Romano, 50, has served on the Alaska Airlines Community Advisory Board for 10 years. As regional vice president, she will oversee the company’s public affairs and communications in the state.
She replaces Alaska Airlines Senior Vice President Bill MacKay and will be based in Anchorage.
Romano has been publisher of the Daily News-Miner, the state’s second-largest newspaper, since mid-2000. She will leave at the end of July after a new publisher has been named.
Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden, in a news release issued early Friday, noted Romano’s “strong commitment and connections” to the state.
“Marilyn cares deeply about the communities in Alaska and brings a wealth of experience and savvy leadership to this position,” he said. “We look forward to her overseeing public affairs activities and continuing the special relationship we have with the residents in the state where our airline was born.”
Romano, originally from Houston, Texas, began work at the Daily News-Miner in April 1992 as the newspaper’s advertising director. She began her newspaper career in Houston.
She became general manager of the Daily News-Miner in 1998 and publisher in 2000, replacing the retiring Paul Massey. Romano is the seventh publisher of the 108-year-old newspaper and is the first woman to hold the position. She also is vice president of the Kodiak Daily Mirror, which is owned by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Inc.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity and one that I embrace,” Romano said. “It will give me the chance to see all of this great state, but it comes at a great price — leaving the newspaper I love and people I am honored to work with every day. Leaving Fairbanks was one of the difficult factors that had to be weighed. It is the only community I have lived in in my 19 years in the state.”
Romano has served on the boards of a variety of nonprofit organizations and other entities in the Fairbanks area. She is a member of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Community Advisory Council and sits on the boards of directors of the United Way of the Tanana Valley and of the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce.
In 2002, Romano accepted, on behalf of the newspaper, the Outstanding Business in Philanthropy Award, given by the Alaska Association of Fundraising Professionals. The newspaper was nominated by organizations such as the United Way, the Literacy Council of Alaska and UAF.
She was named in 2006 as a Woman of Distinction by the Farthest North Girl Scouts and in 1999 received a “Top 40 Under 40” award from the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
Romano has been an important figure with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, according to UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers. He credits Romano, who is chairwoman of the UAF Community Advisory Council, with helping the university secure financing for a long-sought life sciences building after many years of failed attempts.
“I think the most important thing to me really is the way she helped us craft the message as to why we need the life sciences building in a way the community and Legislature understood it,” Rogers said.
Rogers said Romano’s work on the advisory council, which consists of about 20 community members, “brought the pulse of the community into the university.”
“That helped us think about what issues did we need to address, how did we respond to community needs, and what issues should we be focusing on,” Rogers said.
Romano also has given her time and the News-Miner’s dollars to a variety of fundraisers for assorted organizations in the Fairbanks community.
Literacy Council Executive Director Mike Kolasa said Romano and the News-Miner have been a substantial help to his organization. The newspaper has sponsored the annual Biz Bee spelling bee for 19 years.
The Biz Bee, the largest Literacy Council fundraiser, has raised a total of $379,234 since its first year.
“She’s given staff lots of time to work with us and done great in terms of sponsoring this fund-raising event,” Kolasa said. “I think it’s a real natural fit. Marilyn has a great love for literacy and a great love for the Literacy Council. She’s been a lot of fun to work with.”
Contact managing editor Rod Boyce at 459-7585.
God bless you.
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