LaFrance reappoints Jennifer Griffis to Anchorage library board through 2029

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has reappointed Jennifer Griffis to Seat 8 on Anchorage's Library Advisory Board, a term that would run through Oct. 14, 2029. The mayor's memo asks the Anchorage Assembly to confirm her at its regular meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Most appointments to city boards and commissions are made by the mayor and require Assembly confirmation, according to the municipality, which fills about a third of its board and commission seats every October.

The nine-member library board is the planning body for library activities and special projects. It reviews the library's annual budgets and operations and makes recommendations to the administration and the Assembly, according to the Anchorage Public Library.

Griffis' reappointment is on the Assembly's consent agenda, a group of items the agenda describes as typically routine and not required to be set for public hearing.

LaFrance first appointed Griffis in 2024 to replace Alice Glenn, according to the 2024 memo. That term expired Oct. 14.

Her résumé lists a master's degree in library science and a doctorate in law and policy. She was vice president of policy and advocacy at Alaska Children's Trust from August 2023 through December 2025, where she says she secured and managed more than $300,000 in policy project grants. She now runs the consulting firm Anchored Strategies, teaches graduate public policy courses as an adjunct at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is chair-elect of the Alaska Medicaid Advisory Committee.

The attendance record attached to the reappointment marks her present at board meetings in seven of the 13 months from September 2025 through September 2026 and excused in five.