Each year the AAHPA ask the membership to consider nominating members of the community that have demonstrated superior performance in harbor or port management, innovative methods to improve harbor users, creative methods of reducing operating costs, service and support to the AAHPA, or other actions that have produced marked benefits for port and harbor users would be ideal candidates for nomination.
Awardees are honored during the banquet at the annual conference. Nominations for 2025 Harbormaster of the Year will open in mid-summer 2025.
2024 Lifetime Member Award
Norm Regis, Seward Harbormaster, On behalf of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators, we honor your distinguished career as Harbormaster of Seward and your invaluable contributions to the AAHPA board of directors with a Life Membership in our Association. Norm first joined the AAHPA board in 2009 and dedicated an impressive fifteen years to this role. His exemplary service as Seward's harbormaster was recognized in 2018 when he was named Harbormaster of the Year. Norm, your achievements and commitment to the Seward community are truly commendable.
Throughout his tenure on the board, Norm has been a staunch advocate for the Municipal Harbors Grant Program, never missing an opportunity to travel to Juneau and advocate for our initiatives at the capital. Additionally, Norm has actively supported the AAHPA scholarship program every year, taking the lead in ticket sales and championing its success. He claims to sell the winning tickets each year, true or not this assertion showcases his enthusiasm as a passionate supporter since the program's inception. Norm Your remarkable record of service reflects great pride in our AAHPA community. Thanks to dedicated members like you, AAHPA has solidified its position as a leading authority on ports and harbors in Alaska. As you enter this new chapter of life called retirement, the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators wishes you and your family all the best. Thank you for your service and support we want you to know that as a life member you’ll always be welcome here at AAHPA.
2024 Harbormaster of The Year
Stan Eliason, Sitka Harbormaster, Stan has been a fixture in Sitka’s harbors since 1995 when he worked “on the docks” as a member of the Maintenance Staff. He rose through the ranks and left in 2004 to spend six months in the Sitka Public Works Department until Lou McCall retired as Deputy Harbormaster at which time Ray Majeski (then Harbormaster) convinced him to return as Deputy. He served in that role until Ray retired in 2011, at which time Stan was promoted to Harbormaster where he has served the past 13 years. During that tenure he has graciously hosted the Harbormaster Conference in Sitka at least once (perhaps multiple times, recognizing that many of the hosting duties often fall to DH’s and staff.)
I (Shaun McFarlane, Moffatt & Nichol) have personally interfaced with Stan on over a dozen projects in Sitka, and he is a fount of knowledge. For my part, he is not only a client but a valued advocate and friend. With his background in maintenance, he is a wealth of information on the harbors and often offers pragmatic solutions to maintaining Sitka’s aging waterfront facilities. Stan comes from a commercial fishing family and Eliason Harbor was named after his father after he passed in 2011.
Stan effectively oversees a large portfolio of projects in one of the state’s largest harbor systems; he effectively manages upgrades, repairs, and deferred maintenance; and he is universally spoken of well among his office staff, his peers across the state, his subordinates, within Sitka Public Works, and “on the docks” by clients and harbor tenants alike. Everybody likes Stan! I have met very few people throughout 25 years working in Alaska’s harbors who serve as diligently, seriously, and without ego as Stan Eliason. He is precisely the type of harbor professional our association should be building and pointing our young people towards as a mentor.
We will only have Stan for a few more months as he is planning his retirement shortly after the Homer conference, which he says will be his last. We are honored to consider his nearly 30 years of service to Sitka Harbors in selecting him as the 2024 AAHPA Harbormaster of the Year.
2024 Employee of the Year
Amy Woodruff, Homer Port and Harbor
Kevin, Dugan, Juneau Docks and Harbors
