Neil Nesheim has worked for the Alaska Court System since 1987 and is the area court administrator for southeast Alaska. Geographically, southeast Alaska is nearly as large as the state of Indiana (over 35,000 square miles of land) and has roughly 10,000 miles of coastline. Access to 10 of the 12 communities where there are courts is only by air or sea. As the area court administrator, Mr. Nesheim is responsible for an annual budget of 11 million dollars; he oversees all facets of the district’s 12 facilities; and he works for 85 hard-working and dedicated employees by developing, implementing, and managing policies and procedures for the district’s limited and general jurisdiction courts. He serves as a review board member for the National Center for State Courts’ Trends in State Courts publication. He is also a planning member for Alaska’s Success Inside and Out prisoner-reintegration program, and he is the project coordinator for the Color of Justice venture, which encourages high-school students from various ethnic backgrounds to pursue careers in the legal system. As the father of two grown boys, Neil lives with his wife in the state capital of Juneau and enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and photography. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and is a 2010 Fellow of the Institute for Court Management’s Court Executive Development Program.
