PERSON: Mike Dunleavy

State of Alaska

Governor

Michael James Dunleavy (born May 5, 1961) is an American educator and politician serving as the 12th governor of Alaska since 2018. A Republican, he was a member of the Alaska Senate from 2013 to 2018. He defeated former U.S. senator Mark Begich in the 2018 gubernatorial election after incumbent governor Bill Walker dropped out of the race. He was reelected in 2022.

Dunleavy was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Scranton Central High School in 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at Misericordia University in 1983. In 1983, he moved to Alaska and his first job was at a logging camp in Southeast Alaska. Later, Dunleavy earned his master’s degree in education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He spent nearly two decades in northwest Arctic communities working as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. Dunleavy’s wife, Rose, is from the Kobuk River Valley community of Noorvik. They have three children, who were raised in both rural and urban Alaska. In 2004, Dunleavy and his family moved to Wasilla, where he owned an educational consulting firm and worked on a number of statewide educational projects. Before his election to the Alaska Senate, Dunleavy served on the board of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, including two years as its president.

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