Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: June 16, 2001

Mark Pfeifle (O) 202/208-6416

President Bush Praises Interior Secretary Appointment of
Drue Pearce as Senior Advisor for Alaskan Affairs

(ANCHORAGE) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced the appointment of Drue Pearce to be Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Alaskan Affairs. Pearce, the former President of the Alaska State Senate, will oversee Interior's broad range of responsibilities to the citizens and lands in the nation's largest state.

"I'm gratified Drue Pearce will join our Administration," President Bush said. "It will be good to have her experience and perspective on ways to protect Alaska's many special places and her advice on issues important to our nation."

Pearce was first elected to the Alaska Senate in 1988. She has served as Senate President twice. Pearce has chaired the Senate Rules Committee, and twice co-chaired the Senate Finance Committee. Prior to the Senate, she served two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives.

"I look forward to Drue's guidance on the many challenges and opportunities before the Interior Department," said Norton. "Drue's legislative experience, her extraordinary sense of Alaska issues and her expertise at building broad consensus will pay enormous dividends for Alaska, for America and for the 270 million acres of Alaska land our Department manages and protects."

Pearce led Alaska's delegation to the Energy Council, a legislative organization of ten states, the province of Alberta and Venezuela. The organization develops policy on environmental and energy issues. She also recently led U.S. Representatives on the Russian Far East Business Commission and has taken a long-term leadership role in the development of the Russian Far Eastern oil industry infrastructure.

This January, she was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

Pearce received her B.A. in biological sciences from Indiana University and a master's in Public Administration from Harvard University. She and her husband Michael F.G. Williams and daughter Tate currently reside in Anchorage.

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