Ral West

Born and raised in Seattle, Ral West has enjoyed a career in travel and tourism, as well as advertising and marketing, that has spanned over forty years. Ral moved to Anchorage in 1981 and founded her own advertising and marketing business there. About ten years later she decided to devote her attention to the business her husband, John Hardwick, started in 1982: Hawaiian Vacations, Inc., an Anchorage-based tour operator providing year-round charter air service between Alaska and Hawaii. In 2008, after owning and operating Hawaiian Vacations for 25 years, Ral and John sold the business to Alaska Airlines. Ral earned her Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from Alaska Pacific University in 1997. In another facet of her career, as a corporate educator, she developed and presented numerous seminars on subjects such as marketing, customer service, time management, goal setting, productivity and planning.