John R. Spencer is a retired US Army officer having served with distinction as the Post Judge Advocate, United States Army, Alaska, where his responsibilities included those similar to a City Attorney. It was with that background that he was appointed City Attorney of Anchorage in 1971.  During his tenure as City Attorney, seven major cases of first impression were decided by the Supreme Court of Alaska in which Mr. Spencer and his office was heavily involved.

In the mid-seventies Mr. Spencer was elected as Vice-President and General Counsel of RCA Alascom, the long distance carrier in Alaska. Along with the normal corporate attorney functions his office licensed hundreds of satellite stations throughout Alaska and other parts of the world.

Mr. Spencer spent five years as manager of the Anchorage Utility Group which was operated as a private business and included over 500 hundred employees and an annual budget of nearly $100,000,000. During his tenure with the municipality of Anchorage he was instrumental in co-authoring the Municipal Code and served as the chair of the legislative committee of the Alaska Municipal League.

Because of Mr. Spencer’s involvement with environmental issues from the origin of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1971, he was appointed as the Administrator of Region 10 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency by President Regan. His responsibility included Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Mr. Spencer served with distinction in that position, identifying the first Super Fund characterizations in Region 10 and implementation of the Super Fund Program in the Northwest.

Upon leaving EPA Mr. Spencer created a large environmental response engineering and remediation company headquartered in Portland, Oregon with operations in all western states. He accomplished well over $200,000,000 worth of design and remediation work for both private and government entities, including the emergency response contract for US EPA for all states west of the Mississippi.

Mr. Spencer has been back in private law practice for the last 21 years with emphasis on environmental matters including insurance recovery, defense work for businesses, as well as individuals. He has worked extensively in responsible party recovery for remediation and has interfaced with EPA on many occasions involving matters of wetland issues, as well as serving as counsel for many responsible parties in both state and federal Super Fund sites. His knowledge of both the technical and legal aspects of the environmental issues have allowed him to resolve.

Mr. Spencer has remained involved with many civic organizations throughout his life, serving on the board of directors or as an officer of several organizations. He was a board member of the Boy Scout Council in Alaska. He was the president of the Anchorage Retarded Children’s Association, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Trustee on several Union Pension and Welfare plans, as well as the City Bank Police and Fire Welfare Trust. He was a charter member of the Citizens Crime Commission in Portland. He is the former president of The New Phoebe House, a transitional home for drug addicted women in the process reuniting them with their families.

He is the current Director of the National Defense Executive Reserve for Region 10, US DOT.