Craig Stowers

Craig F. Stowers (born 1954) is the 18th and current Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, who was appointed by Republican Governor Sean Parnell in 2009 to replace retiring Justice Robert Eastaugh. Stowers was one of seven candidates recommended to the Governor by the Alaska Judicial Council out of a record 25 applicants.

Born in Daytona Beach, Florida and raised in Yorktown, Virginia, Stowers earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Blackburn College in 1975. He then went on to serve as a park ranger with the National Park Service at Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia before transferring to Mount McKinley National Park in 1977. After leaving the National Park Service he earned his Juris Doctor in 1985 from the University of California, Davis School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif honor society. After earning his law degree, Stowers served as a law clerk for U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Boochever and then went on to serve as a law clerk for Alaska Supreme Court Justice Warren Matthews.

In 1987, Stowers joined the law firm of Atkinson, Conway & Gagnon until leaving in 1995 to become a founding partner of the law firm of Clapp, Peterson and Stowers. In 2004, he left Clapp, Peterson and Stowers when he was appointed a Superior Court Judge for the Third Judicial District in Anchorage by Governor Frank Murkowski.

Before his appointment to the Supreme Court by Governor Sean Parnell in 2009, Stowers was President of the Board of Directors of Christian Health Associates. He is also a former board member of the Alaska Natural History Association, Brother Francis Shelter, and Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.