Alaska Business Monthly January 2015

Junior Achievement Alaska

Alaska Economic Outlook

Native Corporation Investments

Exploring for Oil and Gas in the Interior

First National’s Cuddy—In tribute to the inaugural issue of January 1985

January 2015 $3.95

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From the Editor � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �7Market Squares� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 75Right Moves� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �76Inside Alaska Business � � � � � � � � � � � � 78Agenda � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 81Alaska This Month � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 82Events Calendar � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 85Alaska Trends � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 86Ad Index � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 90

ABOUT THE COVERWe’ve gone retro with our January cover and brought back the first cover in a mosaic using covers from the last thirty years. Dan Cuddy is still Chairman at First National; as he was in 1985. Cuddy’s daughter Betsy Lawer is President of First National and has offered commentary on the Alaska economy (page 37) for the thirty year anniversary issue of Alaska Business Monthly in the annual Alaska Economic Outlook.Cover design by David Geiger. Cover image created with AndreaMosaic software © Copyright 1997-2014 Andrea Denzler. All Rights Reserved. andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 5T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

ARTICLES

DEPARTMENTS

Education28 | Experimental Economics UAA’s program holds international esteem

By Dr. James Murphy and Dr. Jonathan Alevy

HR MattERs47 | Are You Creating Drones or Superstars?

By Kevin M. Dee

alaska nativE coRpoRations48 | Northwest Arctic Leadership Team Invests in PeopleGroup works cooperatively and collaboratively

By Julie Stricker

Never Alone concept artwork.

Courtesy Upper One Games

52

Lashing a load at the Port of Anchorage

© J

udy

Patr

ick

58

special section

30 Years of ABM30 | 30th AnniversaryLooking back at Alaska Business Monthly

By Susan Harrington, Managing Editor

52 | Cook Inlet Tribal Council Invests in Sustainability with ‘Never Alone’Partnership develops new ‘world games’ genre in consumer video games

By Rindi White

constRuction58 | Dam Port BridgeSpecial projects take ‘one step at a time’

By Kirsten Swann

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January 2015TABLE OF CONTENTS

special section

Economic Outlook34 | Alaska and the United States in 2045

By Dr. Ashok K. Roy36 | Alaska’s Leadership SpeaksFinding Sound Solutions to Fiscal Challenges

By Governor Bill WalkerAnchorage Cautiously Optimistic for 2015

By Mayor Dan Sullivan38 | The Alaska EconomyPast, present, and future

By Naomi Klouda

special section

Junior Achievement Alaska8 | An Open InvitationCome one, come all

By Flora Teo and Logan Burch

10 | Alaska Business Hall of Fame Past Laureates

pRofilEsBy Amy M. Armstrong12 | Sherron Perry

15 | Dana Pruhs

18 | Jana Hayenga and Jo Michalski

21 | The Odom Brothers 24 | Junior Achievement Programs in Alaska SchoolsTeaching financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work-readiness

By Louise Freeman

26 | Junior Achievement Donors

Volume 31, Number 1Published by

Alaska Business Publishing Co.Anchorage, Alaska

Jim Martin, Publisher1989~2014

EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor Susan Harrington Associate Editor Russ Slaten Editorial Assistant Tasha Anderson Art Director David Geiger Art Production Linda Shogren Photo Consultant Chris Arend Photo Contributor Judy Patrick

BUSINESS STAFF President Billie Martin General Mgr. Jason Martin VP Sales & Mktg. Charles Bell Senior Account Mgr. Anne Campbell Account Mgr. Bill Morris Survey Administrator Tasha Anderson Accountant & Melinda Schwab Circulation

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ALASKA BUSINESS PUBLISHING CO., INC.ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY (ISSN 8756-4092) is published monthly by Alaska Business Publishing Co., Inc., 501 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2577; Telephone: (907) 276-4373; Fax: (907) 279-2900, ©2015, Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Subscription Rates: $39.95 a year. Single issues of the Power List are $15 each. Single issues of Alaska Business Monthly are $3.95 each; $4.95 for October, and back issues are $5 each. Send subscription orders and address changes to the Circulation Department, Alaska Business Monthly, PO Box 241288, Anchorage, AK 99524. Please supply both old and new addresses and allow six weeks for change, or update online at www.akbizmag.com. Manuscripts: Send query letter to the Editor. Alaska Business Monthly is not responsible for unsolicited materials. Photocopies: Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center to photocopy any article herein for $1.35 per copy. Send payments to CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the expressed permission of Alaska Business Publishing Co., Inc. is prohibited. Address requests for specific permission to Managing Editor, Alaska Business Publishing. Online: Alaska Business Monthly is available at www.akbizmag.com/archives, www.thefreelibrary.com/Alaska+Business+Monthly-p2643 and from Thomson Gale. Microfilm: Alaska Business Monthly is available on microfilm from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

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34

In the November 2014 print edition of Alaska Business Monthly magazine, people were misidentified and names were misspelled in the article “Alaska Glacier Products Exports Value-Added Water.” Joseph Van Treeck shown as “plant operator” is the Chief Executive Officer. Terry Clark, the Chief Operating Officer, is the number two man at Alaska Glacier Products. Greg Galik shown as “CEO” is the Vice President of Sales.

Correction

oil & Gas

64 | Oilfield HSE ComplianceUsing science in strategies for health, safety, and the environment

By Brian McKay

68 | Ahtna, Doyon, NANA Explore Middle EarthFrontier basins of the Interior closer to development

By Mike Bradner

tElEcoM & tEcHnoloGy74 | Simply Voice & DataTelecoms make it easy for businesses

By Russ Slaten

ARTICLES

www.akbizmag.com January 2015 | Alaska Business Monthly 7

FROM THE EDITOR

Last month we wrapped up thirty years of Alaska Business Monthly, which began with its

first issue in January 1985 and has evolved over the years. In review-ing past issues it became apparent some things have remained, though renamed. For example On The Move was the original Right Moves, fea-turing photos and briefs about new hires and promotions in the Alaska business and industry community. There was an earlier form of Inside Alaska Business. The Economy Ac-cording To Safir was a precursor to Alaska Trends, with charts consist-ing of data tables and statistics, plus a regular column by Economist An-drew Safir, president of Recon Re-search Corporation in San Francisco, now located in Los Angeles.

Safir, who still has energy clients doing business in Alaska and trav-els here to sport fish, spoke briefly about his thoughts on the Alaska economy from his office in Los An-geles. He pointed out that the new group coming in (Governor Bill Walk-er and his administration) looks less favorably to the TransCanada gas pipeline. Safir says the philosophy is well vindicated with the Permanent Fund—it remains well funded with money from when oil was high and the investments have grown—it’s not going away. He also assured me the price of oil won’t stay low forev-er, it will come back up. Intrinsically we know that, though it is good to be reminded.

The magazine has continuously brought readers some form or an-other of Alaska Trends, including Alaska Trends: An Economic Per-spective, which was another com-mentary with charts and numbers that featured in-depth facts and fig-ures and data sets of economic indi-cators for Alaska. Eventually, Alaska Trends evolved into what is now produced by the University of Alas-ka Anchorage College of Business and Public Policy—interesting facts

and data as well as timely articles about some aspect of the economy.

As far as interesting stories, we’ve had thirty years of those, and ex-pect thirty more. Many on the same themes and subjects, building a natural gas pipeline, producing coal in the Beluga fields on the western shores of Cook Inlet, petroleum de-velopment in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, riding the economy up and down through times of busts and booms. From the death of the timber industry by environmental-ists to the birth of real-time commu-nications by telecom giants through-out the state—in 1985 we reported: “Twenty years later and millions of dollars later, every Alaskan commu-nity with twenty-five residents or more is served by at least a single telephone.” That was a huge boon to companies wanting to do business in the Bush—must have a telephone. Thirty years later and hundreds of millions of dollars later, broadband access is the must-have for every Alaska community, and is available nearly everywhere in Alaska.

Although the production sched-ule that comes with being a monthly magazine forgoes breaking news in the print edition, we sure do have it on our website. The majority of akbizmag.com content is press re-leases so readers get breaking news from companies, organizations, and government officials and agencies as it happens. Our website is the go-to spot to find out what is going on in Alaska business. In the monthly edition of the magazine we always work hard to expand those stories and bring readers in-depth, informa-tive, business news from across the many sectors of the Alaska economy to our readers.

We’ve always had the Top 49ers. In 1985 it was The New 49ers and Carr-Gottstein Co., Inc. was number one with $355 million in gross rev-enues and 2,250 employees. There were nine banks on that first Top

49ers list, not so many thirty years later.

We started our popular listings in 1988 with an Alaska Ports directory in the November issue that year, fol-lowed by an Alaska Native Corpora-tions special section and directory the following month. Through the years the special sections and di-rectories have grown and changed with the nature of business enter-prises in Alaska. It’s a formula that’s proved successful for the magazine and popular with our readers. Some-where along the way we started the Power List, that extra publication with all the directories we publish through the year plus others. It’s the year-round desk reference of Alaska businesses.

Alaska Business Monthly has sponsored and promoted the Junior Achievement Alaska Business Hall of Fame since 1987 when JA Alaska be-gan honoring Alaska business lead-ers. This continues to be a favorite endeavor and commitment of Alaska Business Monthly that we are proud to sponsor every year and feature as a special section each year in the January issue. We salute this year’s Laureates as we do each year. We encourage all businesses and busi-ness people to become involved and assist Junior Achievement in bring-ing financial literacy to the youth of Alaska—in every community.

Something new and different this year, our thirty-first, is our mobile migration. Beginning this month there is a digital app for the maga-zine. Paid subscribers will have it at no extra charge. To get the app, go to our website, which we’re re-launching this month with mobile optimization and a cross-platform, multi-device design.

Whichever way you’re reading Alaska Business Monthly this month, enjoy! The team has put together another really great magazine.

—Susan Harrington Managing Editor

Thirty Years of Alaska Business Monthly


special section Junior Achievement Alaska

An Open InvitationAn Open Invitation

Join us Thursday, January 29, for the Annual Alaska Busi-ness Hall of Fame, an event that celebrates the past, pres-ent, and future of business in Alaska. In 1987, Junior

Achievement began the Alaska Business Hall of Fame to hon-or outstanding individual leaders of Alaska business. Since then, the Hall of Fame has become one of the state’s most prestigious events, inducting new Laureates on an annual basis. These individuals are honored for their direct impact toward furthering the success of Alaska business, support for Junior Achievement’s mission and programs, and demon-strated commitment to the Alaska economy.

This important event is a fundraiser for Junior Achieve-ment, an organization dedicated to providing economic and entrepreneurial education in the great state of Alaska. Since 1973, Junior Achievement has served K-12 students statewide from Barrow to Ketchikan. JA serves 9,250 students annu-ally in 43 Alaska communities. As demand for the program continues to grow, JA partners the business community with educators to prepare young people for a global economy. Through the continued support of corporations and busi-nesses in Alaska, we can continue to reach more students in Alaska.

It is our privilege to invite you to attend the 2015 Alaska Business Hall of Fame, presented by Alaska Business Month-ly. This year we are honored to induct Jo Michalski and Jana Hayenga—Alaska Retail Business Owners; the Odom Broth-ers—Odom Corporation; Sherron Perry—Founder of Fair-weather LLC; and Dana Pruhs—Pruhs Corporation. Con-gratulations to you all!

The Alaska Business Hall of Fame is annually attended by nearly six hundred guests, including many prior Laure-ates, leaders from the business community, and supporters of Junior Achievement. We are again pleased to have General Mark Hamilton emcee the event along with actual Junior Achievement students.

For table reservations, or to inquire about the limited re-maining sponsorship opportunities, we encourage you to call Junior Achievement at 907-344-0101 or visit alaska.ja.org. Tables of ten are $1,500, or individual reservations can be made for $150 per ticket. Junior Achievement of Alaska is a registered 501(c)(3) and the majority of your purchase may be tax deductible.

The 2015 Alaska Business Hall of Fame will be held on Thursday, January 29 at the Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for a no-host reception with

the formal program and dinner following at 6:30 p.m.From the board, staff, and students of Junior Achievement

of Alaska, we wish you the very best in 2015 and we look for-ward to seeing you January 29! R

Flora Teo and Logan Burch

Flora Teo Logan Burch

Come one, come all

Share the American Dream

JA Education Gateway

Junior Achievement: Inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy.

