Jill Ferris

Jill was born and raised in Michigan. She moved to Montana after graduating High School in 1977 and between 1977-1984 worked seasonal and full-time jobs, did some traveling and attended the University of Montana. After graduating in 1984 she drove up to Alaska intent on living and working there.  However, shortly after arriving in Alaska she received a job offer to work in Antarctica. She knew she could always return to Alaska, but she was not sure she would ever get a chance to go to Antarctica again. And, this once in a lifetime opportunity, turned into a career path for her.  She started on the ice in 1984 as a shuttle driver, next worked as a fuelie, and then was hired to work in the Berg Field Center (BFC) outfitting researchers for their field work. Her tenure as a seasonal employee included a winter over in the BFC.  In 1990 when Antarctic Support Associates won the USAP contract Jill was hired as the BFC supervisor, a full-time job based in Denver during the off season.   In the mid-90’s she moved into the Field Operations Manager position and did that until 1999, when she became bi-polar.  Bi-polar in the sense that she switched poles to support science for the NSF in the Arctic. In 1999, she formed the company Polar Field Services, Inc. (PFS), and along with a few of her Antarctic co-workers, PFS joined the team that submitted a successful proposal to manage the NSF Arctic Research Support Logistics Services program.  And, she has been working with her team to do just that ever since.