09.26.13

Murkowski Announces State Director Change

Miles Baker Moving on to AGDC, Kevin Sweeney Reunites With Murkowski Team

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Lisa Murkowski today announced a change in her Alaska leadership team, with current State Director Miles Baker departing to become the Director of Government Relations and External Affairs for the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and Murkowski veteran Kevin Sweeney returning to run her state operations and outreach efforts.

“This is a win-win for Alaska: Miles Baker’s experience, intellect and connections will be a boost to the promising work AGDC is doing to bring our North Slope gas to market and to provide Alaskans with long-term energy solutions, and Kevin Sweeney is an Alaskan who knows me, my staff and the state we all love, and is able to immediately step in and hit the ground running,” said Murkowski.

Miles Baker was appointed Senator Murkowski’s State Director in October 2012 after serving as her finance and economic policy advisor in Washington, D.C.  Baker originally joined Senator Murkowski’s staff from the Alaska State Legislature where he spent eight years as senior budget and appropriations staff to the Senate Finance Committee and Chief of Staff to Senator Bert Stedman of Sitka. Prior to returning to Alaska, Baker worked as a media and communications executive in Los Angeles. A former U.S. Marine, Baker holds a BS in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Kevin Sweeney began working for Senator Murkowski in 2005 as a Legislative Assistant in Washington, D.C. He later became Press Secretary and then Communications Director before returning to the state and being elevated to State Director. Sweeney’s initial service culminated in his important work as Campaign Manager for Senator Murkowski’s historic 2010 write-in re-election campaign.  Prior to joining her team, Sweeney worked as the special assistant to the President of the Alaska Federation of Natives, Communications Director for ASRC Energy Services, Inc. and as a legislative liaison for the Alaska Department of Education. He is a graduate of Cornell University. Sweeney will begin November 11th.

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