BIOGRAPHY Dan Sullivan is a proven leader with a strong record of getting big things done for Alaska. As Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources in the Administrations of Governors Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell, his accomplishments have focused on three areas: protecting Alaskans, promoting energy security and economic opportunity, and fighting effectively against federal government overreach into the lives of Alaskans. Sullivan is an optimist who strongly believes that Alaska s and America s best days are ahead and that the energy renaissance that is taking place in Alaska and throughout the United States offers enormous opportunities. Sullivan has been a leader on the front lines in fighting the federal government s unprecedented intrusion into the lives of Alaskans and their economy. Few other public officials in the United States have more experience and a demonstrated record of successfully challenging the Obama Administration s dramatic expansion of federal powers. Sullivan has a distinguished record of military and national security service. He is currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves with 20 years of service as an infantry and reconnaissance officer. He also served as a U.S. Assistant Secretary of State focusing on economic, energy, and finance issues, and as a Director on the National Security Council staff under Condoleezza Rice when she was the country s Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Alaska Attorney General Sullivan served as Alaska's Attorney General from June 2009 until December 2010, where he led the 500 professionals of the Alaska Department of Law. He was appointed Attorney General by Governor Sarah Palin in June 2009 and was unanimously confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. As Attorney General, Sullivan s number one priority was protecting Alaskans, their physical safety, financial well-being, and individual rights particularly Alaska s most vulnerable. His primary focus was on ending Alaska s epidemic levels of sexual assault and domestic violence through the development, launch, and implementation of the Governor s Choose Respect campaign. This strategy increased sentences for sexual assault offenders, beefed up law
enforcement in rural areas of Alaska, and enhanced the ability of prosecutors to convict sexual offenders and child pornographers. He put dangerous criminals behind bars by winning long jail terms for some of Alaska s most notorious criminals. He is a strong defender of the Second Amendment, working closely with other state Attorneys General on the landmark McDonald v. Chicago case in which the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to all American citizens. His half-billion dollar actuarial malpractice settlement with one of Wall Street s largest financial firms was the largest in U.S. history. Under Sullivan s leadership, the Department of Law undertook an aggressive strategy of initiating and intervening in litigation aimed at halting federal government overreach into the lives of Alaskans and their economy. He sued the Obama Administration over its national health care legislation with other state Attorneys General. His memorandum to Governor Parnell on Obamacare helped lay the foundation for the successful argument that the law s individual mandate was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He was also one of the first Attorneys General in the country to recognize and thwart the sue and settle strategy pursued by the Obama Administration s government agencies and their NGO allies. As Attorney General, Sullivan focused on ways to improve life in rural Alaska, serving as the chair of the Governor's Rural Action Subcabinet and co-chair of the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission. He also served as co-chair with the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court on the Alaska Criminal Justice Working Group. Alaska Commissioner for the Department of Natural Resources In December 2010, Governor Sean Parnell asked Sullivan to lead the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Sullivan was unanimously confirmed by the Alaska Legislature as Commissioner and served until September 2013. In addition to leading the 1,100 professionals in DNR, Sullivan was responsible for managing one of the largest portfolios of oil, gas, renewable energy, minerals, timber, land, and water in the world, as well as overseeing regulatory activities on approximately 160 million acres of state land and 40,000 miles of coastline. Working closely with Governor Parnell, Sullivan developed numerous strategies and supporting initiatives focused on jump-starting responsible resource development, economic activity, energy security, and jobs across a number of critical sectors in the Alaska economy. He developed a comprehensive plan to cut red tape and streamline Alaska s regulatory system, which gained strong bipartisan support in the Legislature and slashed a backlog of state permits by 40 percent. He led successful efforts to reduce taxes in order to increase investment and energy production on the North Slope and to drive the dramatic Cook Inlet energy renaissance in Alaska s oldest hydrocarbon basin. He played a key role in resolving, permitting, and promoting the multi-billion dollar Point Thomson development on the North Slope and has vigorously defended attempts by the Obama Administration to lock up the NPR-A from responsible exploration and development. 2 Sullivan Biography