Volunteer Engagement Mode

Support Materials

Program Approach

FEATURE

Primarily Technology-BasedPrimarily Paper-Based

Entrepreneurship Financial Literacy Work Readiness

Increased Depth & Scale of Student ImpactContribute to America’s Global Competitiveness

21st Century Skills

CreativityCritical

ThinkingCollaboration Communication

Expert Mentors

Program Content

Learning Approach

Inflexible

Fixed

FROM TO

Intermittent

Regularly Updated

Face-to-Face

Flexible

Flexible

Intentional Engagement

Dynamic

Blended

Program OutcomesAnywhere, Anytime Learning

Ensure ConsistencyImmediate Capabilities Evaluation

Track ProgressRegulatory Compliance

Learning Management & Data Collection System

TOOLS

Student OutcomesIndividualized Lessons

Extra Learning OpportunitiesMultidimensional ExperiencePromotes 21st Century Skills

Maximized Time with Volunteer

Blended CurriculumCONTENT

Volunteer OutcomesFidelity to the Model

Comprehensive TrainingIndividual Support

Understanding BenchmarksFoster Collaboration

Continuous Improvement

Professional Learning CommunitySUPPORT

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n Don Abel Jr., 1996n Jacob Adams, 2002n Bill Allen, 1995n Bob & Betty Allen, 2001n Will Anderson, 2012n Eleanor Andrews, 2001n Robert Atwood, 1988n The Bailey Family, 2010n Bernard M. Behrends, 1987n Earl H. Beistline, 1998n Jim Binkley, 1989n Bill Bishop, 1994n Jim Bowles, 2011n Carl Brady, 1990n Carl F. Brady Jr., 2004n Alvin O. Bramstedt Sr., 1991n Charles H. Brewster, 1999n Brice Family, 2011n W. Brindle, 1993n Margie Brown, 2009n Edith Bullock, 1987n Jim Campbell, 2006n Larry Carr, 1988n Richard Cattanach, 2008n Frank Chapados, 1991n John B. “Jack” Coghill, 2006n Jack J. Conway, 1995n William A. Corbus, 1999n Ron Cosgrave, 2007n D. H. Cuddy, 1993n Bob Dindinger, 2012n Don Donatello, 1995n The Doyle Family, 2014n Ron Duncan, 2007n Oscar & Peggy Dyson, 1992n Ken Eichner, 1990n Andrew Eker, 2009n Mark Eliason, 2013n Carl Erickson, 1999n Arnold G. Espe, 2001n Al Fleetwood, 2005n Conrad Frank, 1999n Clyde Geraghty, 1999

n Barnard J. Gottstein, 1989n The Green Family, 2012n Robert & Barbara

Halcro, 2008n Ernie Hall, 2002n Lloyd Hames, 1998n Carl Heflinger, 1999n The Helmericks Family, 2014 n Michael Heney, 1995n Willie Hensley, 2009n Wally J. Hickel Jr., 2014n Walter Hickel Sr., 1988n August Hiebert, 1989n Roy Huhndorf, 1992n Robert Jacobsen, 2006n Jim Jansen, 2009n John Kelsey, 1991n Bruce Kennedy, 2007n Clarence Kramer, 2006n Herbert Lang, 1994n Marc Langland, 2001n Austin Lathrop, 1988n Betsy Lawer, 2007n Pete Leathard, 2003n Dale & Carol Ann

Lindsey, 1997n Suzanne (Sue) Linford, 2002n Loren H. Lounsbury, 2002n Zachary Loussac, 1989n Richard Lowell, 2005n Byron Mallott, 2013n Harvey Marlin, 1999n Carl Marrs, 2005n Vern McCorkle, 2010n Harry McDonald, 2011n James A. Messer, 2000n The Miller Family, 2005n Robert Mitchell, 1999n William G. Moran Sr. &

William G. Moran Jr., 2004n Rick Mystrom, 2013n Les Nerland, 1987n Matthew Nicolai, 2010

n Milt Odom, 1992n Pam Oldow, 1990n Tennys Owens, 2005n E. Al Parrish, 2006n Raymond Petersen, 1988n Martin Pihl, 2014 n Quinn Brothers, 2011n Elmer Rasmuson, 1987n Edward Rasmuson, 2000n Frank M. Reed Sr., 2000n Robert Reeve, 1987n David Rose, 2003n Jim Sampson, 2008n Helvi Sandvik, 2006n Grace Berg Schaible, 2004n Leo & Agnes

Schlotfeldt, 1993n Orin D Seybert, 2006n Gov. Bill Sheffield, 2003n Merle (Mudhole) Smith, 1993n Charles Snedden, 1989n Sen. Ted Stevens, 2010n William G. Stroecker, 1997n Bill & Lilian Stolt, 1998n A. C. Swalling, 1987n Cliff Taro, 1992n Walter & Vivian

Teeland, 1997n Morris Thompson, 2001n William J. Tobin, 2004n Joseph Usibelli Sr., 1988n Joseph Usibelli Jr., 2013n Chris von Imhof, 2014n Lowell Wakefield, 1990n Leo & Beverly Walsh, 1996n Pat Walsh, 2008n Chuck West, 1991n Noel Wien, 1989n Richard A. Wien, 2003n Lew Williams Jr., 1994n William Ransom Wood, 1996

Alaska Business Hall of FamePast Laureates

Alaska Business Hall of FamePast Laureates



Sherron Perry

Sherron Perry

The fact that aviation has been the dominant force in Sherron Perry’s career in Alaska isn’t much of a

surprise once one learns more about his background.

In the mid-1970s, the Georgia native left the South in a Bush plane headed for the adventure and opportunities Alaska presented. He began his post-college career in the liquor business in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, but was ready for something a bit more exciting.

He made it to Canada in that plane—more specifically to Edmonton—before mechanical failures grounded the plane. It didn’t ground Perry. Despite the angst of leaving his plane behind, Perry hopped a commercial flight and came to Anchorage.

That First Big JobOpportunity seemed endless—he just had to land that first job. Perry was a newcomer, but that didn’t stop Jim Cal-endar of what was then Unocal from of-fering Perry a job as a weather observer in remote Alaska.

The faith and trust Calendar had in Perry—an unproven, yet eager, ener-getic and clearly skillful pilot—is some-thing Perry never forgot. It is also a les-son he wants to convey to young people.

“When you get that first big job; that first big break, you do everything you can to make sure that you earn the trust you have been given and the chance that the person offering you that oppor-tunity has given you,” Perry says. “Once that job is complete, once you have done that job to the absolute best, then you have earned your way.”

Perry’s weather observation skills combined with natural instincts as a pilot quickly landed him job after job supporting the work of the quickly ex-panding mid-1970s oil and gas explora-tion industry in Alaska.

He formed Fairweather, LLC in 1976 and has been a driv-ing, or more accurately, flying, force in the oil and gas indus-try support services niche. In the nearly four decades since its establishment, Fairweather has expanded from a small firm providing weather re-ports to oil explorers to a large firm meeting just about any need of this specific niche. Fairweather offers airstrip lighting and weather observations, bear guards, climate/ice studies and observa-tion, drilling and production services, environmental science and research, lo-gistics and expediting, medical services for remote locations, and Native cultural awareness training.

These may sound like a diverse group of activities, but in reality they all have one thing in common: they are essential support services for Alaska oil and gas industry activities.

Bit of Wisdom: FocusFairweather’s business model also rep-resents another bit of wisdom Perry wishes to share with Junior Achieve-

ment students and young people in general.

“If I had one something to recommend to young kids, I would say to try to pick a niche area and focus on it,” Perry says. “Become an expert on it, study it, and analyze it. Once you be-come real familiar with, and even perhaps master it, then

people will seek your opinion and send business your way in that area of exper-tise, and you will be gainfully employed.”

Don’t try to do everything right or be a master of the entire universe, Perry ad-vises. It is too easy to get lost in the shuffle with that approach to a career. Instead, focus on one thing and perfect that.

Doing so will keep one on the cutting edge of a chosen industry, as it has Perry.

In 2013, Fairweather again took the helm as an emerging aviation technol-ogy took to Alaska skies. Unmanned aerial vehicles, sometimes referred to as “drones,” have long been a military tool; thanks in part to research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, un-manned aerial vehicles are taking their place as civilian tools useful for moni-

By Amy M. Armstrong

Perry


Sherron Perry was instrumental in the development of the Deadhorse Aviation Center, a multimodal facility designed to

provide oil companies and their suppliers with a safe and efficient aviation command center to manage onshore operations and Outer Continental Shelf exploration and production activities on the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea.

Photo courtesy of Fairweather LLC


toring activity in geographic locations offering safety challenges to humans.

Perry saw yet another opportunity and formed Tulugaq LLC, a subsidiary of Fairweather that is in partnership with the Olgoonik Corporation and the Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation, both of which are Alaska Native Corpora-tions formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, located in northern Alaska where Fairweather does most of its work. Tulugaq is poised to make use of the benefits that un-manned aerial observation brings.

Fundamental LessonsPerry says he wouldn’t have the ability to act on emerging opportunities if he had not long ago learned the lessons of saving and re-investing as currently taught by Junior Achievement.

“Those are fundamental lessons that prove invaluable in business,” he says.

He is somewhat bothered by the negative stigma surrounding business people after the 2007 to 2009 financial collapse on Wall Street, the housing bubble burst, and the media cover-age of unscrupulous financial advisors

who abused their clients’ retirement ac-counts.

“I think that in general it is a good idea to reinforce the positive aspects of being in business to our young people who are hearing, seeing, and experiencing these events,” Perry says. “Profit is not a dirty word. One needs to make a profit in order to create job opportunities for the people in a community and to build one’s business.”

Rather than downplaying profit, Perry asserts business owners should be proud of the fact when they are making a profit.

He has witnessed the tendency of lawmakers to use corporate profit as justification to increase taxation on in-dustries such as oil and gas in Alaska.

“There is a lesson to be learned here—especially for our legislators. There is an old saying that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered,” he says. “If they tax things too high, they just might kill the golden goose that provides the revenue stream.”

He isn’t shy or reserved regarding the fact that the bulk of the state’s funding comes through the royalties collected from the oil and gas industry. He doesn’t hesitate to point out the industry’s ex-tended impact on the Alaska economy. He hopes that Junior Achievement, schools, other organizations working with the state’s next generation, and most importantly, parents, intentionally expose young people to what he consid-ers a truth; oil and gas is an economic reality in The Last Frontier.

His other major concern is the prepa-ration of young people for the ever ex-panding global economy. For the oil and gas industry, the idea of a global econo-my is a long-established concept. What happens on the other side of the planet, Perry says, impacts activity in Alaska. When production in the Middle East is up and prices per barrel are dropping, budgets in Alaska fall under increased scrutiny. For those in the industry, that may be an obvious fact, but for young people just learning about the workings of the oil and gas industry, it is an impor-tant concept to accept, Perry explains.

“The State of Alaska and all of the companies dependent on royalties are all re-thinking their budgets with oil prices projected to drop,” Perry says. “Our young people need to understand the impacts this brings and identify creative ways to adapt just as my gen-eration has in the past.” R


By Amy M. Armstrong

His father took him along to work on Saturdays during his child-hood. It was a routine and simple

act that for Dana Pruhs became much more than just bonding time for father and son. It is what he credits for his in-terest in business, for his desire to create his company, to be an entrepreneur that provides employment for others.

Pruhs’ father was in the liquor busi-ness in the Fairbanks area. He also owned a hotel and a small construction firm. To be sure, these were engaging and profitable ventures for his father and ones that actively demonstrated for Pruhs the principles of re-investing profits toward the future growth of a business.

Those are lessons Junior Achieve-ment (JA) strives to teach students in the kindergarten through high school programs delivered at local schools. For Pruhs, those lessons were learned as a child tagging along with his father, watching the activity at each workplace as his father explained to him the im-portance of what was happening.

“As a kid, my biggest excitement was being able to go to work with my Dad that one day a week and go to lunch with him and all of his business bud-dies,” Pruhs says with a smile full of un-mistakable happiness. “Having a Coke with cherries in it and listening to all of the stories being told was the greatest thing ever. It truly, truly inspired me. I believe that was the foundation for my entrepreneurial business.”

Job ShadowingHis first job—at about age ten—was transferring the bags of guests at his father’s hotel to their rooms.

