Alaska Permanent Fund’s board votes to conceal CEO’s performance evaluations from the public

JUNEAU — The Alaska Permanent Fund’s board of trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to amend its charter to shield the executive director’s annual performance review from public view.

The policy change comes just over two years after Angela Rodell, the corporation’s former executive director, was controversially fired. The Legislature hired an Anchorage law firm to conduct an investigation into Rodell’s ouster, which found the board used a “deficient” performance evaluation process that didn’t always follow its own charter, but that loss of confidence in her was reason enough to fire her.

Board members said Wednesday that they wanted to make the executive director’s entire personnel file confidential — along with those of all Permanent Fund employees — but that they had received legal advice that a legislative change would be required to do that.

Until that happens, the Permanent Fund’s board voted that the executive director’s yearly performance evaluation would be conducted verbally and in private to prevent access from public records requests. Board members said that would allow them to give honest feedback to the executive director.

The executive director will now also be required to prepare a written annual report “that lists their achievements for the previous year,” which will be available to the public. Board members said the policy changes were deemed acceptable by the Alaska Department of Law.

Rodell’s 296-page personnel file was released last January as part of a public records request by the Anchorage Daily News. It showed high reviews in Rodell’s first two years on the job, but the third shows a strained relationship with the board, whose members are appointed by the Alaska governor.

Rodell said last January that her ouster was “political retribution” for opposing Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s then-plans to overdraw the Permanent Fund to pay for a larger dividend. After an eight-month investigation, attorneys from Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, an Anchorage law firm, issued a 65-page report, which said there was no credible evidence Dunleavy was involved.

Ethan Schutt, board chair and one of two current board members who was serving when Rodell was fired, said in a brief interview after Wednesday’s vote that it was “awkward” when interviews with the board about Rodell’s ouster with attorneys were made public.

“It’s awkward, right?” Schutt said. “And it’s not necessarily beneficial awkward, because some things that are awkward are helpful and some things that are awkward are just awkward.”

Deven Mitchell, the corporation’s current executive director, was appointed last October as a permanent replacement for Rodell. He is in charge of managing the $73 billion fund that has provided over half of state government revenue annually since 2018.