New Permanent Fund board member knows fish

Gov. Sarah Palin today named a new person to the Alaska Permanent Fund board of trustees, and he's someone well known in commercial fishing circles.

Steve Rieger is a management and finance consultant in Anchorage.

He's worked extensively in the past with Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., which is engaged in lucrative Bering Sea fisheries as one of the state's six Community Development Quota companies.

The Permanent Fund is Alaska's oil wealth savings account. Now worth $31 billion, the fund is invested in stocks, bonds and real estate, with the six-member board of trustees acting as overseer.

Here's the governor's press release.