“I was a bellhop,” he says again with a grin. “That was in the summer.”

Later, in his teenage years when the pipeline construction was at its full peak, his father helped Pruhs purchase a truck so his entrepreneurial leanings could

take wings as he provided transport for supplies. His trucking business grew, and his father advised him to keep costs as low as possible by not buying brand new equipment. When Pruhs went to college in California, his trucking business con-tinued to provide him an income and a reason to come home on a regular basis.

As Pruhs thinks back on his own early beginnings, he quickly switches gears from a pleasant reminiscence of days gone by to today’s world where children are not necessarily welcome in the workplace due to the myriad of regulations prohibiting certain kinds of child labor and the real dangers posed in some circumstances.

When possible and when safe, Pruhs says, “more of that” needs to take place today. Children ought to be given op-portunities to shadow their working parents to see on a first-hand basis what it means to earn a living and how the nuances of the workplace play out, he believes.

This is where, in his opinion, JA can help bridge the gap.

JA LessonsWhile his school did not have JA, he did learn the lessons of saving and invest-ing as taught by the program via his own home-grown version. He wishes every young person had the opportu-nity to learn the value of saving money.

“It is very important as a young per-son to correlate that first of all, the hard-er you work, the more dollars you get,” he says. “But once you have those dol-lars, what do you do with them? Young people need to learn how to hold on to those dollars and grow them so they can fund the things they want to do.”

He also appreciates the lessons of ethics and honesty in business that is promoted by JA.

He rather humbly relays a recent expe-rience from his construction company.

His company had bid on a lump sum project and secured the job.

Dana PruhsDana Pruhsspecial sectionJunior Achievement Alaska

“As a kid, my biggest excitement was being able to go to work with my Dad that one day a week and go to lunch with him and all of his business buddies. Having a Coke with cherries in it and listening to all of the stories being told was the greatest thing ever. It truly, truly inspired me. I believe that was the foundation for my entrepreneurial business.”

—Dana Pruhs

“It is very important as a young person to correlate that first

of all, the harder you work, the more dollars you get. But once you have those dollars, what do you do with them? Young people need to learn how to hold on to those dollars and grow them so they can fund the things they want to do.”

—Dana Pruhs


“Once I got into the job, I realized that a mistake had been made,” Pruhs says. “The mistake was that the owner of the project was paying more than he should have to get the project to completion.”

This presented Pruhs with an ethi-cal dilemma: His firm followed all the protocol for the bid and won the bid for the price stated. Yet, he was bothered by the overcharge and had to decide how he would handle the situation.

“I thought about it and at the end of the project, I went to the owner and gave him the money back,” Pruhs says. “I told him there had been a mistake—through the fault of no one. Just a mis-take. But I could not in good conscious take advantage of that.”

He knows his action might be consid-ered unique in today’s business world, but he wishes it wasn’t.

He agrees with the JA stance that eth-ics are the cornerstone of any business.

“It starts at the top of any organization, and that philosophy needs to be dissemi-nated down through the organization,” Pruhs says of his responsibility to demon-strate ethical behavior for his employees to emulate. “Every day when I am doing business with my customers, what comes to mind for me is this question: Are they getting the value they should expect for the money that they spend with me? I try to put myself in their position and ask myself, ‘If I was writing the check, would I be happy with the results?’”

Business SuccessPruhs’ customers must be happy with the work his firm does for them. The Pruhs Corporation, with its Anchorage

“Every day when I am doing business with my customers, what comes to mind for me is this question: Are they getting the value they should expect for the money that they spend with me? I try to put myself in their position and ask myself, ‘If I was writing the check, would I be happy with the results?’”

—Dana Pruhs


headquarters located in the industrial tract off Viking Street near the railroad, is a leading winner of state and munici-pal contracts for the construction of civil projects such as roads and airports, as well as private construction projects and the installation and maintenance of fiber optics. Most of Pruhs work is in done in Southcentral Alaska, with a few projects in the Interior and other regions of the state. Recent projects of Pruhs Construc-tion, a division of Pruhs Corporation, in-clude the Eagle River Road upgrade, the Glenn Highway overlay, Kodiak Airport runway improvements, Baxter Road im-provements, and in Eklutna, the exten-sion of a forty-eight inch water main.

Pruhs’ other holdings include Quality Sand and Gravel, which provides aggre-gate for the construction work; Meridi-an Investments; and Harr Technologies.

Pruhs knows that since The Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, a negative stereotype toward businessmen has de-veloped in the United States. He is con-cerned and hopes the business commu-nity takes action to thwart the threat to the reputation of honest entrepreneurs.

“I hope this is just a passing fad. I think changing it starts with the business com-munity showing young people that the re-sult of hard work is what one can gain and how one can make a difference not only in one’s own life but for the people who work with you,” Pruhs says. “I am concerned because the free enterprise system and the entrepreneurial spirit is the founda-tion that has built the United States. To criticize business people for making a profit goes against the fact that if you take a risk, there has to be an upside.”

For Pruhs, the upside has been be-ing able to live the life he and his family want and to provide gainful employ-ment for many Alaskans. His sense of community goes beyond providing jobs and encompasses serving on pub-lic boards and commissions, which in the past included the Alaska Board of Game, Anchorage Community Devel-opment Authority, and the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission. He is currently the Board Chair of the Alas-ka Industrial Development and Export Authority, better known as AIDEA.

“My legacy?” he questions as that smile spreads back across his face. “I hope people will say that I made a dif-ference in the lives of others.” R

When we work together, we achieve more.

Help us increase graduation rates that will in turn supply you with

skilled labor.

It all starts with a diploma.

For information contact Elizabeth Miller 907.263.3842

“If I can get one more person to say I will mentor a child or one more business leader to say I will invest in the strategies we know will produce results, I’ll feel like I’m doing my part. So let me ask you, what will you do?

RETURN ON COMMUNITYINVESTING WHERE WE LIVE

– Rick Fox, Senior Vice President and General Manager Alaska Operations, Edison Chouest Offshore

LIVEUNITEDANC.ORG


By Amy M. Armstrong

Back in 1980, when the sister team of Jana Hayenga and Jo Michalski wanted to start a quilting store

because they could not find the supplies they needed in Anchorage, they heard a lot of, “no and no and no” from bank-ers. Finally, one gave them some more feedback.

It wasn’t what they hoped for.“We were told: ‘We are not here to fund

housewives’ hobbies,’” recalls Hayenga. The banker went on further to say, “We don’t think that trinkets and blankets will be a going business in this town. Our recommendation to you is that you should go back home, volunteer in the community, and focus on your children.”

As a parting commentary, the banker asked the two sisters, “Do your hus-bands know where you are?”

Perhaps it was the times. Perhaps it was the fact that the two sisters had no retail experience. Perhaps that banker didn’t have a clue. They left the bank a bit shocked, the two admit. They thought they had a darn good idea. After all, quilting was an activity that plenty of the area’s women did. Yet, at that time, Anchorage did not have its own store offering the supplies quilters needed. Quilters had to order supplies from the Lower 48.

The need for a local quilting supplier became apparent to Hayenga and Mi-chalski when their grandmother died,

leaving them with a large stack of un-finished quilt tops.

“We were going to have to send away—which we did—to get what we needed to finish those quilt tops,” Mi-chalski says. “But we thought, hey, there is a business idea here.”

Well Earned LessonsThey finally went to First National Bank and received a positive response.

With a $10,000 loan from their par-ents and the support of FNBA, they launched Country Classics.

The two sisters admit that they made just about every mistake that a new shop owner could.

They laugh about it now as they share their story of spending a cold New Year’s Day together and spotting a small house for rent in downtown Anchorage.

“We just looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s start a business,’” Michalski says with a knowing chuckle that only those who have been through the start of retail store can know. “We did abso-lutely the wrong thing. We went out and rented this house and paid rent on it for six months before we could even start.”

The sisters had no inventory. They didn’t have a business plan; they had no idea what to charge. But they did know to get help. They took a class with the Small Business Administration and they found a female accountant to mentor them.

Starting a business was a big change from the craft fairs the two sisters were doing—not to mention Hayenga’s teach-ing at Lake Otis Elementary Schools

Jana Hayenga and Jo Michalski

Jana Hayenga and Jo Michalski


“If you are in business to make money to make a profit then you are going to line everything else up correctly. You are going to buy the right inventory. You will hire the right employees and train them correctly. You will take returns in the right manner. You are just better retailers because that is your guiding principle.”

—Jo Michalski

HayengaMichalski


and Michalski’s full-time child-rearing at the time.

Yet it was the start of Country Clas-sics—a cozy, comfortable local spot where quilters and other handcraft afi-cionados came for supplies and advice. It was a hit and it filled a need.

It also served as the launching pad for what has become one of Anchorage’s most successful retail duos.

“We discovered that yes, we liked quilting. But more than that, we liked being retailers,” Michalski says.

“And even more importantly,” Hay-enga adds, “we liked making money.”

A Love of RetailDuring their first year of business, the pair went to a quilting conference in the Lower 48. The room was filled

with women, like themselves, running quilting shops. The conference leader asked around the room why the various women owned a retail quilting stores. Answers such as their love for quilting abounded.

But not for Hayenga and Michalski.Their answer involved being profit-

able retailers. Yet, they remember being slightly

embarrassed by their answer. That was temporary. The conference leader ex-claimed an enthusiastic, “Bingo! That is the right answer,” to their response, reiterating that making a profit was the only reason one should be in business.

Profit equals the ability to stock ex-cellent goods, pay employees an appro-priate and decent wage, and give back to the community, the two sisters learned.

“If you are in business to make mon-ey, to make a profit, then you are going to line everything else up correctly,” Michalski says. “You are going to buy the right inventory. You will hire the right employees and train them cor-rectly. You are just better retailers be-cause that is your guiding principle.”

It was a defining moment, the two sisters agree.

“Sometimes, a retailer is made to feel guilty for making money, as if that is a bad thing,” Hayenga says. “But in reali-ty, a good retailer makes money so they can pay their employees a decent wage and give back to the community. There is nothing wrong with saying you are running your business to make money.”

It is a lesson they not only embraced, but have mastered. It is one they want to

“We are still in the situation where women need to feel more empowered that they can break through and start their own business. It is important that we encourage women to think

outside the box to come up with an idea, take that idea and research it, get the funding they need, and then work it.”

—Jana Hayenga


pass on to the students of Junior Achieve-ment and young, emerging entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial ExpansionSince Country Classics, the two have owned four other stores together: Alas-ka Book Fair Company from 1988 to 1996; Classic Toys from 1985 to 1998; Flypaper from 1996 to 1999; and Once Upon A Time from 1988 to 1996. Of those, Classic Toys and Flypaper re-main in business under new ownership, continuing the success established by the two sisters.

Hayenga owned Up North from 1996 and closed the store in 2004. She opened Cabin Fever Gifts located in an enviable spot on downtown’s Fourth Avenue. Tourists flock to the area to visit the Alaska Public Lands Information Cen-ter, the Anchorage Log Cabin Visitors Center, and to indulge in the reindeer hotdogs offered by street vendors. The store offers all of the “tourist” type trin-kets along with a carefully selected sup-ply of Alaska and cabin-themed décor to please picky locals. Hayenga’s other store, The Quilted Raven, is located right around the corner on G Street.

Michalski recently retired from her niche of providing area women with high quality clothing—including a well-developed line of plus size clothing. She opened two stores in Midtown where ample parking was available. Clas-sic Woman opened in 1990; Portfolio opened in 2000. She sold both in 2012, and while she won’t discuss the ideas she is currently mulling, chances are good she may come back out of retire-ment to open yet another retail store.

While the two sisters did not have JA at their St. Paul, Minnesota, high school, they are ardent supporters of the program’s goals. They want young people—especially young women—to consider becoming retailers and entre-preneurs.

Despite the progress that women have made in retail, including the work of the two sisters, Hayenga sees room for more improvement.

“We are still in the situation where women need to feel more empowered that they can break through and start their own business,” she says. “It is im-portant that we encourage women to think outside the box to come up with an idea, take that idea and research it, get

the funding they need, and then work it.”Michalski agrees. “Junior Achievement has an enor-

mously important role to play in edu-cating young people about the free en-terprise system and encouraging young people—especially young women—to look at what others are doing in busi-ness and learn from them.”

By being successful business owners, Hayenga and Michalski have been able to prove wrong the banker who didn’t see the value of their business idea.

