Alaska Mental Health Trust CEO will retire

Aug. 19—The Alaska Mental Health Trust, one of the biggest landowners in Alaska, is beginning to search for a new CEO.

Mike Abbott, the current CEO, said Wednesday morning that he will retire, likely in January.

"I decided that this was a good time both for my family and myself," he said, and that he doesn't have a recommended replacement.

The Alaska Legislature's budget and audit committee is scheduled to release a special audit into trust activities later this month. Abbott said his decision is unrelated to that audit.

The trust's managing board is planning to hire a headhunting firm to help in its search for Abbott's successor, according to a public notice published Tuesday.

A public corporation, the trust controls about 1 million acres and more than half a billion dollars in investments intended to benefit Alaskans with mental illness or disability. Proceeds from the trust fund the state's mental health budget.

Abbott is a former Anchorage municipal manager and was hired in 2017 by the trust.

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