Face to Face
Anne Sakumoto
Human Resources Operations Manager

Anne Sakumoto joined the company in July 2004 and oversees all of Alyeska's human resources department operations, from answering benefits questions to facilitating new hires. She is a lifelong Alaskan of Japanese decent and has spent only five years of her life away from Alaska, when she was studying at the University of Hawaii. Anne has a business management degree and worked for the State of Alaska, the Municipality of Anchorage and First National Bank Alaska before joining Alyeska as HR operations manager. She likes to camp and fish with her family during Alaska's beautiful summers and escape to warm beaches during the long winters.

Q: What are some of your responsibilities?

The operations staff of 10 is in charge of recruiting, relocations and answering questions from Alyeska staff about HR procedures. I oversee this staff who also manage personnel services contracts and maintain the HR database. The staff also includes six HR generalists who support all Alyeska employees and serve as the HR "front line" to answer HR and basic benefits questions.

Q: What is your biggest project?

My top priority right now is staff selection for the successful implementation of the pipeline's strategic reconfiguration and work force plan. We are using our job information bank to assist with this transformation. It is an application available only on the Alyeska web site that we use to identify roles and responsibilities for every Alyeska employee. It will help us avoid duplication of work tasks and streamline operations. The job information bank will soon be available to all employees.

Q: What do you like best about working for Alyeska?

It's all great. During the past year I've traveled along the pipeline and visited Valdez and Fairbanks. I have also had the pleasure of working with interesting and dedicated people who provide insightful comments that help me do my job better. There is an incredible amount of longevity among the employees and it is wonderful to work with people who have shown such commitment to Alyeska.