Barry Romberg

ConocoPhillips Alaska Vice president, Strategy, Commercial & Transportation  

2022 - 2023 Arctic Encounter Host Partner

Barry Romberg is the Vice President of Strategy, Commercial and Transportation at ConocoPhillips Alaska.

Romberg joined ConocoPhillips in 2005, supporting Polar Tankers and managing the commercial marine operations team on the Houston trading floor. He returned to Alaska in 2008 as a project lead and pipeline engineer before becoming vice president of ConocoPhillips’ Alaska pipeline subsidiaries, where he managed the North Slope pipelines and served as ConocoPhillips’ alternate rep on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Owners committee.

Prior to his current assignment, Romberg was vice president, Commercial and Business Development in Qatar, leading the team that secured ConocoPhillips a significant role in two of Qatar’s LNG expansion projects.

Romberg began his career as a United States Coast Guard officer with operational and engineering assignments in Washington state, Washington D.C. and Alaska. Prior to joining ConocoPhillips, Romberg was with Alyeska Pipeline at the Valdez Marine Terminal in project management and operations management roles.

Romberg is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering. He earned master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in civil and marine engineering. Other than brief assignments in Houston and Qatar, Romberg and his family have resided in Alaska since 1999.

Fran ulmer

chair, u.s. arctic research commission

former lieutenant governor of alaska

Fran Ulmer is chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, where she has served since being appointed by President Obama in March 2011. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Ulmer was chancellor of Alaska's largest public university, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Before that, she was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA. Ms. Ulmer served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, a state representative, and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. She previously worked as legal counsel to the Alaska Legislature, legislative assistant to Governor Jay Hammond, and Director of Policy Development for Alaska. She has served on numerous state and national boards and commissions, and currently is a member of the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy and the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Ms. Ulmer has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2017.

mead treadwell

president, pt capital

Chairman, Arctic Circle Task Force on Shipping and Ports; President, PT Capital

former lieutenant governor of alaska

Mead Treadwell is President of Pt Capital, the northernmost registered investment bank in the US and the first private equity fund focused on investments across the Arctic. He served as Lt. Governor of Alaska from 2010 to 2014, and coordinated Alaska's work in the Arctic Council.  He was a leader in Alaska's efforts to preserve Alaska Native Languages.  He co-chaired the State Committee on Research and chaired the Aerospace States Association. 

From 2001 to 2010, Treadwell served as Commissioner on the US Arctic Research Commission.  He was designated chair by President Bush in 2006 and, as chair until 2010, worked with both Presidents Bush and Obama to craft and implement the U.S. Arctic policy adopted in 2009. 

Treadwell is a graduate of Yale College and the Harvard Business School.  He is a frequent writer and speaker on Arctic policy, and recently proposed a new Arctic shipping regime modeled after the bi-national St. Lawrence Seaway the U.S. and Canada share as a path from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes.   

Mr. Treadwell has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2017.

beth kerttula, J.D. 

Former Director of the national ocean council, the white house, obama administration

former alaska state legislator

Beth Kerttula recently completed her assignment as Director of the National Ocean Council, where she oversaw the Council’s efforts to implement the National Ocean Policy.  In this capacity, she worked closely with stakeholders and the nine national marine regions to facilitate regional marine planning and other ocean management activities.  She came to this position from Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions, where she was a visiting fellow working to bring together policymakers from multiple disciplines to discuss the critical interplay of oceans, climate change, and society. 

Beth is a 15-year veteran of the Alaska House of Representatives, where she served as Minority Leader from 2006 to 2013, and has held positions in the State of Alaska Attorney General’s Office.  An attorney, Beth has served as the Alaska State Bar Board of Governors President and was on its Board of Governors for six years.

Beth was the original sponsor of landmark cruise ship pollution legislation as well as other important environmental bills.  She also led efforts to defend and improve the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program and supported research efforts by the University of Alaska on ocean acidification and community sustainability.  Beth was also a member of the State of Alaska's first Arctic Policy Commission, which created Alaska's first Arctic policy recommendations for the state legislature. 

Mrs. Kerttula has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2017.

John Reeves, P.E., P.M.P.

Project Manager & Senior Engineer, Elliott Bay Design Group

former captain of the uscg cutter healy icebreaker

John D. Reeves joined Elliott Bay Design Group in 2015.  A highly skilled engineering leader and mariner, he brings extensive field experience gained through 23 years of operating and maintaining some of the most complex vessels in the U.S. Coast Guard fleet, including serving as Captain of the USCGC HEALY. 

John's wide-ranging background includes five years as port engineer and manager of four industrial repair facilities, serving as an Associate Professor in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and more than a decade at-sea providing service on and maintenance of a variety of vessels, from salvage ships to the world's most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker.  Operations included living marine resources and law enforcement, search and rescue, icebreaking, and high latitude scientific research.

Captain Reeves has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2017.

bryan schroder

former united states attorney - district of alaska

former U.S. Coast Guard Captain

Bryan Schroder was the United States Attorney for the District of Alaska from 2017-2021. Prior to becoming the U.S. Attorney, he served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney, and Chief of the Criminal Division.

Mr. Schroder joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2005 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He prosecuted a wide variety of cases including violent crime, drug distribution, gun crimes, fraud, tax evasion, environmental crimes, and fisheries & wildlife offenses.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Schroder served 24 years years in the U.S. Coast Guard. He retired as a Captain in 2005. His career included sailing on the Cutter Boutwell doing fisheries patrols in the Bering Sea, a series of law enforcement assignments, and tours as a legal officer in Alaska and Florida. He also had a number of unique assignments, including as a Political Officer at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, where his portfolio included the Law of the Sea. He was also the first Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at U.S. Northern Command, when it started in 2002.

Mr. Schroder has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2021.

Keri Scaggs

arctic affairs consultant

Keri Scaggs first came to Alaska in 1998, singing in Nome during the Iditarod. What began as a job became a life-changing experience, due to the hospitality and open-mindedness of the Great Land.

In 2002, as her network grew, some black and white photos she’d taken for fun made their way into the hands of the folks at CIRI. She began marketing artwork exclusive to the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge and had the opportunity to work with Brad Washburn on a recreation of the Alaska Range Mountain Identification Guide.

As that market began to change in 2008, she invented a new and unique way to smoke salmon, combining her Kentucky roots with the implementation of bourbon barrels. During the course of that venture, she connected two dear friends who joined forces with the President of Iceland to form the Arctic Circle. It then became clear that in spite of her creative endeavors her true gift was in consulting and connecting.

To date she works with various clients on issues pertaining to Alaska and the Arctic, including Guggenheim Partners Asset Management and Crowdfunder and is proud to call Anchorage home.

Ms. Scaggs has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2017.

Ephraim D. Froehlich

Principal, AKWA-DC

Ephraim Froehlich was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska. He is a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School, where if you listen closely you can still hear his name echoing in the rafters into eternity. He is also an alumnus of Dartmouth College. Ephraim worked for Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Washington, D.C. before earning his J.D. at the University of Maryland School of Law with a concentration in environmental law. He returned to Sen. Murkowski's office as lead policy advisor on fisheries, wildlife, maritime transportation, ports and harbors, environmental change, and the Arctic. After over a decade in D.C., Ephraim returned to Alaska with his partner Stefanie and son Oromo to work for Governor Walker as Senior Policy Advisor on Fish & Game and Deputy Director of Federal Affairs. He recently relocated to Seattle with his family and opened AKWA-DC, a consulting firm focused on fisheries, maritime, and environmental policy from Alaska and Washington State to D.C.

Mr. Froehlich has served on the AES Advisory Board since 2019.