Susan Bell.

• Position: OFF THE CUFF

Susan Bell is the Director of McKinley Research (formerly McDowell Group), which has provided quality research to Alaskans for more than forty years. "We're working in data, we're answering questions, we're finding solutions--but what's exciting is when we're helping clients make a decision about an investment or a decision or a program that helps them go forward," Bell says of what she enjoys most about her work. She currently lives in Juneau with her husband, Bob Koenitzer.

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time? Susan Bell: I really love to be outdoors, and having spent more than thirty years in Southeast, I'm pretty all-weather. So if it's a nice day and I can get out and hike, I enjoy doing that; if the weather gods are favorable and it's snowy, I cross-country or downhill ski.

AB: Is there a skill you're currently developing or have always wanted to learn?

Bell: This sounds so mundane, but I know I use a fraction of what Excel is capable of, a fraction of all these tools we use... I've been dying to take a little time to sort of sharpen my own skills and use the tools that are at my fingertips more effectively.

AB: What's the most daring thing you've ever done?

Bell: In my twenties, when I was working in Denali, a lot of people were coming down to Girdwood to learn to parachute. [It] was incredibly reckless to sort of pile in a car with a group of people to come down, to do a training, to climb out on the strut of a plane, and to jump... It was exhilarating, it was liberating, it was really fun. I've only ever done it that one time... and I certainly didn't tell my parents until well after when I handed them a photo.

AB: What's your go-to comfort food?

Bell: Anything with sausage... maybe it's a venison sausage, maybe it's moose sausages. I start with that and see what else is around. But yeah, I think sausage can fix a lot of moods she laughs].

AB: Other than your current career, if you were a kid today, what would your dream job be?

Bell: I...