Shell names three top Alaska officials

Shell Exploration & Production Co. named three top officials for its Alaska operation Jan. 19.

Rick Fox is Alaska asset manager, Cam Toohey is Alaska government and external affairs manager and George Ahmaogak Sr. is Alaska community affairs manager.

Alaska Exploration Manager Chandler Wilhelm said the company was pleased with the years of leadership and “wealth of Alaska knowledge” the three bring to the company’s Alaska team. “Shell’s ambition is to be in Alaska for a long time, starting in the Beaufort Sea,” he said. Although production is years away business planning and stakeholder engagement work is already under way, he said in a statement.

Fox has been with Shell for 30 years, most recently as operations capability manager based in Louisiana. He has also been responsible for the Shell Robert Training Center, Operations Recruiting and Training. Earlier in his career Fox worked in Alaska’s Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi seas and was lead drilling foreman on the Chukchi Sea exploration team.

Fox, Alaska asset manager, will also be incident command officer, oversee logistics and help build a workforce development plan for Alaska.

Toohey, a lifelong Alaskan, has been special assistant to the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Toohey will be responsible for Shell’s government and external affairs activities in Alaska, and will work with stakeholders to develop Shell’s Alaska sustainable development and social performance plans, outlining how Shell will manage impacts of its business on residents and communities in Alaska.

Ahmaogak, a lifelong Alaskan, was formerly mayor of the North Slope Borough, president of Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. and Piquniq Management Corp. and a member of the Interior’s National Outer Continental Shelf Policy Committee.

His primary responsibility will be to engage with local communities, such as those on the North Slope.

Toohey and Ahmaogak will join Shell Jan. 23; Fox officially assumes his post Feb. 1. All three will be based in Anchorage.