About Ethan Berkowitz

Ethan Berkowitz and his wife, Mara Kimmel, live in Anchorage, where they are raising their two children, Hannah and Noah. The family regularly visits family and friends around Alaska, from Kotzebue to Kodiak, from Fairbanks to Mat-Su to Juneau. They enjoy skiing, hiking, fishing, and berry picking – keeping busy all year, all over the state.

Ethan is involved in a variety of businesses across Alaska. Most recently, he has been working with the Kodiak Kenai Cable Company to install a submarine fiber optic cable that will run from Kodiak to Unalaska, up the west coast of Alaska, and ultimately into Prudhoe Bay, bringing high speed broadband to more than 140 rural communities and advancing the scientific and defense needs of our state and nation. He has also been promoting renewable energy projects in the lower Yukon Kuskokwim.

In addition, Ethan and Mara have an interest in several small businesses, including two restaurants — Snow City Café and the Spenard Roadhouse – and a commercial real estate venture, Nunatak, LLC. Mara currently teaches Political Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and was recently appointed as a Senior Fellow at the Institute of the North.

Before beginning elected service, Ethan spent three seasons in Antarctica, doing everything from operating a “D-1″ (also known as a “shovel”), to guiding, to working as an enforcement officer for the U.S. Antarctic Program.Ethan has also worked as a law clerk for the Alaska State Court of Appeals, as an Assistant District Attorney in various South-central and rural communities, and as an attorney in private practice at a law office he established. Along the way, he spent several seasons commercial fishing in Bristol Bay.

Ethan earned his undergraduate degree studying Government and Economics at Harvard University, where he graduated with honors. He subsequently gained a masters degree in Polar Studies from Cambridge University, and a law degree from Hastings College of the Law.

The 26th District elected Ethan as their Representative to the Alaska State House in 1996. Within two years Ethan was selected as the minority leader, a post he filled for eight years. After leaving the legislature in 2006, Ethan ran for Lt. Governor on a ticket with Tony Knowles and then for U.S. Congress in 2008. As a state legislator, he won national recognition for his distinguished service to Alaska, and championed many issues, including fiscal responsibility and energy policy.