General Info:
Eric McDowellAs McDowell Group's founder, Eric has made a career of studying Alaska and helping corporate, non-profit, and public agencies succeed. His professional passions include Alaska Native corporate and tribal interests, strategic planning and facilitation, Alaska's seafood and tourism industries, and helping address the state's major social issues. He enjoys the challenge of complex research projects such as the ongoing Alaska Travelers Survey, which McDowell Group commenced in 2001.Eric was born in Juneau, raised in Haines, and educated at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ( B.A., Psychology ) and the University of Oregon ( MBA, Marketing/Marketing Research ). He served as the Deputy Director of Alaska Division of Tourism, and has experience in the seafood and petroleum industries.A lifetime basketball junkie, Eric still plays competitively at age 65. He serves on the board of Alaska Pacific Bank and is a past board member of the Healing Hand Foundation and the Rainforest Recovery Center. Eric is a certified counselor ( NCAC I ) and is involved in the personal growth movement. Additionally, he has more than 30 years experience as a commercial salmon troller.Jim is a principal with McDowell Group and the firm's senior economic analyst. Jim's specialties include economic and socioeconomic impact analyses, cost/benefit analyses, business feasibility studies, and local, regional, and statewide economic profiles. Since joining the firm in 1986, he has conducted socioeconomic impact analyses for a broad range of Alaska resource development projects and industries including seafood, tourism, oil and mining industries. Jim has also conducted community-level business and economic modeling and analyses in Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak, the Northwest Arctic Borough, the Southwest Alaska region, Cordova, Valdez, and virtually every community in Southeast Alaska.Jim's formal education includes a Master of Science in mineral economics from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He earned his undergraduate degree from Western Washington University. He is a lifelong Alaskan, born in Ketchikan and raised in Juneau. In his spare time, he serves as President of the Eaglecrest Ski Area Board of Directors and is a member and director of Juneau Mountain Rescue.