JUNEAU -- Valerie Mertz, chief financial officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., has been named the temporary executive director following the resignation of long-time executive director Mike Burns.
Mertz had been filling in for Burns on an interim basis since June 1, but that interim appointment had been scheduled to expire Tuesday.
The formal appointment means a big pay boost for Mertz, who will receive an annual salary of $275,000 while serving in the temporary appointment, up from her previous salary of $157,000. The salary increase is retroactive to when Mertz began filling in for Burns.
The appointment was made Friday by the APFC Board of Trustees at a special meeting.
The current appointment has no expiration date and lasts "until some other arrangements are made," the board said.
A month after Burns' retirement, the board has not yet decided on a process to find a permanent executive director.
"We as a board need to get focused here on a plan of action so it doesn't take longer than necessary," Bill Moran, the board's chair, said at Friday's meeting.
A meeting to discuss the replacement process has been scheduled for July 10 in Anchorage.
"We need to define at that meeting, I think, our goals for the process," said Trustee Carl Brady of Anchorage.
Among the questions yet to be answered is whether the board will solicit locally or nationally for a new executive director.
The Alaska Permanent Fund currently holds $53.5 billion, money the state earned from oil royalties, and from investing it to grow the fund.