Giving BackThe pair is well-known for their service to the Anchorage community.

Hayenga was on the boards of the Imaginarium Children’s Science Center, Alaska Junior Theatre, and the Anchor-age YWCA. She serves on the steering committee for the Hiland Mountain Women’s Correctional Facility conference “Success Inside & Out,” which assists in-mates during transition from prison life. She is currently on the boards of directors for the Alaska Botanical Garden and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.

Michalski has held several nonprofit director positions as well. These include the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Alaska Public Media, Camp Fire Alaska, Anchorage YWCA, the Bunnell Arts Center in Homer, Alaska Junior Theater, and the Alaska Community Foundation. She is currently a trustee on the Univer-sity of Alaska Foundation Board and recently chaired the board for two years.

And lastly, but certainly not least, the two sisters are generous. They don’t publicly discuss the dollar amounts they’ve given to area charities, but it again is well known that the two—ei-ther as a pair or individually—aren’t stingy when it comes to supporting lo-cal organizations with civic and com-munity oriented agendas.

“That is what making money in our businesses has allowed us to do,” Hay-enga says. “The fact that we made mon-ey gives us the ability to give to organi-zations we believe in.”

Her sister echoes the sentiment. “We give back to the community,” Michalski says. “If you are a business person and you live in this community and this is where you make your money, it is im-perative that you give back to the com-munity.” R


The Odom Brothers The Odom Brothers

As children, there never was any amount of doubt that Bill, Jim, and John Odom would work in

the family business. As each of the brothers grew, they

took on age-appropriate tasks as as-signed by their father, Milt, the founder of what today is The Odom Corporation. Each of the Odom brothers talk fondly of their respective childhoods growing up in Anchorage and working after school and on the weekends at the Odom bot-tling and distribution facilities.

“I know nothing else other than working in the family business,” Bill Odom says with a note of pride derived from the accomplishment of a long-term goal. “It is the same for my broth-

ers. I heard about the family business at the kitchen table, as did my brothers.”

Fatherly MentoringDuring the formative years, the plants the Odom brothers worked at were not named after their family namesake. In those days, the Odom Corporation was operating as Anchorage Cold Storage. It was a burgeon-ing firm coming into its own in step with the city of Anchorage as Milt secured the rights to distribute many beverages and food products to Anchorage retailers. In 1937, Milt inked a deal with Coca-Cola, acquiring franchise rights for only $1. It paved the way for other consumer prod-ucts that he added to the, liquor, coffee, tea, spices, meats, candy, and other dry goods he was marketing under Odom & Company. In the mid-1970s Milt created

The Odom Corporation.For his sons, the formation of a cor-

poration was another step in the men-toring process their father had begun many years earlier. By the mid-1970s, Bill, Jim, and John were quite used to their father’s guiding hand.

“At an early age, my brothers and I were sweeping the floors, washing the trucks, and separating Coca-Cola bottles from the other bottles,” Jim says. “Our father always had ideas of how to do things better and more efficiently. He was inspiring.”

John as well remembers the inspira-tion he received from the trio’s father. He also remembers the correction he received when mistakes were made.

“I can remember sitting across his desk during meetings. Some were not so comfortable when I was getting rep-

Bill, John & Jim Odom of the Odom Corporation.

Photo courtesy of the Odom Corporation

By Amy M. Armstrong

special sectionJunior Achievement Alaska


rimanded,” John says with a chuckle. Today he knows those moments were aimed at teaching and molding his busi-ness capabilities and character. “But my Dad was a tremendous mentor and it was inspirational to be around him and watch him build this company.”

That mentoring spirit remains a strong, key element at The Odom Cor-poration where the three brothers do much more than merely talk about responsibility to their customers and their employees.

“The employees are the number one asset in the company,” John says, not-ing Odom’s extensive training program that not only supports employee per-formance goals but prepares in-house workers for advancement. “We sell and distribute first rate products, which can only be done with first rate team mem-bers. This is a very important group of our company. As an employer, we are focused on hiring the best team mem-bers, providing them with excellent

training, and supporting them with the necessary tools to do the best job pos-sible for our customers.”

Jim echoes this by stating he feels a responsibility to the employees to offer them continuing education that guides them in the type of business atmo-sphere and goals The Odom Corpora-tion strives to achieve.

Education is where the trio believes that Junior Achievement (JA) gives its students a leg up in the real business world. They believe, as do the leaders of JA, that education today is the key to tomorrow’s success.

“One cannot achieve enough educa-tion,” Jim says.

Frugality and EthicsThe brothers appreciate JA’s focus on frugality in the business place. It is one they apply to their own business, despite the temptations presented by the “latest” and “greatest” in equipment. Following again in their father’s shadow, the three brothers have opted to be maintenance

sticklers in an effort to keep all of their equipment operating in a safe and ef-fective condition. At the same time this also prevents excessive overhead costs.

“We did not go out and just get the newest trucks and newest equipment and buildings,” Bill says. “We bought them as we could afford to and we kept them lon-ger than most others would. We learned to appreciate what we have, and it is part of our corporate culture to not just go out and get something new to replace some-thing just because it is old. It may work just fine. So we keep it and keep using it until it does not, but not until then.”

Bill says the corporation’s Ship Creek building complex is paid for free and clear. “We are not paying any rent and we are not making any payments on this building. That is a good thing.”

John says the brothers have chosen a rather “frugal” path in regards to the corporation’s physical resources. If an investment was to be made, it was made on necessary information technology as

that field improved in leaps and bounds in the management capabilities present-ed through its use. Another budget item for which the three brothers weren’t as conservative is their employees.

The three desire to set a high bar for their employees. This is particularly true in the area of business ethics—an-other topic regularly addressed by JA and one the Odom brothers hope to-day’s young people are learning.

“Honesty is a must in our company,” Jim says. “If young people learn one thing, they need to learn the value of honesty. If they are hard-working and honest in the way they conduct them-selves, they will go far and be highly successful at whatever they do.”

John views the ethical lessons taught by JA as a daily guiding light that re-flects the type of lifestyle one lives.

“It isn’t just something for the busi-ness world. I think it has to happen ev-ery day, beginning with your family,” John says. “You wake up in the morning and you have that certain guiding light

to help you stay on track, and that helps you in your day-to-day life with your family and friends and spills over into your business.”

John and Bill also note that a portion of their business—the distribution of alcoholic beverages—is highly regu-lated by state and federal authorities. That certainly aids in keeping Odom’s business above board, but Bill believes the firm has such a clean track record for one simple reason.

“We just do business in an ethical and upright manner,” Bill says. “For us, there simply is no other way of do-ing business. We just do not see how we could do something otherwise. We treat people fairly and we conduct busi-ness above board. We truly hope that today’s youth will grasp that lesson.”

Aside from supporting JA, The Odom Corporation, through the various drink products it represents and distributes, provides financial assistance to more than one hundred groups and charities

in Alaska and its sales territory in the Lower 48. Locally, that support includes, but is not limited to various Little League organizations, the Iditarod, the Fur Ren-dezvous Festival in Anchorage, and the Mount Marathon Parade in Seward, as well as charities and organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs, Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, Bean’s Café, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, Anchorage Economic Development Cor-poration, ALPAR, and United Way.

“As businessmen, my brothers and I have built upon the success of our father,” Jim says. “Being successful means we make a profit that we can put back into our community. We are able to achieve charitable goals through our private business profits. That mes-sage of responsibility is also one we see Junior Achievement bringing across to students.” R

“The employees are the number one asset in the company. You can try to sell first rate products, but if you have second rate people, the end result just is not going to be the same. As an

employer, you have to guard and tend to this very important group of your company.”—John Odom

Amy M. Armstrong writes from Eagle River.



Teaching financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work-readinessBy Louise Freeman

Remember the old game Life pop-ular in the 1960s? Now, instead of a game board, imagine a com-

puter screen in front of which sits a ju-nior high school student. She creates an avatar—a fictional character—for her-self. She decides to be a single parent of one child. This single parent—call her Sheila—is randomly assigned a job as a teacher, with an annual income of $48,000.

Over the course of six weekly ses-sions, the teenager will steer Sheila through a series of real-world scenari-os. She will establish a household bud-get, apply for a credit card, and research and purchase health and homeowner’s insurance. Suddenly, Sheila’s work hours are cut and she must recalculate her budget. Can she still afford that new car she has had her eye on?

Such an imaginary scenario is part of a Junior Achievement (JA) virtual learning experience called Virtual Fi-nance Park, new to Alaska in the 2014-2015 school year. Junior Achievement is a worldwide organization that educates students K-12 in financial literacy, en-trepreneurship, and work-readiness. All JA programs are free and are led by vol-unteers from the business community.

Statewide Program PlansJA Alaska offers programs in 103 schools in forty-three communities throughout the state. Virtual Finance Park, an innovative program that fo-cuses on personal financial planning, is being piloted at five schools in Anchor-age this school year.

Now in thirty different JA markets throughout the United States, Virtual Finance Park is designed for use by stu-dents in grades five through nine. Part

of the pilot effort in Anchorage is decid-ing which grade to focus on.

“Our strategy, because we have limited resources, will be to pick one grade level, and our goal is to reach all students in that grade level in the Anchorage School District within two years,” says Flora Teo, president of JA Alaska. “We hope to offer it statewide within five years.”

JA Alaska is a nonprofit organization that gets half of its revenue from spe-cial events and half from grants and corporate sponsorship. “We need feed-back from corporate sponsors if there is interest in supporting a program like Virtual Finance Park,” Teo says.

Experiential LearningJA Alaska also offers an experiential learning experience called the Compa-ny Program. Starting in January 2015, JA Alaska will be launching an online version of this successful program. “We recognize the importance of a digital strategy, so we want to be able to pres-ent our materials to kids in a way that is conversant with how they learn in classroom instruction,” Teo says.

The Company Program was JA Alaska’s flagship program, beginning in 1973. It has been the basic part of JA USA since its inception in 1919. JA Alaska will be rolling out the digi-tal version of the Company Program through the support of a JA USA grant from insurance company The Hartford. The thirteen-week program will be ac-cessible online for the students. They’ll be able to watch podcasts from field ex-perts and research crowd-funding op-portunities for their business projects.

“What is appealing to us about the digital version, given the geographical restrictions we have in Alaska, is it is an

opportunity to reach students that nor-mally wouldn’t have access to it,” Teo says. “We run about ten to twelve com-pany programs statewide. This is a way for us to do more programs.” The online version will not replace the traditional hands-on approach; JA Alaska plans to offer both versions.

In the Company Program, students in grades eight through twelve get to run their own company. Led by a JA Alaska volunteer, the students start by examining their own entrepreneurial traits. Then they form into teams and brainstorm potential products that will fill a need in their school community.

Student companies often produce school spirit wear, such as t-shirts. Oth-er products have ranged from pallets to flower baskets. Market research comes next, then producing a business plan. Finally comes the exciting moment of launching their business venture. As the students execute the business plan, they create a pitch to potential investors and sell stock.

The students learn about customer service, marketing, and quality control. At the end of the program they liquidate the business and compile an annual re-port for stakeholders. The last step is cre-ating a Personal Action Plan using the skills they have developed to recognize the connection to their future career de-cisions. “There have been challenges in the last few years because the Company Program takes a semester-long commit-ment from teachers,” Teo says.

The eighth graders at Northern Lights ABC School in Anchorage have created a company called Shazzco. They are de-signing an app that parents will be able to download for one dollar. Users will be able to download flashcards, log stu-

Junior Achievement Programs in Alaska Schools

Junior Achievement Programs in Alaska Schools


dent reading pages, and access assembly schedules, lunch menus, and teacher websites twenty-four hours a day.

Focus on InvestmentsIn high school, the focus is on invest-ments as well as career preparation, es-pecially in the high growth, high poten-tial, high-yield fields that employers are interested in today. Students learn about the importance of STEM (science, tech-nology, engineering, and math) skills and how those skills can translate into lucrative and rewarding careers.

Along with such tried-and-true methods as practicing resume writing and doing mock interviews, JA Alaska encourages kids to think of building their brand, starting with designing their own logo. “Your resume is one tool in your toolbox, your job interview skills are another, and your skills in general—all those things contribute to establishing your brand, which is what you want to showcase to your future employer,” Teo says. Students are even encouraged to consider what they put on Facebook and Instagram, resulting in the realization that what they post

will be on the Internet forever and may affect their future careers.

