Face to Face
Warren Mitvitnikoff
Mechanical Maintenance

Before Warren Mitvitnikoff started his 27-year career with TAPS, his family already had a long work history in Valdez. As a teenager, his mother, of Russian Aleut descent and originally from Valdez, worked at the old Dayville Cannery, now the site of the Valdez Marine Terminal. His father, raised in Tatitlek and also Aleut, fished Prince William Sound, as his ancestors had for hundreds of years.

After graduating from Valdez High School in 1970, Warren attended college in Anchorage at Alaska Methodist University—now Alaska Pacific University—where he majored in elementary education. He was 18 credits short of becoming a teacher when one of his three brothers passed on some of the biggest news in Alaska’s history: “They’re building a pipeline.”

What is your professional background?

I first went to work in 1974 on a brushing crew (for TAPS), clearing trees and brush for the pipeline construction. I worked on the pipeline for about five years, before working as a member of the longshoremen’s union offloading pipe from ships coming in from Japan and then on a surface coating crew. In the late ‘70s, while still working as the labor union, I put in an application with TAPS. I worked in the Alyeska Marine department for nine years before joining the Mechanical Maintenance department, where I have been ever since. I work on anything that’s mechanical, including pumps, hydrants and pressure safety valves, which are my areas of specialization.

What do you like best about working at Alyeska?

It’s a good job and I like the schedule. I like the people I work with—they are all my buddies so we all get along really well.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

In the winter, I usually stay in Valdez and work around the house. In the summer, my wife Ruby and I like to travel and visit our grandchildren in Texas and when there’s time, fish—of course. We like to go to Vegas, too. I love the slot machines.

What do you like best about Alaska?

I’ve been all over, but I’ve never lived anywhere else, so this is home to me.