Tommy Sheridan

ABEC Lead

Tommy Sheridan joined ABEC as its Associate Director in November 2022. Prior to that, Sheridan had worked for over 20 years throughout the Alaskan seafood industry, including nonprofit hatchery management, seafood processing management, service as a fishery manager for the State of Alaska, and in a variety of teaching positions with universities in Alaska and Oregon. Mr. Sheridan has experience developing and managing projects and personnel, and developing, implementing, and managing annual budgets ranging up to $17.2 million. Sheridan holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, an undergraduate certificate in fisheries technology, a graduate certificate in fisheries management, and a master’s degree in fisheries and wildlife administration.

Whitney Tallarico

Program Manager

Whitney has supported organizational change and community development from the vantage point of the U.S. Navy, non-profits, consultant firms, start-up companies, and academia. Her love of Alaska took root in 2017, on her first visit working for the Office of Naval Research (ONR). At ONR, she was able to build and support non-traditional ecosystem development with seed funds from the Navy and an abundance mindset. Her work building ecosystems for the Navy led her to co-founding the Navy’s innovation arm, NavalX, and growing the Navy’s Tech Bridge Network to 18 regional innovation hubs. In just two years supporting the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, she was able to build a thriving ecosystem across 30 U.S. and foreign military commands, establish a core budget of $18M for the regional innovation hubs, raise over $100M in matching funds from other entities within and outside of the Navy, and deliver 10 new capabilities to national security. She is currently working to build out ABEC as a platform to more sustainably and respectfully grow economic opportunities around Alaska’s vast coastal resources. With a B.A. in Anthropology, English and a minor in philosophy from the University of Rhode Island and a M.A. in International Development Studies from the George Washington University, she believes all impactful problem-solving requires the empowerment of stakeholders closest to the problem.

Megan Koch

Project Manager

Build Back Better

Megan is a Project Manager under the Build Back Better partnership led by Southeast Conference, located within Center ICE in alliance with the Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC) at UAF. Her primary focus throughout the project is to promote commercialization and tech transfer support services within Alaska mariculture. Megan is an instructor for a foundational course and a graduate student in the Department of Communication at UAF. She earned her undergraduate degree from Montana State University in Graphic Design, and a minor in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and has over fifteen years of professional experience in strategic marketing for global organizations with mission-oriented operations. She excels at strategizing and implementing systems that target goals. Megan currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Morris Thompson Cultural Center and is among the fourth generation in her family to call Alaska home.

Erlingur "Elli" Guðleifsson

Researcher

Erlingur Gudleifsson passed a journeyman’s exam in metal turning in 1997. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an executive MBA from Reykjavik University. Gudleifsson has worked on mechanical design as well as project and engineering management in the blue economy field. Notably, he had a leading role in design and project management of an ambitious innovation project in the fish meal sector for more than 10 years. He has also worked closely with ship designers and shipyards in Europe, U.S. and Latin America on new installations and retrofits. In addition, Gudleifsson worked for first-to-market innovative chemical products in Iceland. Gudleifsson’s current work involves collaboration between Alaska and Iceland in energy and the blue economy. He is passionate about challenging norms to develop and explore strategic and visionary decisions from the mindset of creating value.