Rural students are also benefitting from the JA Alaska programs. Programs are currently active in twenty-seven vil-lages across the state, with new programs being initiated at Nuiqsut and Point Lay in the 2014-2015 school year. A pilot pro-gram will be instituted at Crooked Creek in March 2015. JA Alaska partners with Alas-ka Native regional corporations to offer JA programs in villages in their regions, and some pay to have their own staff flown into the region to spend a day working with stu-dents in the JA-in-a-Day program.

“They have a vested interested in young people from their region suc-ceeding because they want them to eventually grow up and maybe come to work for their corporation someday. Their students are challenged by a lot of dynamics that are common in any rural Alaska village, socially, in school, and just geographically,” Teo says.

Volunteer Louis Christie, president of LMC Management Services LLC, says he enjoys working with third graders at Northern Lights ABC School in Anchor-age. “Keeping their energy corralled

is the toughest part,” he says. Christie teaches students such city planning concepts as “Mr. Abi,” an anagram for Multipurpose, Residential, Agricultur-al, Business, and Industrial zoning.

“We have to look at it as a long-term in-vestment,” Christie says, “because the day will come, if we don’t do it, who will do it?”

Volunteers NeededLast year, during the 2013-2014 school year JA Alaska reached more than 8,500 students in grades K-12. The organiza-tion’s goal is to reach 9,250 students in the 2014-2015 school year and 10,000 by 2015-2016. Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and ExxonMobil are JA Alaska’s biggest sponsors.

There are 270 volunteers statewide, but more are needed. There is a wait list of teachers interested in JA. “Aside from fundraising, our challenge is number of volunteers,” Teo says. “We’re always seeking volunteers from the business community.” R

Louise Freeman writes from Anchorage.

2015 Honorees s Jo Michalski and Jana Hayenga, Retail Store Owners s Odom Brothers, Odom Corporation

s Sherron Perry, Fairweather Founder s Dana Pruhs, Pruhs Corporation

Sponsorship opportunities for the gala induction ceremony on Jan. 29 at the Dena’ina Center.

Platinum Sponsorship – $4,000Gold Sponsorship – $3,000Silver Sponsorship – $2,500

Table – $1,500

Dena’ina Center - Thursday, January 29, 20155:30 p.m. reception, dinner/ceremony 6:30 p.m.

Call Flora Teo at (907) 344-0101 to reserve a table at this prestigious event or go to http://alaska.ja.org for more information

Celebrate Junior Achievement of Alaska 2015 Business Hall of Fame Laureates

of Alaska, Inc.


Junior Achievement DonorsJunior Achievement Donors


Platinum Plus Investors ($10,000+)

n Alaska Business Monthlyn Alaska Commercial Fishing

and Agriculture Bankn AT&T Alaskan Alaska Communications

Systemsn Arctic Slope Regional

Corporationn BPn CoBankn ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.n ExxonMobil n First National Bank Alaskan NANA Development

Corporationn Northern Lights Bingon Ravn Alaskan State of Alaskan Walmart Foundationn Wells Fargo

Platinum Investors ($5,000+)

n Alaska Commercial Companyn KeyBankn NANA Management

Services, LLCn State Farm Insurance

Gold Investors ($2,500+)

n Alaska Airlinesn Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.n Capital Office Systemsn Credit Union 1n ENSTAR Natural Gas Companyn George A. Gatesn GCIn Harbor Enterprises, Inc.n The Hotel Captain Cookn Katmailand, Inc.n Kinrossn Lyndenn David Marquezn Northrim Bankn Shell Oiln Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc.n Udelhoven Oilfield System

Services, Inc.n United Way of Matanuska-

Susitna Boroughn Visit Anchoragen Weaver Brothers, Inc.

Silver Investors ($1,000+)

n 3M Foundation, Inc.n Alaska Cruise Associationn Alaska USA

Federal Credit Unionn Alyeska Resortn ASRC Energy Servicesn Avis Rent A Carn Calais Company, Inc.n Tom Corkrann Denali Foods, Inc.n Robert Dindingern Dowland-Bach Corporationn Andrew Ekern B.J. Gottsteinn Holland America Line Inc.

n Jim Jansenn John C. Hughes Foundationn Mary Hughesn Kodiak Lions Clubn KPMG LLPn Betsy Lawern Linda Learyn Adam & Kristen Lewisn Major Marine Toursn Matanuska Valley Federal

Credit Unionn Odom Corporationn Olive Gardenn Petro Star Inc.n Martin Pihln George Portern Solsten XPn Elizabeth Stuartn USTraveln Chris von Imhofn Wells Fargo Bank Alaska–Wasilla

Bronze Investors ($500+)

n Able Body Shopn Alaska Growth Capital

BIDCO, Inc.n Alaska Railroad Corporationn Alaska Rubber & Supply, Inc.n Alaska Tanker Company, LLCn Robert Alexandern Anonymousn Arctic Information Technologyn Chena Hot Springs Resort, LLCn Coastal Helicopters, Inc.n Anne Courtrightn Cruz Construction, Inc.n David Green & Sons, Inc.n Delta Constructorsn Wayne Grahamn Harri Plumbing and Heating, Inc.n Tim Jacquesn Kodiak Area Native Associationn Stephen Laupern Leonard & Martens

Investments LLCn Daniel McCuen Princess Toursn Ted Quinnn MaryAnn Rayn Robert Yundt Homesn Jared Roen Joseph M. Schierhornn SKW/Eskimos, Inc.n Stan Stephens Glacier &

Wildlife Cruisesn Cheryl Stinen Diana Stone Livingstonn The Alaska Fudge Companyn The Coast International Innn University of Alaska Anchoragen Watterson Construction Co.n Brendon Webbn Robert Yundt

Green Investors ($250+)

n Afognak Native Corporationn Alaska Seaplane Service, LLCn Arctic Roadrunner Inc./

Local Burgermann Christopher J. Birchn Dawn Bishop-Klewenon Bradley Reid & Associatesn Copper Valley Telephone

Cooperative, Inc.

n Sheli Dodsonn Amarin Ellisn Michael Hayhurstn Febra C. Hensleyn Talitha B. Kindredn Tanya Kocurn David Lenign Thomas Leonardn Lessmeier & Wintersn Patrick K. McCalebn J. C. Osbornen Tom Redmondn Rotary Club of Sewardn Shattuck & Grummett Insurancen Flora Teon Mark Smithn Greg Stubbsn The Alaska Clubn The Shimizu Foundationn Mary L. Webb (Olszewski)

White Investors ($1+)

n David Akestern Alaska Dinner Factoryn Alaska Pet and Yard Services LLCn Alaska SeaLife Centern Anchorage Sand & Gravel

Company, Inc.n Anchorage Symphony Orchestran Alaina Andersonn Charles E. Balln Joseph M. Beedlen Melissa Beedlen David Bennettn Blockbuster Videon Staci M. Bloomern Sundi J. Bloomern Bovey Trophiesn Jennifer L. Brodyn Kim J. Brownn Diane G. Bushn Bruce W. Bustamanten Linda Carpentern Carrs/A Safeway Companyn Lori Caton Roger J. Chann William A. Corbusn Costco n Amanda B. Crabtreen Craig Deckern Dianne’s Restaurant & Cateringn Dino’s Donuts Inc.n Kelley K. Duenasn E/P ROOFING INC.n Germaine Eamesn Catherine Earnestn Mark Edwardsn Heidi D. Embleyn Barbara B. Erbn Facility Contractors, LLCn Ingrid A. Fadaoffn FireTap Alehousen Fireweed Business Solutionsn Al H. Fleetwoodn K C. Foutsn Great Harvest Bread Companyn GuestHouse Inn & Suitesn H2Oasis Indoor Waterparkn Larry Hartign Annie L. Heffelen Kirk A. Henken Heath Hilyardn Stacey L. Hornn Dorothy E. Hubbardn Robyn L. Jensenn Jewel Lake Tastee Freez

n Kaladi Brothers Coffee Companyn Kenai Fjords Toursn Derek B. Kingn Todd Knutsonn Kodiak Innn Calvin Koshiyaman Law Offices of Davison &

Davison, Inc.n Jeanine Lillon Logistics, LLCn Lucky Wishbonen Mahay’s Riverboat Service, Inc.n Siri Manderyn Lucinda Martinn Mark Mathisn Christopher McConnelln McDonald’s - Jewel Laken Rita McKenzien Keri Melvinn Dorothy J. Michaeln Middle Way Cafen Midnight Sun Brewing Companyn Susan Milinen James R. Millern Stephanie A. Moden Moose’s Tooth / Bear Toothn Ann M. Morgestern Erin Morottin Mary Jo Mrochinskin Bryan Nelsonn Teresa D. Newinsn Julia M. Niziolekn Stephanie Oglesbyn Brittan S. Olsenn Jay Pagen Katie Palaniukn Lori A. Pettyn Phillips Cruises and Toursn Walter Phillipsn Plumbline Supplyn Jacob Polzinn Pat Purcelln Putters Wildn Red Robin Alaska, Inc.n Riverboat Discoveryn Rosny Rizkn Robert Cederholm and

Associates Inc.n Amy H. Robinsonn Daniel J. Rozeman Garnet Sarksn Vincent Schmoyern Dustin E. Shannonn Sheraton Anchorage Hoteln Louisa Smoken Jeffery S. Stanfordn Michael Taylorn Janet K. Tempeln Carrie A. Toddn United Way of Anchoragen University of Alaska Anchorage/

Department of Athln Alexandria Utken Walmart - Midtownn Walmart - Old Sewardn Beverly J. Walshn Laura D. Walshn Michelle K. Wamackn Maria Wardn Audrie Williamsn Heidie L. Winesn Jamie A. Wisen Julie Woodworthn Brian Worthingtonn Wright Choice Electric Companyn Erin Yoshiyama

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EDUCATION

Experimental Economics UAA’s program holds international esteem

By Dr. James Murphy and Dr. Jonathan Alevy

Grape farmers in central Chile had a problem. Their world-famous vineyards required a

steady supply of water, but the region was susceptible to droughts. Growers of annual crops, like wheat and corn, had more flexibility to deal with these water shortages and could sell water to grape farmers. The challenge was figuring out how to connect buyers and sellers.

Typically these water trades occur between friends and neighbors, but the process was time consuming and trading partners can be hard to find. A UAA economics professor and his Chil-ean colleagues had ideas for an online marketplace that might improve the current system. But how could they be sure? And how could they convince the farmers to adopt their idea?

To answer these questions, the re-searchers used the tools of experi-mental economics, a field pioneered by Vernon Smith, 2002 Nobel laure-ate and UAA’s first Rasmuson Chair of Economics. Smith recognized that although markets can be incredibly ef-ficient, their success depends upon the rules governing trade. To determine which market design would perform best, the researchers tested their ideas using carefully controlled laboratory experiments—in much the same way that new pharmaceutical drugs are rig-orously tested before being adopted.

How does an economics lab experiment work? Researchers design an experiment that captures the key features of a “real world” market under study, such as Chil-ean water. Participants are assigned the roles of buyers and sellers making trades. They have an incentive to think carefully about their decisions since the money they earn from trading is theirs to keep.

During the experiment, researchers can change the rules of exchange and the incentives—and by observing how

the participants’ behavior changes as the rules or incentives change, they can evaluate the market performance. They can compare results of the experiment with theoretical predictions.

In the past twenty years, the field has grown rapidly. Lab experiments have been used in a number of high profile contexts, including the multi-billion dollar FCC spectrum license auctions, the design of emissions trading pro-grams, and the allocation of space on the Cassini mission to Saturn. Many large corporations, including Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, have added ex-perimental economists to their teams.

As modern experimental economics has expanded its range, it has also de-veloped new methods. While laboratory studies using college students remain a core methodology, an important trend is the move to field settings with diverse subjects making decisions in their natu-ral environments. Some Anchorage res-idents may have noticed that Chugach Electric Association recently started including a comparison of their energy use with those of their neighbors. This idea is rooted in experimental research which showed that these social compar-isons are effective at inducing people to curtail consumption.

Similarly, a number of nonprofits in Anchorage have used field experiments to refine their messages, attract new donors, and increase giving. Field ex-periments offer tremendous potential in other Alaskan contexts, such as evaluat-ing the effectiveness of employee well-ness programs or creating incentives for improving educational outcomes.

