Alaska Humanities Forum Hires New Director of Leadership Programs
Alaska Humanities Forum is proud to announce that George Martinez has been hired as its new Director of Leadership Programs. In this role, Martinez will be the lead for Leadership Anchorage and he will oversee leadership programming across the organization.
Martinez comes to the Forum from the Municipality of Anchorage where he has spent the past four years as Special Assistant to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, focusing on economic development, youth development, education, and diversity.
As a member of the Welcoming Anchorage executive committee, Martinez has worked with Leadership Anchorage cohorts for several years as a liaison for community impact projects that partner participants with local organizations to tackle real, immediate needs within the Anchorage community. “We are excited to have George join the Alaska Humanities Forum team,” says Forum President and CEO Kameron Perez-Verdia. “His focus on designing experiences that bring people together to engage in learning, sharing, cultivating, and activating will be a tremendous asset to the work we do in strengthening communities across Alaska.”
Current Issue
January 2026
The Alaska Humanities Forum’s mission is to strengthen communities by connecting Alaskans through stories, ideas, and experiences. The Forum designs and facilitates experiences that bridge distance and difference—programming that shares and preserves the stories of people and places across the state and explores what it means to be Alaskan.
Leadership Anchorage is one of the Forum’s flagship programs, entering its twenty-third year this fall. The eight-month-long program brings together a diverse, cross-sector cohort each year for experiential learning designed to guide participants in developing the skills, knowledge, perspective, and networks needed to be effective and compassionate leaders for Anchorage, and Alaska as a whole.
The Alaska Humanities Forum is currently seeking applicants for Leadership Anchorage 23. The public is invited to an Open House for Leadership Anchorage at the Alaska Humanities Forum’s offices on Monday, August 26 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. to meet Martinez and to speak with program alumni and staff; applications are open through September 6, 2019. More information at akhf.org/leadership-anchorage.
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Outside the special sections, make sure to check out the 2026 Economic forecast, where Alaska leaders share their insights on what may lie ahead in the coming year. Enjoy!