Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik is back as president of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, a position she had held until last year.

Members of the association, which speaks for mayors and municipal officials in Nunavut's 25 communities, elected Sheutiapik as president on Thursday.

Sheutiapik was president from 2006 until she resigned in October 2008, when she said she wanted to concentrate more on her mayoral responsibilities.

She defeated incumbent president Andrew Taqtu, the mayor of Arctic Bay, for the job on Thursday, the last day of the association's annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay.

Sheutiapik told CBC News she is happy to be involved with the organization again and looks forward to moving it back on track, first by hiring some staff.

"I think in a sense that being the mayor of the capital, I always have been conscious of trying to be aware of the communities. To me, it's always been a [good] fit being the the president," she said.

"I'm quite excited, actually. It's a whole new board, in a sense, but sometimes that's a good thing."

The association's new board of directors includes:

• Millie Kuliktana of Kugluktuk, who was elected vice-president.
• Pond Inlet Mayor Abraham Kublu, Baffin representative.
• Chesterfield Inlet Mayor Harry Tootoo, Kivalliq representative.
• Gjoa Haven Mayor Joanni Sallerina, Kitikmeot representative.