Mark Myers
Mark D. Myers is an American geologist who currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He also served as the fourteenth Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 3, 2006, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in September 26, 2006. Dr. Myers replaced prior director Charles G. Groat, who had resigned effective June 17, 2005. Anticipating the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president, Myers resigned as USGS director on January 8, 2009, "as is customary during a change in Administrations." On January  21, 2009, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appointed Myers as coordinator for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, responsible to lead efforts to expedite state review and permitting for a proposed natural gas pipeline intended to transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to markets in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. Education and career. Myers grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin where he graduated from high school. He earned degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, receiving his B.S. in 1977 and his M.S. in 1981. He served as a pilot and intelligence officer in the U.S.  Air Force Reserve from 1977 until 2003, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. After receiving his M.S., Myers worked for ARCO in Louisiana where he met his wife, Alice. After two years in Louisiana he was transferred to Alaska. In 1987, he entered the Ph.D. program in geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 1990, he joined the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas as a Petroleum Geologist, where he worked for eight years. In 1994, he completed his dissertation and received his Ph.D. in geology, specializing in sedimentology, clastic depositional environments, surface and subsurface sequence analysis, and sandstone petrography . He then served as Senior Staff Geologist for Exploration at ARCO Alaska Inc. and Phillips Alaska Inc. In 2000 Myers was chosen as Alaska State Geologist and Director of Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas, which included the Alaska Geological and Geophysical Survey. Myers was one of six officials in the Alaska Department of Natural Resources who resigned on October 27, 2005, in response to Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski's dismissal of the department's commissioner and the position the state has taken in negotiations with oil companies regarding a $20 billion natural gas pipeline to the North  Slope. On September 3, 2010, Chancellor Rogers of the University of Alaska Fairbanks announced that Myers had accepted the position of UAF Vice Chancellor for research, slated to begin on January 24, 2011. Myers is a past president and board member of the Alaska Geological Society; a certified professional geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists; a certified petroleum geologist with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists; and a licensed geologist with the State of Alaska. In 2014, Myers was appointed by Bill Walker to be the Alaskan DNR Commissioner. He stepped down from the position on March 1 , 2016. In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed him to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.