Neal Fried is the chief economist for the Alaska Department of Labor and the primary author of articles appearing in its monthly magazine Alaska Economic Trends. He’s served on both the Governor’s Oil and Gas Policy Task Force and the Anchorage Economic Development Committee. In 2011 Fried was the honored recipient of the Governor’s Denali Peak Performance Award. He journeyed to Alaska in 1973 to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he earned B.A. degrees in both History and Economics and has worked as an economist in Alaska for over 30 years.