Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy’s transition team announced four high level appointments Monday. John Quick, current chief of staff to Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, is on list.
Quick will head the Department of Administration. The department houses several state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Public Defender Agency and the Office of Public Advocacy. A handful of commissions, including the Alaska Public Offices Commission, also fall within the department’s wheelhouse.
“Not only does it oversee 10 divisions and five agencies, it also lends administrative services to other departments as well,” Quick explained. “That’s one of the things that we’re going to be focusing on is where are there redundancies and how can we create better efficiencies within each one of these divisions.”
While administrative services such as payroll and human resources are the department’s main functions, Quick will sit on several state boards and commissions, and he will lead the department when it comes to union negotiations with state employees.
Quick has a background as a business owner, but started his career working for Samaritans Purse, a Christian-based humanitarian aid organization.
“Then I decided to go into the small business field and became an entrepreneur. [I] started with a couple coffee shops, wholesale food business, frozen yogurt shop, and then I kind of moved into the online space,” Quick recalled. “That’s where I was at up until I met Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce as he was running for his campaign.”
Quick will start his new job on Dec. 3. Quick said Pierce will announce his replacement, in the near future. Pierce could not be reached for comment in time for this story.