Luke Fanning has been named chief executive officer of the Aleutian-Pribilof Island Community Development Association, which is headquartered in Juneau.
Fanning, the organization’s chief financial officer, will take over APICDA from Larry Cotter, who founded the organization and ran it for 27 years before retiring earlier this year. Cotter launched a brief run for Alaska Senate, but health problems forced him to withdraw his name from contention.
In a prepared statement, APICDA board chair Mark Snigaroff said the organization spent six months searching for candidates and selected Fanning “from a large field of very qualified candidates.”
Fanning joined APICDA in 2007 after leaving a position as vice president and regional manager of First National Bank Alaska.
Fanning is a lifelong Alaskan who began fishing in the 1990s as a crewman aboard a halibut longliner and a salmon seiner. In his spare time, he captains the fishing vessel Triton, a 32-foot gillnetter.
APICDA is a nonprofit Community Development Quota organization controlling the shares of Akutan, Atka, False Pass, Nelson Lagoon, Nikolski and St. George.