Face to Face
Deb Krontz
Maintenance Supervisor – Ship Escort Response Vessel System (SERVS)
Published July 2003

Education: BS, civil engineering, University of Colorado, Denver campus

Background: Born and raised in Washington State; shareholder in Native corporations Klukwan, Inc. and Sealaska.

How did you become an engineer?

I came to this field relatively late. I was completing a two-year accounting degree, when a math instructor encouraged me to try engineering.

What were you hired to do at Alyeska?

It was 1998 and the maintenance engineering department at the terminal had just been created as part of the reorganization. As the designated civil engineer for the terminal, I was responsible for maintaining the physical structures – not just the buildings, but also the roads, rock retaining walls, everything. In 2001, I worked briefly with the System Renewal team to redesign Alyeska business processes. During last year’s realignment, I was offered the job of maintenance supervisor for the SERVS facility.

What does that position entail?

I maintain facilities and equipment. SERVS has a lot of major equipment, it includes barges, and I deal with a couple of major contractors such as Crowley and TCC. Most of all it’s making sure we are response-ready, so drills and exercises are executed at any given time. Just today (June 3), we had an unannounced drill at 6 a.m. We’re deploying two trans-rec barges and associated equipment. The maintenance team - Larry Marchant, Rob Burks and I - makes sure the response operations folks are ready to go.

I’m also looking at better ways of doing business, maintenance wise. Our equipment is on standby a lot, so I’m gearing up on lifecycle of equipment program. I adopt the reliability center maintenance process for assessing our various systems. Operations decide what they need; we get the equipment and make sure the operating procedures and maintenance systems are in place.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I love to ride motorcycles and recently got into snow machining. I’m getting married next week (June 14) to Ken White. He works at the terminal, too, as an electrical lead technician. Alyeska has brought all sorts of good things to my life. They’ve given me lots of wonderful opportunities.