Mead Treadwell

Louis Mead Treadwell II (born March 21, 1956) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 11th lieutenant governor of Alaska from 2010 to 2014.

Treadwell attended high school at Newtown High School and was then appointed by Senator Lowell Weicker as a Senate Page and the Senate Page School in Washington, D.C. He then studied at the Hotchkiss School, in Lakeville, Connecticut, graduating in 1974.

In 1978, Treadwell graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University.

In 1978, Treadwell moved to Alaska to take an internship with former U.S. Secretary of Interior Wally Hickel's campaign for governor of Alaska.

Hickel lost a close contest to incumbent Republican Governor Jay S. Hammond in the primary election, coming short by 98 votes out of over 100,000 votes cast.

After controversy including multiple recounts and court challenges, Hickel launched a write-in campaign in the general election, besting three of the four candidates on the ballot, though once again losing to Hammond.

Following the election, Treadwell became a political reporter for the Anchorage Times.

After that, he was hired by Hickel's business company, Yukon Pacific Corporation, where he worked as treasurer and later vice president.

Yukon Pacific was founded to investigate the possibility of building a trans-Alaska gas pipeline.

He later attended Harvard University and graduated with his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1982.

Eventually, Yukon Pacific was purchased by CSX in 1989.

In the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, Treadwell left Yukon and went to Cordova, Alaska, to serve as the city's director of spill response.

Cordova was badly impacted by the spill, which severely affected the area's fishing industry and disrupted the general ecology of the area.

A September 1990 article in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal praised the cleanup efforts, saying that they had come along "quite well".

Treadwell expressed optimism about the ecological rebound, cautioning that, while over half of beaches appeared normal and the quantity of commercial fish catches was exceptionally strong, the long-term effects of the spill would not be apparent for "years to come".

He led two expeditions to Wrangel Island in 1990 and led a team of nuclear safety experts to the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant in Chukotka in 1993.

In 1990, incumbent one-term governor Steve Cowper decided not to seek re-election.

Hickel decided to run as the nominee of the Alaskan Independence Party, and won with a plurality of 39% of the vote.

Hickel appointed Treadwell served as Deputy Commissioner of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

He served in that position from 1991 to 1994 and continued to help the cleanup of the spill.

He wrote new oil spill prevention laws, and helped create the Department's Environmental Justice division.

He also represented the state of Alaska on U.S. delegations in three circumpolar government groups: the eight-nation Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, the Arctic Council, and the regional Governors’ Northern Forum.

He joined Governor Hickel at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.

He hosted RADEX, the Arctic nations’ first circumpolar radiation release response exercise in 1994.

After Governor Hickel decided not to run for re-election in 1994, Treadwell served as a board member on the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.

He is a member of the Alaska Siberia Research Center board.

Treadwell was appointed to the United States Arctic Research Commission in 2001, and was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as chair in 2006.

He has been called to testify before the United States Congress on several occasions.

Treadwell was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2002 and chairs the North Pacific Alaska Chapter of the club.

Treadwell has been involved in numerous successful business ventures and is a prominent member of Alaska's business community.

Treadwell is on the Board of Venture Ad Astra, which creates "remote sensing and location-based technologies for National Security, Position, Timing, Navigational Infrastructure, and Commercial Markets".

Treadwell played a role in the foundation of Digimarc, a digital watermarking technology provider ranked first on Forbes list of fastest growing tech companies in 2004.

He has also served as non-executive chairman of Immersive Media Corporation (IMC), a company notable for developing the camera used for Google's Street View and Map Quest's 360 View services.

Treadwell also served as chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission from 2006 to 2010.

In a 2006 piece on National Public Radio, Treadwell stated that some harmful effects of the oil spill have persisted.

Treadwell helped establish the Siberia Alaska Gateway Project of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, which worked to open the US-Russia border with the Friendship Flight.

He is a member of the Republican Party and was a candidate for the 2014 U.S. Senate election in Alaska.

Treadwell was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Anne and Timothy Treadwell.

He grew up in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, Connecticut, where his father was the former first selectman of Newtown; the Timothy B. Treadwell Memorial Park named in his late father's honor.

Treadwell attended Newtown Public Schools and attended Sandy Hook Elementary school.