Leanne Lusk
Leanne Lusk, MBA, PMP (LinkedIn), is President of Antarctic Science Alliance, LLC and an Executive Counselor to the Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC-ARCTIC) at the University of Alaska Anchorage, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence focused on Arctic security. She previously served as ADAC-ARCTIC’s Executive Director, overseeing 35 principal investigators and research teams from 13 universities conducting research in support of DHS and the Homeland Security Enterprise.
Lusk is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and former Captain (O-6) with more than three decades of military and private-sector leadership experience. As Commander of Coast Guard Sector Anchorage from 2020 to 2023, she directed Coast Guard operations throughout the Arctic and Western Alaska and served as Captain of the Port, Federal On-Scene Coordinator, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator. Her work included Arctic security, maritime law enforcement, emergency and environmental response, maritime security, intergovernmental coordination, and implementation of national Arctic strategy. She served as Incident Commander for the federal response following Typhoon Merbok’s 2022 landfall in Western Alaska and participated in bilateral contingency planning exercises with Canada and Russia.
Earlier in her career, Lusk served as Deputy Director of the Coast Guard’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Military Campaign, leading implementation of the service’s strategic plan and serving as Executive Secretary of its Sexual Assault Prevention Council. She was also a member of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault and contributed to development of the “It’s On Us” campaign.
Lusk holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BS in Government (International Affairs) from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She is a certified Project Management Professional and has written on leadership, suicide prevention, search and rescue, and operational fatigue.