While Vernon Smith’s contributions have been felt worldwide, his influence is concrete in Alaska. Under his guid-ance, UAA established an experimen-tal economics program, which now has a core group of faculty trained in

both laboratory and field methods. In less than ten years, this program has achieved international recognition and is now ranked in the top 10 percent of all experimental economics programs worldwide. R

Experimental Economics

n Charitable giving and philanthropy in Alaska

n Fisheries management in Alaska and Chile

n Management of shared natural resources in Latin America

n Subsistence harvests in Western Alaska and Far East Russia

n Design and enforcement of emissions trading programs

n Development of a partnership with Nankai University to build a new experimental economics program in China

n Recreational demand on the Kenai Peninsula

n Asset market bubbles and crashes

n Properties of Right-to-Choose auctions

n Seasonal effects on economic behavior

n Emotional and cognitive contributions to ethical decision-making

n Inference, decision-making, and personal identity

Current Research Projects at UAA’s

Experimental Economics Lab

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Dr. James Murphy is a Professor of Economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He arrived at UAA in 2006 as the visiting Rasmuson Chair of Economics

and decided to remain at UAA as a full-time faculty member after his tenure as Chair ended in 2011. Prior to arriving at UAA, he was on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California Davis and studied experimental economics as a pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Arizona. As part of a university partnership to develop a new experimental economics program in China, he is also a visiting professor at Nankai University and Chairman of their new Nankai Vernon L. Smith Experimental Economics Laboratory. Murphy’s research focuses on the use of experimental methods to address environmental policy and natural resource management issues. His goal is to build a world-class research and teaching program at UAA which emphasizes the use of experimental methods applied to various policy issues. He is an active board member of the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics and was a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee from 2011-2013.

Dr. Jonathan Alevy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He

studied experimental economics at the University of Arizona as a pre-doctoral fellow before receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2006. He held a faculty position at the University of Nevada Reno before coming to Alaska in January 2009. Before graduate school he worked on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Alevy has conducted research in finance and in natural resource, development, and behavioral economics. He has consulted for the World Bank, and the US State Department.


special section 30 Years of ABM

30TH

Anniversary30TH

Anniversary


Looking back at Alaska Business MonthlyBy Susan Harrington, Managing Editor

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In the premiere issue of Alaska Busi-ness Monthly, January 1985, First National’s Chairman Dan Cuddy

(then and now) graced the cover. In 1985, First National was First National Bank of Anchorage—it has since been renamed First National Bank Alaska. Many of the businesses featured (and advertising) in the first issue are still active in Alaska. Some, not. Let’s look at First National, Usibelli, Wein, and what else was going on then.

Cover Story The cover story was entitled “Cuddy’s Three C’s of Banking: Conservative, Consistent, Cash on Hand.” It was a great story by Paul Laird, original edi-tor and one of the magazine’s co-found-ers, about how Chairman Dan Cuddy turned First National into Alaska’s most profitable bank by maintaining a conservative loan portfolio and build-ing a strong asset and cash base.

Ironically, the lead to the article re-ferred to more thirty years in the past, then—over sixty years ago now!

“If it seems ironic that Alaska’s most profitable banker is also its most con-servative, it shouldn’t … Chairman Dan Cuddy started building today’s profits more than 30 years ago when he became the bank’s president in 1951.”

The article is full of business advice from Cuddy—the patriarch of the Alas-ka banking industry. Here are a few direct quotes from the article, as appli-cable today as thirty years ago.

“There are two kinds of businesses—ones that are controlled by the share-holders and ones that are controlled by the management. Companies con-trolled by the management tend to look for immediate returns. Manag-ers are more interested in the short-term aggrandizement of themselves. Companies that are controlled by the

stockholders tend to have a longer term outlook on things. They’re interested in short-term profits, but they’re not vi-tally interested in them. They’re more interested in sustained growth.”

“A bank can’t expand beyond its capital base or its personnel,” Cuddy says. “That’s why we’ve kept our dividends small. If we spent our profits on dividends, we wouldn’t have had money for expansion.”

“Buying everything instead of leas-ing space adds to our up-front costs, but it’s more economical in the long run,” Cuddy says. “We can build our asset base and lower our occupancy costs at the same time.”

“We don’t worry about the industry or the competition. We figure if we look out for the needs of the community and our employees, the return to stockhold-ers will take care of itself.”


Usibelli CoalAnother story was about Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. and Joe Usibelli Sr. The com-pany was poised to begin exporting coal to Korea and looking for ways to use more coal in Alaska. Then, as now, Usi-belli was and is the only operating coal mine in Alaska. Through what appeared to be a nine-year battle, Usibelli was fighting to be able to export coal and said, “We will get Alaska into business in the Pacific Rim with coal and other minerals since we can’t do it with oil.”

Another interesting aspect of the ar-ticle written thirty years ago by Robert F. Dixon resonates now: “Lately, Usibelli has used his newfound public prominence to argue against construction of the $5.3 bil-lion Susitna hydroelectric dam project.”

Does that project sound familiar? The article continued, “In a debate

with supporters of the project before the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Usibelli argued coal is more economi-cal and can be online much sooner than the huge water power project. Further, he believes the Susitna dams will cost far too much and provide more power than Southcentral Alaska can use.”

Reading that article gave me goose bumps; it’s eerily omniscient in its cov-erage of the hydroelectric project, Cook Inlet natural gas, North Slope natural gas, Southcentral power plants along the Railbelt, and the way thirty years hasn’t much changed those same is-sues. One thing hasn’t come true—coal was predicted to be the main generator of electricity, not natural gas, in the ab-sence of hydroelectric power.

Also mentioned is Usibelli’s famous walking dragline “Ace in the Hole,” so named because it was operating in Poker Flats. We’ve featured that piece of machinery in subsequent articles about the company, which of course is still in business. The final paragraph foretold that as well.

“Already they are a team, Joe Sr. is known to employees on the compa-ny’s CB radio system as ‘One.’ Son Joe, grandson of the mine’s founder Emil Usibelli, is known as ‘Number Two.’ It is the only livelihood either of the two men has ever known, and they are cer-tain Usibelli Coal Mine will continue to be a factor in the Pacific Rim’s industry for many years to come.”

Wein’s Bush Pullout“Life without Wien: The Bush barely bats an eye,” proclaimed the headline of another story in the premiere issue. In 1984, Wein Air Alaska pulled out of the rural markets, apparently after deregu-lation of the airline industry caused the company to no longer have a monopoly and competition ensued; it was also due to the US Postal Service changing the way it allocated mail handling money.

The article ended up being a nice write-up of all the Bush carriers with anecdotes from many of the owners and managers of those air carriers—some still in business, some long gone. Northern Air Cargo, Cape Smythe Air, MarkAir, Alaska Airlines, Ryan Air, Bering Air, ERA Helicopters, Seair, and Harold’s Air Service were all mentioned.

Wein evenutally went bankrupt later in 1985 after some purported corpo-rate raiding and ceased to exist at all, although years later there was a failed rally to try and get it revived.

Juneau, Still the CapitalIn 1982 Alaska voters refused to fund moving the state capital to Willow from


Juneau. There was an article in the January issue about the boom that vote triggered in Juneau and how it was lev-eling off. This article was a comprehen-sive look at Juneau in Southeast, setting the magazine’s practice of providing statewide coverage in the initial issue.

The bit of increased real estate was seen as possibly helping create a new industry for Juneau—tourism. Guess what, it worked! There was also men-tion of the possibility of another indus-try—mining. Greens Creek was pro-ducing by 1989 and is now one of the top silver mines in the world.

Economic Outlook“Alaska’s economic growth: Same game, new players” was the title for that first economic forecast article, some-thing else that’s remained throughout the years. It looks like that first one was produced by Alaska Pacific Bancorpo-ration and was rife with predictions in many sectors of the economy, many of which could be recycled for 2015.

“1985 will be a year during which Alaska consolidates its gains, takes a deep breath and begins to re-emphasize the private

sector as the source of sustainable prog-ress,” the forecast says. “1985 will probably see some transitional friction; the realign-ment of expectations will not be painless, and financial casualties should be expect-ed. They should, however, be viewed in the context of (laying the foundation for long-term growth) and not be interpreted as a sign of permanent doldrums.”

Petroleum—The oil industry con-tinues to invest in big-ticket Alaskan projects despite the uncertain future of world oil prices.

Construction—This year, commer-cial construction should slow while residential and public sector activity increases.

Forest Products—Nothing is so bad it can’t get worse.

Fishing—The biggest cloud on Alas-ka’s fishing horizon is the strong US Dollar.

Visitor—Alaska’s visitor industry continues to gain momentum.

Endearing, EnduringAlaska Business Monthly, thirty years later, is still endearing readers with its great stories and excellent coverage of

all things business in Alaska. We’re committed to continue the traditions for another thirty years and we’ve all got the original founders to thank for start-ing this fine magazine—especially first publisher Robert F. Dixon and first edi-tor Paul Laird, as well as the rest of the original initial investors: Allan D. Gal-lant, Larry Dinneen, Carol Smith, David Devine, John Laird, Vern McCorkle, Robert Penney, Robert R. Richards, James T. Robinson, Alan B. Rosenthal, Tony Smith, and Meridith A. Sykes.

It was only four years later in the Feb-ruary 1989 issue, not too many years into the production of the magazine, when James C. Martin was welcomed onboard by Carol Smith, then presi-dent. He ended up being the most en-during member of the board, yet. His guidance is still fresh in our minds as we continue into the next phase of the evolution of Alaska Business Monthly. To those who came before us, we com-mend you. To our eminent freelancers and distinguished guest authors, we praise you. To our faithful readers and fabulous advertisers, we thank you for keeping it going. R


special section Economic Outlook

Alaska and the United States

in 2045

By Dr. Ashok K. Roy

“I never think of the future—it comes soon enough.”

—Albert Einstein

“For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

—John F. Kennedy

Thirty years from now, in 2045, some key challenges that Alaska and the United States will face

relate to growth, which will become increasingly dependent on knowledge and technology while the economic costs of environmental damages will mount. The rising economic impor-tance of knowledge will likely lead to further increases in income inequali-ties. There will also be policy chal-lenges from rising trade integration, substantial fiscal pressures, burgeoning population growth, and addressing ris-ing climate change costs. My goal is not omniscience but preparedness by pro-

viding broad outlooks for Alaska and the United States.

Diversify State Revenue BaseReaders might recall that in my October 2012 article titled “Strategies to Prepare Alaska for the Economic Marathon” I recommended that Alaska needs to di-versify its revenue base as early as pos-sible as almost 90 percent of its general fund revenues come from oil (produc-tion tax, petroleum property tax, cor-porate income tax, royalties from state-owned lands) and more than 50 percent of today’s jobs and income in Alaska can be traced back to petroleum. Alter-native fuels and technologies are likely to substitute petroleum in the coming decades. The markets will ensure that money/investments go wherever there is opportunity.

The biggest shift in global energy markets is that the United States is pro-ducing an unprecedented amount of oil now with geopolitical fallout. Apart from crude oil prices, alternative fuels,

higher efficiency vehicles, natural gas, shale oil deposits, biofuels, and stag-nation of world economies all cumula-tively point to great vulnerability ahead due to Alaska’s over-dependence on oil revenues.

It needs to be emphasized that it is not a question of volatility of “prices” but that of “demand” for petroleum. It is a distinction with a difference.

Minerals, fish, wildlife, or timber cannot replace or make up the differ-ence in revenue declines from petro-leum to sustain Alaska’s economic fu-ture. And, this, in turn, will have ripple effects on the University of Alaska (currently receives approximately 46 percent of its revenues from the state); housing (which is driven by jobs and in-come, and, in turn, the local banks who finance housing); demographic growth; consumer goods; groceries; and almost all other aspects of economic develop-ment. As a downstream impact, nearly all the impacted areas will need to col-lapse around a core to right-size.

The opinions expressed herein are the author’s own and not those of the University of Alaska System or Alaska Business Publishing, Inc.


A Few OpportunitiesClimate change in Alaska will diminish sea ice which, on one hand, will open huge opportunities, especially for ship-ping, but on the other hand will cause coastal erosion forcing population re-locations, displacement of commercial fishing catch, and damage to infra-structure built on permafrost. Climate change in the Lower 48 will impact critical water supply, especially in the southwestern states (where groundwa-ter depletion will have an impact on food supply, as currently approximately 25 percent of US food supply comes from Central Valley in California), re-duce crop yields, disrupt coastal ma-rine ecosystems, and spawn more fre-quent intense storms and wildfires.

