It seems to me the Chairwoman of ISU Ice Dance Tech. Committee has to be here to ensure there is no shenanigans, so I am pleased to see this arrangement. As for Alpern being the referee, at the end of the day, the referee really doesn't matter wrt to competition results. Judges will do whatever they want, and they will deal with any explanations later. At men's event, a couple of judges gave Plushenko PCS marks that was in no way within the corridor but it was evident they couldn't care less, obviously because they feel they could justify them.
This tech panel is almost an exact repeat of the GPF Final dance panel. Elek of Hungary is the replacement asst. tech specialist.