He launched successful strategies to defend and promote Alaska s mining and timber sectors, and also highlighted the importance of Alaska s agriculture industry through a comprehensive strategy to encourage the purchase of Alaska Grown produce. These efforts have led to significant increases in jobs, energy production, and investment in different resource development sectors throughout Alaska. The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation recently cited these achievements as a principal reason for the region s 4.7 percent unemployment rate, which it described as the envy of much of the nation. 20-Year Marine Corps Infantry and Reconnaissance Officer Sullivan is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He has served in the Marines since 1993 on active duty and in the reserves as a Marine infantry and reconnaissance officer. He was recently selected by Headquarters Marine Corps for battalion-level command, assuming the leadership role as the Commanding Officer of 6 th ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company). 6 th ANGLICO s mission is to deploy elite Marine Corps teams to support U.S. Army units, special forces, and allied ground troops to coordinate and control supporting arms fire from the air, land, and sea. Prior to this commanding officer assignment, Sullivan served as the Executive Officer of the 4 th Marine Division's Anti-Terrorism Battalion. He has also served with Second Battalion, Fifth Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, where he deployed with the 31 st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), and for several years with Anchorage-based Echo Company, Fourth Reconnaissance Battalion the Marine Corps Reserve's premier cold weather recon unit. In 2004, Sullivan was recalled to active duty for a year and a half to serve as a staff officer to the Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) General John Abizaid, spending substantial time deployed in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia. He recently completed a temporary duty assignment in Afghanistan where he served with a Combined Joint Task Force focusing on dismantling terrorist networks and criminalizing the Taliban insurgency. Senior U.S. National Security Official Sullivan served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs. His nomination by President George W. Bush was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2006, and he served until January 2009. In this role, he was a senior advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top U.S. government officials on the formulation and execution of international energy, economic, trade, finance, transportation, telecommunications, and Arctic policies. Sullivan also led and managed the 200-employee State Department Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs. As the Assistant Secretary of State, much of Sullivan's work focused on international energy issues. He served as the U.S. Governing Board member of the International Energy Agency the 3 Sullivan Biography
world's premier energy security organization. He worked closely with the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects on Alaska gas pipeline issues. He strengthened U.S.-Canadian energy ties as the co-chair of the U.S.-Canada Energy Consultative Group, and advanced U.S. geo-strategic interests through his work on the development and implementation of major gas and oil pipeline projects in Central Asia. He also focused on economic and finance issues relating to the War on Terror. He was a lead U.S. government official working on economic development in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and he worked closely with senior Treasury officials in thwarting global terrorist finance networks. He was also the senior official in charge of the U.S. campaign to discourage international companies from investing in Iran s oil and gas sector. Sullivan worked to promote U.S. business opportunities overseas and open markets to help expand exports of U.S. products and agriculture. He was responsible for overseeing and leading several complex negotiations of strategic importance to the U.S., including sovereign debt restructuring accords and opening foreign aviation markets to American commercial and passenger airlines that provided additional opportunities for one of Alaska s most important economic sectors. He also played a major leadership role in successfully blocking efforts by China, Russia, and Brazil to give the UN substantial control over the Internet. Prior to serving as the Assistant Secretary of State, Sullivan was a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House where he focused on coordinating and implementing U.S. initiatives to open foreign markets and slash regulatory barriers to trade. Legal and Academic Background Sullivan is one of a select number of Alaskan attorneys who has held judicial clerkships on both the highest federal and state courts in Alaska. He was a judicial law clerk for Judge Andrew Kleinfeld of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Fairbanks from 1997-98 and for Chief Justice Warren Matthews of the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage from 1998-99. Following his judicial clerkships, Sullivan joined the Anchorage office of Perkins Coie, LLP. His practice focused on corporate transactions, commercial litigation, Alaska small businesses and Native corporations. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, earning a bachelors degree in Economics, where he was a Harvard College scholar during each of his four years. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, earning a Juris Doctor and Masters of Science in Foreign Service joint degree. He was a member of the Georgetown Law Journal, and during his final year at Georgetown, served as a law clerk/intern for Judge James L. Buckley on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 4 Sullivan Biography
Awards, Honors, and Personal Information Sullivan is the recipient of numerous professional, academic, and military awards, including the White House Fellowship, the National Security Council Outstanding Service Award, and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He and his wife Julie Fate Sullivan were married over 19 years ago in Julie s hometown of Fairbanks. They have three daughters, two of whom were born in Anchorage. They began their life in Alaska over 16 years ago, moving with their six-month old daughter to Fairbanks after Sullivan initially left active duty with the Marines. 5 Sullivan Biography