Mark Begich has a vision of his hometown of Anchorage becoming an important financial centre. As its new mayor, he has an opportunity to help make a difference. Karen E Thuermer reports.

Mark Begich, the recently inaugurated mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, recalls a city that boomed in the 1970s then suffered under the oil shock of the mid-1980s. “People virtually walked away from their houses and left, leaving street after street of deserted homes,” he says. “We lost 20,000-plus people.”