Savoonga Community Leader Soon to Co-Chair SEARCH Team

Change is in the air for SEARCH as winter rolls in near the close of 2023. Bryan Rookok, Jr.—SEARCH co-production team member and community leader from Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island—will be taking up the mantle of co-chair of our International Cooperation & Economic Decisionmaking (IC-ED) co-production team. As an already integral team member, Bryan will be joining the project as a team co-chair near the beginning of 2024 alongside Francis Wiese. So far in 2023, Bryan has twice hosted SEARCH co-principal investigators Brendan Kelly and Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf for community meetings in Savoonga. Beyond that, Bryan played a key role in mobilizing SEARCH’s recent co-produced public comments on the Alaska Statewide Energy Master Plan by the Alaska Energy Security Task Force. Bryan will be assuming the role of co-chair replacing the current co-chair, Evan Bloom of the Wilson Center.  We extend our gratitude to Evan for his leadership over the past two years of SEARCH’s current mission as we enthusiastically welcome Bryan into his new role.