Rokeberg retires, Lisankie takes seat

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska said Feb. 1 that Commissioner Norman Rokeberg has retired and former Commissioner Paul F. Lisankie has returned to the commission to fill the remainder of Rokeberg’s term, which expires March 1, 2019.

RCA said Rokeberg announced his retirement Dec. 29. He has 17 years of service with the state, most recently serving five years of a six-year term as a commissioner. Rokeberg represented the Sand Lake area of Anchorage in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007.

Lisankie previously served as an RCA commissioner from 2009 to 2015. Burn in New York City, Lisankie settled in Alaska in 1982 after his discharge from active duty as a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard. He holds a B.A. degree in economics with honors and departmental distinction from Rutgers University and a J.D. degree in law from Duke University.

Lisankie was admitted to practice law in Alaska in 1985 and focused on administrative law. As staff counsel for the non-profit Alaska Consumer Advocacy Program he represented consumers before the former Alaska Public Utilities Commission.

Lisankie has more than 20 years of state service in the Department of Law as an assistant attorney general and in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development as a hearing officer, chief of adjudications, and finally as director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation.

Between 1987 and 1989 Lisankie served on the board of directors of Chugach Electric Association Inc. He has lived in Kodiak, Juneau, and Anchorage. He was first appointed to the commission by Gov. Sarah Palin on March 2, 2009.

- KRISTEN NELSON