Ryan Larsen, a former Arlington city councilman and senior planner for Snohomish County, has been tapped to serve as Anacortes’ new planning director, pending confirmation by the City Council.

“He’s got a lot of public and private business sector experience. We’re going to ask him to assume the roles and duties of economic development management,” said Mayor Dean Maxwell. “He comes pretty well-versed in that arena.”

Maxwell said economic development experience was a top priority when he considered candidates.

“I think that’ll need to be our focus as we all try to recover from this difficult economy,” he said.

Larsen, the brother of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, will start at about $83,000 a year. He will replace Ian Munce, who recently took a job with the city of Tacoma.

He earned a master’s in public administration from the University of Washington in 2003, a bachelor’s degree in geography from Central Washington University in 1996 and an associate of arts degree from Skagit Valley College in 1995. He was an interim supervisor and senior planner for Snohomish County’s Planning and Development Services from 2000 to 2005 and a senior planner for Arlington from 1996 to 1999. He was a city council member in Arlington from 2002 to 2005. Since 2006 he has been project manager for Barclays North Inc. of Lake Stevens, where he worked on land and career development projects. He also briefly headed a private consulting firm and was an investment representative with Edward Jones in Arlington.

Larsen has young children and is currently Kent Prairie PTA president and vice president of Arlington Soccer Club. He chaired Arlington School District’s facilities committee in 1998 to 2001.

Maxwell said he liked Larsen’s experience in both the public and private sectors, “and he’s seen it all from a city councilman’s perspective.”
Larsen also has good connections and “stellar” references, the mayor said.

“He’s a hard worker. He gets things done, and that’s important to me,” Maxwell said.