The future offers a few opportuni-ties for Alaska to sustain its economy. The tourism industry will continue to have a bright future as Alaska’s natural beauty will remain with few parallels in the world. This is good news for the hospitality industry.

Readers will also recall that I dwelt on the discovery of dysprosium on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island in my April 2014 article “U.S. Relationships with Asia-Pa-cific Region: A confluence of imperatives for Alaska.” If dysprosium is developed and value-added, this has potential to break China’s monopoly of rare earth el-ements (used in many critical technolo-gies including the manufacture of smart bombs and drones). Further, as alluded to earlier in this article, there is substan-tial potential to boost air and sea freight traffic via Alaska between Europe and Asia by switch-loading cargo.

The fundamental conundrum for Alaska is to figure out what type and size of economy will sustain jobs in Alaska.

Serious Challenges to US Economy

Depending on some variables (such as domestic growth, inflation, exchange rate) there is consensus of opinion among experts that in about a decade from now, China will become the world’s biggest economy. This will have serious geopolitical, economic, and military implications for all. I agree with CBO’s projections that the growth of US poten-tial GDP over the next decades will be slower than the average since 1950, pri-marily from demographic trends.

I believe that, based on data, the Unit-ed States will continue to benefit from trends in technology and globalization. Over a billion people will be added to the world middle class (due to the rise of emerging markets), which would translate into more consumer demands for education, products, services, and entertainment—all of which the United States excels at. The United States will also continue to propel innovations in medicine, energy, bioengineering, and communications. Further, the United States will retain its dominant military status (defense spending is 5 percent of our GDP).

There are always two sides to a coin. If the United States does not address four serious challenges that loom over-head, then its national politics and soci-etal cohesion will become an albatross around its neck. The four chief challeng-es are: expensive and inefficient health-care costs (the United States spends 17 percent of its GDP or 50 percent more per capita than that of the next high-est OECD country with higher infant mortality and less longevity); income inequality and poverty (income equal-ity in the United States is much higher than any other advanced country); weak secondary education (American fifteen-year-old students rank 22nd in science and 31st in mathematics among sixty-five countries in the PISA stan-dardized tests), which means future workers will offer mediocre skill sets in a knowledge-driven economy; and huge infrastructure deficits.

It is easy for a nation, or a state, to stumble into disaster without quite knowing why. The future for Alaska and the United States, like particular fates, hangs in the balance, waiting to be tipped. R

Dr. Ashok K. Roy is the Vice President for Finance & Administration/CFO and Associate Professor of Business

Administration, University of Alaska System.



Recent editorials commenting on Alaska’s revenue pro-jections and declining oil prices have said I must be crazy for wanting to be Governor at this point in our

state’s history. With oil prices projected around $65 per barrel for the year ahead, some say Alaska’s economic future looks less than rosy. However, having been in this position for a few weeks now, I can say with the utmost conviction that my passion for leading our great state has never been stronger. I firmly believe in doing the best with the cards you are dealt, and that with adversity come resilience and creativity.

With that in mind, Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott and I are determined to find sound solutions to the fiscal chal-lenges that lie ahead. Will that call for some belt-tightening? Absolutely. But with a more realistic assessment of Alaska’s revenue stream, we can shape our expectations appropri-ately and make smarter decisions around funding our state government. Ultimately, this will allow us to better serve the people of Alaska for generations to come.

This must start by addressing the high cost of energy throughout the state. For so many people living in rural and interior parts of Alaska, it is not uncommon to pay more for monthly heating bills than a mortgage or rent payment. This can put families in the most dire straits, losing basic ne-cessities like heat and electricity when the bills cannot get paid. As a child, my family lived through these struggles, sometimes going without electricity and running water dur-ing Delta Junction’s cold winter months. While such living conditions may have been conceivable fifty years ago, today it is unfathomable. This environment is having devastating effects on local economies, and forcing many families to leave their communities, and the state altogether, in search of more affordable living elsewhere.

Lieutenant Governor Mallott and I believe this is simply not acceptable, and have made it a top priority of our admin-istration to address the looming energy crisis that our state is facing. As Alaskans, we are in this fight together, and must

work together to find energy solutions for the good of our state as a whole, not just our own regions.

Developing our natural gas resources on the North Slope is at the center of this solution, reducing our reliance on expensive diesel fuel and providing an additional revenue stream to our state coffers. With oil production declining, an all-Alaska natural gas pipeline would reinvigorate explora-tion on the North Slope and provide much needed jobs to our state’s workforce. Now, more than ever, is the time to see an LNG project to fruition, and this administration is commit-ted to making that happen.

Former Governor Wally Hickel said “during the early days of Alaska, it wasn’t ‘them and us.’ It was all of us.” With Governor Hickel’s words in mind, along with the pioneering spirit of our state’s founding fathers and mothers, I believe we can rise to the occasion and overcome the challenges that lie ahead. It is our duty as leaders, and as Alaskans, to find solutions to these issues in order to better the lives of future Alaska residents. R

—Governor Bill Walker

Finding Sound Solutions to Fiscal Challenges


Economic Outlook

With the price of oil dipping below $70 per barrel, there is justifiable concern statewide

about the future of our economy. The state budget is an estimated $3 billion in deficit, requiring the new administra-tion and the Legislature to make some very tough spending decisions, and once again, the question of new taxes will be on the table.

Local governments, Anchorage in-cluded, are facing the prospect of rev-enue sharing being reduced or elimi-nated altogether. For Anchorage, that represents approximately $15 million in revenue. Other state funded programs will certainly see reductions, which in some cases will transfer the burden to the local communities.

Fortunately, Anchorage is well posi-tioned to weather this latest economic storm. For the past five years, my ad-ministration has worked diligently to become a more efficient and cost effec-tive government, without reducing es-sential services. An example is our 2015 budget that was recently approved by the Anchorage Assembly. Amazingly, the budget is $3 million less than the 2014 budget, and continues our efforts to contain the unsustainable spending and property tax growth of the previ-ous administration.

Our frugal management has allowed us to establish significant operating and emergency reserve funds that can help

us through downturns. Our finance team has taken advantage of strategic debt refinancing and has invested our trust fund wisely to earn top returns. This overall financial performance has earned Anchorage an AAA bond rating from Standard and Poor’s, the highest rating a city can receive. Of the 4,000 cities rated by S&P, only a few hundred have an AAA rating, placing Anchorage into truly elite company.

Anchorage’s diverse economy helped us weather the 2008 Great Recession and will help us remain stable in the years ahead. Tourism in Anchorage had a record setting year in 2014 and the outlook is good for 2015.

The Ted Stevens Anchorage Interna-tional Airport is gradually rebound-ing from losses in cargo volume and is the fourth largest cargo airport in the world. Businesses associated directly and indirectly with the airport account for one in eight jobs in Anchorage

Our university and medical commu-nity, collectively known as the U-Med District, continues to expand with new facilities under construction and with more long-term jobs.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) will likely see growth if the transfer of the F-16 squadron from Ei-elson Air Force Base in Fairbanks is ap-proved, which appears likely.

The Port of Anchorage will continue its role as the conduit for 90 percent

of all the consumer goods that enter Alaska. It supplies all of the fuel for JBER and also sends fuel to the inter-national airport. The Anchorage Port Modernization Project is back on track and when completed it will have the capacity to expand Port of Anchorage business opportunities and will serve Alaska for many decades to come.

Finally, Anchorage is the headquar-ters city for most professional services including banking, the oil industry, and for the majority of our Alaska Na-tive Corporations, several of which have become billion dollar entities and whose profits return to Alaska from their worldwide ventures.

I remain optimistic about Anchor-age in 2015 and in the years to follow. Anchorage will be 100 years old in 2015 and with clear vision and strong lead-ership, we can look forward to another one hundred years of prosperity.

—Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan

Anchorage Cautiously Optimistic for 2015

© Kevin G. Smith/AlaskaStock.com



The Alaska

Economy

TheAlaska

EconomyPast, present, and

futureBy Naomi Klouda

The past thirty years witnessed Alaska’s economic growth through climbing and falling oil prices,

growing pains of Alaska Native corpora-tion prosperity, and a position in global logistics eyed by not only businesses but also the US military.

Predicting those changes in advance tends to be more than an economist’s powers endow, says Neal Fried of the Alaska Department of Labor and Work-force Development. Looking back, po-litical, environmental, and social events erupted and altered what were thought to be predictable economic turns.

“In 1985 and into the 90s, we were writing about Alaska’s military influ-ence declining in a dramatically small-er role, while two other industries were growing: the visitor and oil industries,” Fried says. “Then thousands of troops were sent to Alaska after 9/11. We never could have forecast that. Who knows what the federal government might do in the next ten years?”

Interest in Alaska gold mining and production came as a huge surprise in the past decade, Fried says. “Gold pro-duction had declined for fifty years and it seemed dead. Now we’re producing as much as the Gold Rush. It took one hundred years to make a comeback.”

Salmon fisheries saw woefully low prices in the previous decade. “What we didn’t realize was that the demand for wild salmon would grow,” Fried says.

Fried makes modest forecasts that oil and gas, the visitor industry, and fisher-ies will continue to play important eco-nomic roles in the years to come. “Those

Any economic forecast in Alaska must start and end with oil—its price on the

world market, how much of it is going through the pipeline, and the exploration and new produc-tion on the horizon.

As the price of oil continues to fall, how will our state leaders respond to what may be a sig-nificant negative impact on our state’s income, at least for the short term? What’s the economic impact to Alaska’s economy if budget cuts are to come in re-sponse to dwindling oil income to the state?

There are individual economic indicators that tell a positive story for the coming year. For instance, there’s reason to feel good about job growth in the private sector and in the oil patch in the com-ing year. Oilfield services activity is picking up due to new explo-ration and maintenance at exist-ing facilities. If the state moves forward with the LNG (liquefied natural gas) line on its current path, we can be hopeful about continued development on the North Slope and Point Thomson.

Alaska Native corporations are also a bright spot in the state’s eco-nomic future. The top forty-nine Alaskan-owned companies in terms of gross revenue, as named by Alaska Business Monthly in October, included nineteen com-panies owned by Alaska Native corporations and villages.

We feel good about job growth in the private sector. Construc-tion on a number of projects will start in 2015 in the Fairbanks and Tok areas, and it looks as though the Healy clean coal project is slated to come back online in 2015.

State fisheries experts are pre-dicting an “excellent” pink salm-on catch in Southeast, and Bristol Bay is expected to see the largest red run in decades. Commercial fishing is the state’s largest pri-

vate sector employer by number of jobs. And from what we can tell, tourism in Southeast appears to be on the rebound going into 2015.

Our bank’s belief in Alaska and confidence about its future is evidenced by two new branches under construction—one in An-chorage and another in Juneau.

In response to the continued growth of the state’s healthcare sector, in January our bank will open a new U-Med Branch adja-cent to the University and Provi-dence campuses in Anchorage. Acute and outpatient care, physi-cians’ offices, and home health-care services will continue to see increased employment as Alas-kans age and use a disproportion-ate amount of these services, ac-cording to state labor predictions.

We also expect to see contin-ued economic opportunities in Southeast Alaska, and so we will open a new and bigger branch in downtown Juneau.

Change is on the horizon, and change means uncertainty. To-day we’re working with Alaskans to help them face the challenges of a changing economy and po-sition their businesses for suc-cess in the future. We believe in Alaska. R

—Betsy Lawer, President, First National Bank Alaska

Change is On the Horizon

Betsy Lawer


industries will be important. How im-portant is the big question.”

Fried celebrates thirty years as an Alaskan economist this year. “In that thirty years, a lot of waxing and wan-ing goes on, factors we had no input on,” he says. What proved constant were the three pillars of the Alaska econo-my: oil and gas, government spending, and tourism. He doesn’t foresee federal spending going away. “The feds are a ma-jor land owner, and they will have a con-tinued presence due to the federal trust relationship with Alaska Native tribes.”

Unknowns and PresumptionsLike Fried, Bill Popp, president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Devel-opment Corporation, says forecasting carries a lot of unknowns. Yet reading the writing on walls of the next thirty years does carry a few presumptions worth keeping in mind, he says.

