AGDC interim president named; Dave Cruz elected board chair

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. board elected Dave Cruz as chairman, Hugh Short as vice chairman and Joey Merrick as secretary treasurer at a Dec. 18 meeting.

The board appointed Fritz Krusen to serve as interim AGDC president and retained B+R Partners Inc. of Houston, which specializes in executive search within the oil and gas industry, to begin the hunt for a new ADGC president.

Cruz had been serving as acting board chair and president following the Nov. 20 resignation of Dan Fauske as AGDC president and the termination of former board Chair John Burns by Gov. Bill Walker.

In a statement the corporation said Leslie “Fritz” Krusen joined AGDC in October 2014 as vice president of Alaska LNG, with primary technical and project management responsibility over AGDC’s participation in the Alaska LNG export project. Prior to joining AGDC Krusen had a 36-year career in the oil and gas industry where he held a variety of engineering, technical and project management positions domestically and internationally. He has 25 years of LNG experience, including 6 years as head engineer of ConocoPhillips’ Kenai LNG plant and 4 years as the company’s project manager for Alaska gas commercialization.

“AGDC is very fortunate to have a talent like Fritz already on our senior management team,” Cruz said. “He’s proven to be a tremendous asset during the last year and has the skills and experience to guide us through this transition. With Fritz, we maintain the continuity and momentum that is so critical to our success.”

In another management change at AGDC, Alaska Dispatch News reports that Joe Dubler, AGDC’s vice president of commercial operations, has resigned and will be leaving the corporation in January.

- KRISTEN NELSON