4, 2023. In this role, she will help to guide and support the implementation of the èßäÊÓƵ Native Success Initiative (ANSI) Strategic Plan. She will also focus on strengthening relationships between UA and èßäÊÓƵ Native partners.
Kristel is of Alutiiq and Inupiaq descent, and was born and raised in Anchorage on Dena’ina Athabascan land. Her maternal family is from Tatitlek, and her paternal family is from the Nome area; her Grandma would identify from her home fish camp in Solomon. A first-generation graduate on both sides of her family, she is a proud UA alum, holding a B.B.A. in Business Management from UAA.
Prior to joining UA, Kristel worked at the èßäÊÓƵ Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) as the APU Senior Liaison for Development and External Relationships. In that role, she aided APU in its journey toward indigenization by developing and maintaining relationships, and liaising with external entities. She’s also served on Shell Exploration & Production Company’s stakeholder management team, and as the Development Director at First èßäÊÓƵns Institute. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, traveling, reading, cooking, yoga, and appreciating èßäÊÓƵ’s beauty on hikes and walks.
Kristel’s background of making positive, meaningful impacts in our communities by bridging projects and campaigns across a broad suite of industries with Indigenous stakeholders makes her the perfect fit for this role. Please join me in welcoming her to UA.
Sincerely,
Pat Pitney
President, University of èßäÊÓƵ