James Kaufman came to Alaska with his wife, Nancy, and settled on the Anchorage Hillside. He worked as a resource projects Quality Manager and Team Lead, helping project management teams improve the quality and efficiency of their North Slope projects to deliver greater value for the money spent on capital improvements. He retired from that position in 2017. He has been active in local Community Councils and the Anchorage Hillside Home and Landowners Organization (HALO), and served as Hillside Lead for the Coalition of Community Patrols. In 2020, he ran for public office for the first time and was elected twice, winning the primary and then the general election. His career in quality management on large and complex oil and gas projects provided skills in analyzing complex and expensive scenarios, determining the root cause of failure, finding efficient solutions, identifying improvements, and managing changes to avoid unforeseen consequences and impacts.
