Alaska Permanent Fund CEO approved for 10% pay raise to $423,500 per year

The Alaska Permanent Fund’s board on Tuesday unanimously approved a 10% pay raise for CEO Deven Mitchell after conducting his annual performance review behind closed doors.

Mitchell, who was appointed to lead the $83-billion fund in October 2022, is now set to earn $423,500 per year.

The Permanent Fund’s board of trustees is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Juneau for its regularly scheduled quarterly meeting.

After returning from executive session, the board unanimously approved the pay raise for Mitchell. Chair Jason Brune said the trustees were “very happy” with the executive director’s performance.

The salary increase was approved without public debate.

According to an executive salary report published in January, Mitchell is on track to be Alaska’s second highest paid state employee after Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., who earns almost $480,000 per year.

Before taking the CEO role at the Permanent Fund, Mitchell served as the executive director of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority from 1998 until 2022.

Last year, the fund’s board voted unanimously to amend its charter to conduct the executive director’s performance review verbally and in private to prevent access from public records requests.

Board members said at the time giving evaluations in executive session would allow them to give honest feedback.

The policy change followed the abrupt firing of former CEO Angela Rodell in 2021. An Anchorage law firm investigated Rodell’s ouster and concluded the board had used “a deficient” process to evaluate her performance. Loss of confidence in Rodell was reason enough to fire her, attorneys said.

Since 2018, the Permanent Fund has been the state’s No. 1 source of revenue in every year but one. More than $3.7 billion was transferred from the fund to help pay for state services this year and the Permanent Fund dividend.

Investment managers reported Tuesday the Permanent Fund had outperformed its performance benchmark since the start of the fiscal year July 1.

“Significant gains” were made in public equities and fixed income, which helped offset smaller losses in the private equity classes, managers said.