Margo Fliss, EDP - Acting CED Director
mgowens@alaska.edu

Margo leads strategic engagement for the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development, where she plays a key role in advancing Alaska’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. She focuses on equipping early-stage entrepreneurs with the tools and confidence to pursue their ideas, co-leading UAA’s Upstart Alpha student accelerator and directing CED’s Upstart Intern program. Known for her ability to create collaborative, inclusive spaces for exploration and problem-solving, Margo brings a background in education and a facilitation style that blends art and science. Her approach emphasizes guided learning that yields actionable, achievable frameworks—helping students and entrepreneurs turn their vision into impact. She holds a Master of Public Policy from Mills College and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Margo is a certified Strategic Doing Workshop Leader and earned her “Foundations in Design Thinking“ certification from IDEO in 2018. She currently serves on the board and as the secretary for the University Economic Development Association, and on the thread Alaska board.

Heike Merkel - Research and Data Manager
hmerkel@alaska.edu

Heike came to the Center for Economic Development from the renewable energy sector. She previously worked for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power, where she was the Pacific Marine Energy Center project manager and also developed an undergraduate student internship program. She was also a Technical Project Officer at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy. Heike’s educational background is in structural/civil/arctic engineering and geophysics.

Heike’s personal and professional interest is sustainable community development. She likes to use data and imagination to devise strategies and solutions to improve life in her local community. She is aiming to provide her expertise in data analysis, project management, proposal and budget development, grant writing, and contract management to the various projects at CED.

Heike has lived in various places around Alaska and currently resides in Homer. She has worked on a water taxi electrification project for Kachemak Bay and recently became interested in sustainable food production and distribution around Alaska, where currently only a very small fraction of the food consumed is produced in the state.