The Municipality of Anchorage has a new human resources director. Mayor Dave Bronson has named Tyler Anderson to head the city’s HR department.
According to his resume, Anderson comes to the municipality after working at Chugach Electric for 14 years in employee relations. He previously worked for the state of Alaska’s human resources department.
Anderson takes over from Raylene Griffith, who was acting HR manager after the February resignation of Niki Tshibaka. Tshibaka departed the city abruptly, describing an “increasingly toxic, hostile, and demoralizing work environment” in his resignation letter.
Tshibaka was a source of controversy for his defense of deputy library director Judy Eledge as she was being investigated for making racist and homophobic statements. He also locked horns with the Assembly in November 2021 during the confirmation process for former Health Director Joe Gerace, describing attacks on Gerace’s workplace behavior and credentials as “pure character assassination.” Gerace resigned from the health director job months later, shortly before a report revealed his fraudulent resume.
In an unprecedented move, Assembly leaders subpoenaed Tshibaka to testify on the hiring, investigation and eventual resignation of Gerace in February. Tshibaka resigned a day before he was set to appear before the body after being subpoenaed a second time.
Anderson’s confirmation is subject to Assembly approval.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
