George Cannelos, who was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez in September 2005, received a BA in Economics from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 1969. After that he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as a flight officer in the RA-5C “Vigilante” and then deploying aboard USS America in 1972, flying more than 75 reconnaisance missions over North Vietnam and Laos. Then in 1975 Canellos received an MA of Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and after that began his career in Alaska with the Department of Community & Regional Affairs. In 1978, he also began serving in the Air National Guard, flying throughout Alaska, the Pacific, and around the world on training and operational missions and deployments. In 1987 he graduated from Air Command and Staff College by correspondence and in 1990 graduated from Air War College also by correspondence. Then in 1992 Canellos served as Mission Commander for Alaskan aircrew and maintenance as part of a Task Relief force into Southern and Central Somalia. In 1998 he became a graduate of Naval War College - National Security Decision Making, Strategy and Policy, Newport, Rhode Island, and capped a 32-year year military career as a Brigadier General commanding the Alaska Air National Guard. Canellos has also served as Chief Operating Officer for Chugach Alaska, General Manager for Bethel Native Corporation, President and Chief Operating Officer of KPB Architects, and Director of the Heritage Land Bank for the Municipality of Anchorage.