“I think we can look at international trade as one place where our opportuni-ties lie in the immediate future and be-yond, and Alaska will continue to have a resource extraction-based economy for generations to come,” Popp says. Alaska’s small population spread over a huge geography will continue to influ-ence its limitations and opportunities.

“The ability to sell our resources to a global marketplace—our minerals, oil and gas, and wild seafood—will be a major driver,” he says. The immediate years ahead, however, put Alaska in a precarious position in the downward direction of oil prices, the consequent need to ratchet down state spending, and a debt-riddled federal government.

“Use the wealth wisely: that will be our challenge, in [this year’s] new fiscal reality of $60 to $70 a barrel of oil,” Popp cautions. “Alaska’s location and global logistics and position in the supply chain—that’s an opportunity for us. After the global reces-sion, the ability to take advantage of the logistics supply chains could present op-portunities we don’t expect.”

Alaska’s preeminence as a seafood source is one such opportunity. “If we can maintain the integrity of our sea-food industry, we will continue to see Alaska seafood command premium prices,” Popp says. “A vast amount of protein comes from here. We can con-tinue to grow in markets like China, giv-en the awful environmental conditions

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there that present an opportunity be-cause they value pristine, wild seafood.”

Climate change in Arctic and sub-Arctic conditions also bodes challenges and opportunities well into the next thirty years, Popp notes. The ability to develop technologies offers small clus-ters of growth in the years ahead.

These days, even when it’s tough, the market shows more resiliency than in the 70s and 80s and less vulnerability to boom-and-bust doom historically true of Alaska, Popp says. “[Alaska] is in a better fiscal situation in terms of the

overall economy. We have to be mindful of what is going on, protect ourselves when we need to, and be smart with our dollars and smart with our policies.”

Popp predicts solving the energy challenges of rural Alaska will be one of the “greatest issues facing our state in the next thirty years.

“It shouldn’t take that long to solve. It’s an intractable issue—it slows economic growth or reverses the economies of rural communities. We have to address that issue,” Popp says. “I hope that we solve it. If the challenges are overcome,


then we will see significant activity that we can’t even begin to fathom.”

The Knik Arm Crossing, the giant Susitna-Wantana Hydro Project, and new roads to resources are all future pos-sibilities with economic and government hurdles to overcome. A variable that could impact these projects and others is how Alaska’s population growth pans out in the decades ahead, Popp says.

Population FactorsMany large-cost projects are difficult to justify for a relatively small population when it comes to investors and govern-ment financing.

A lot of speculation centers on when Alaska might reach 1 million in popu-lation. State Demographer Eddie Hun-singer has projected Alaska’s baseline population out to the year 2042 as growing to about 925,000 from today’s 736,000. That’s a growth of only about 189,000 people in the next three de-cades, based on consistent mortality, birth, immigration, population loss, and upward shifts in aging populations.

“That’s faster growth than the nation as a whole,” Hunsinger says. “We do project the population will grow slower. The birth-to-death ratio will slow down, as will the fast growth we see right now in numbers of those moving here.”

On the high end of the baseline projection is a forecast of 1.2 million people—a chance Alaska will pass the 1 million population hurdle. It’s not a large chance, Hunsinger says, but is one within the realm of possibilities.

Consider that thirty years ago, in 1985, Alaska was mid-way between its 1980 census of 420,000 and the growth to 550,000 in 1990—an addi-tion of 130,000, and that growth slowed to 80,000 the next decade to the year 2000. Between 2000 and 2014, another spurt brought the census an additional 73,600. Based on this rate of growth, Hunsinger developed the baseline pro-jection of 925,000 by the year 2042.

The implication of a larger aging pop-

ulation has meant more services will be needed in the healthcare field and businesses that serve that group. On the other end, children and teen services could see a decline consistent with that slowing demographic growth, includ-ing education funding.

Alaska’s Native population is expected to continue to grow over the projection period, from 122,944 in 2012 to 161,483 in 2042. Like the state as a whole, the Alaska Native population’s growth is expected to slow as the population ages.

Alaska Native CorporationsOf the Alaskan-owned companies that self-report gross revenue to Alaska Busi-ness Monthly, the top four are all Alaska Native Corporations, with Arctic Slope Regional Corporation remaining in the lead with its $2.5 billion in gross rev-enue. Following closely is the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC)in the second slot ($1.8 billion), NANA Regional in the third ($1.7 billion), and Chenega Cor-poration in fourth ($1 billion). In fact, of the twenty highest grossing Alaska Business Monthly Top 49er companies, fifteen are Alaska Native Corporations formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Alaska Native Corporations saw a lot of changes in the past thirty years to build today’s present rate of suc-cess, says Jason Metrokin, president and CEO of the BBNC. One of the most important moves was the ability to find diverse investments to buffer against downturns in any one segment. Today, there is a new shift at BBNC and other corporations to add home-grown in-vestment opportunities into the mix.

“We’ve all had the experience in the Lower 48 and even internationally in finding opportunities to diversify our portfolios. Now there’s a sharper focus on small business growth and expan-sion, such as the Alaska cottage indus-try businesses that have done well.”

BBNC’s investment in Peak Oil Field Services was one of the biggest Native

corporation acquisitions. Investing in-state makes sense. The expertise and re-sources are here, while Outside invest-ments may prove difficult to manage from afar, Metrokin says.

“This doesn’t mean we’re turning our backs on our business emphasis of diver-sification,” he says. “Other Native corpo-rations are following a similar strategy, looking for new opportunities. Oil field support is going to be a boon for Alaska, given our new tax structure. You’ll see several regional corporations are build-ing new commercial real estate com-plexes, such as Calista and CIRI. One of the big areas of investment is government contracting. On the flip side, the federal government is looking for ways to pull back spending. There are regulatory chal-lenges. We are having to look at new ways to contract for the federal government.”

The pitfall for any corporation is to focus on too few sources of income. Oil field services, real estate, and tourism are good ways to diversify, Metrokin says. “You cannot be overly focused on just one industry. There has to be diver-sified income stream. I’ve seen it happen time and again where a larger or smaller corporation counts on one sector and sees a significant downturn for a year or two. It brings their own house down.”

If there were a lens to look at thirty years down the road, Metrokin believes that Native corporations can sustain their high levels of success if they strive for multiple sectors, including involve-ment in large scale opportunities such as the Alaska natural gas pipeline proj-ect from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula. Training and education op-tions for shareholders, an unique as-pect of the Alaska Native corporation role that sets it apart from traditional corporations, is part of that picture to ensure jobs. They must also balance the need for profit against protecting their heritage lands and resources, he says.

Public enemy number one is the ex-orbitant energy costs of rural Alaska, Metrokin notes. Getting the gasline

“You cannot be overly focused on just one industry. There has to be diversified income stream. I’ve seen it happen time and again where a larger or smaller corporation counts on one sector

and sees a significant downturn for a year or two. It brings their own house down.” —Jason Metrokin

President and CEO, BBNC


built should help in that direction, plus provide jobs and economic develop-ment opportunities. Other partnerships with private entities and government to bring down those costs also will prove important to the future of economic success for Bush Alaska.

“When you look at the [building of] the early trans-Alaska oil pipeline proj-ect [in the 1970s] compared to today’s opportunities, it’s a whole different en-vironment,” Metrokin says.

ConstructionThe biggest news in the construction outlook for the coming decade in-cludes the plans for a trans-Alaska gas pipeline, a project the Kenai Peninsula Borough, for one, is already trying to foresee in a number of sectors. Borough Mayor Mike Navarre, in his successful 2014 campaign for a second term, spoke of the need to look at possible infra-structure needs due to the anticipation of five thousand construction jobs re-lated to the Nikiski LNG (liquid natural gas) facility. Roads, schools, housing, and small businesses will all likely need to expand in Nikiski in the coming

With the exception of a flat spot in 2009, Alaska has seen un-interrupted economic growth for twenty-five years. Unless we choose to shoot ourselves in the foot, I see no reason why

that shouldn’t continue.The pro-economy attitude of the policymakers has shown real re-

sults. With genuine environmental and social concern, they put the economy of the state first, as it should be. With a healthy economy, we can tackle any problem. Without a healthy economy, meeting even our basic needs will be a challenge.

We can point to direct results like the increase in resource jobs in the energy and minerals sectors. Equally important are the other pri-vate sector investments that result from the overall climate of opti-mism created by government policy and government investment in many capital projects, including the so-called mega-projects. The gas line, Susitna hydro, Knik Arm Bridge, and Juneau Access are proj-ects that will reduce energy costs and improve transportation. Such forward thinking sends a strong message that government wants to invest in our state and our people. This stimulates private investment and consumer spending—two significant drivers of the economy.

Alaska is poised to continue our economic—construction—boom. We need to strengthen our efforts to help all Alaska students be ready to enter the workforce. It is important to continue the stability and consistency in state policy and regulations and to grow jobs and cre-ate opportunities for our families to succeed. R

—John MacKinnon, Executive Director, AGC of Alaska

Alaska is Poised for Continued Growth

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years, Navarre says, a prospect that will require also anticipating for the time when most of those jobs go away.

The construction trade is Alaska’s third largest industry paying the sec-ond highest wages. In the October 2014 issue of Alaska Economic Trends, con-struction forecast 1,087 new jobs would be added between 2012 and 2022.

On another front, residential and non-residential building construction is ex-pected to increase by 14.9 percent and 14.5 percent respectively, according to the Trends, in the years to 2022. “These

come mostly from population increases and replacement of Alaska’s aging hous-ing stock,” according to the Trends report.

EmploymentHealthcare jobs will grow the most, ac-cording to an Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development analysis that measures growth to 2022. The expectation is for 3,515 new jobs in this decade. That fact won’t come as much surprise for those anticipating the continued trend of an aging Alaska and its anticipated healthcare service needs

or the market created by the Affordable Care Act. These jobs range from caregiv-ers to X-ray technicians, from nurses to more physicians. A possible offset would be the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which some predicted would increase the demand for healthcare ser-vices. This contention likely hinges on how many previously uninsured Alas-kans enroll in coverage plans, something that has not yet happened en masse.

What may strike as more of an eye-opener is how retail trades continue growth, injecting another 3,374 jobs an-ticipated in the coming decade. Even so, the Trends report forecasts a slowing of retail investment over the previously fast-paced two years. In 2014, growth came from new megastore openings, which include Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, a new and much larger Natural Pantry, a Three Bears, and an expanded Fred Meyer. A new Walmart opened in Anchorage in fall 2013. The number of new jobs from these stores alone could total 700 to 900, according to the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development’s 2014 annual report. In Fairbanks, several new businesses started operations, such as REI, Walgreen’s, and Kay Jewelers.

The state’s outlook forecasts min-ing job growth holding a firm number three slot. These include oil and gas employment anticipation of 3,280 jobs. The accommodation and food services category sits at number four top job growth: 2,784 jobs created through to 2022. The hospitality industry growth could be linked to a bright outlook in the Alaska visitor industry.

Technology is projected to produce another 1,747 jobs, holding at number five top job growth projections. Trans-portation and warehousing ride closely behind at 1,590 jobs.

Government employment, not sur-prisingly after about 900 jobs were lost in the previous two years due to federal cutbacks, shows a near-future loss of 1,297 jobs projected through 2022. Meanwhile, local governments are expected to add only 41 more jobs in the same period. State employment forecasts a more optimistic need for an-other 942 jobs added.

Energy A lot has happened on the non-fossil fuel energy front in Alaska the past thirty

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years. Today there are more than fifty hydro projects around the state, accord-ing to the Alaska Energy Authority.

The Alaska Energy Authority is look-ing at an inventory of alternative renew-able resources that in the next thirty years could bring more savings by har-nessing extreme wind conditions in plac-es such as Bering Sea communities and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which is already seeing new wind power, coupled with its diesel generation, bring down costs of living in a few villages. Wind has proven a more immediately reality than other options. The first phase of the Fire Island Wind project by CIRI Native Corporation, which began operation in September 2012, is expected to provide up to 17.6 megawatts of electricity to the Chugach Electric utility in Anchorage. CIRI announced an expansion of capac-ity to be installed by 2015.

Tidal and geothermal possibilities, however, remain in the hypothetical.

Core test results for geothermal have proved challenging so far. The proposed Mount Spurr geothermal project, lo-cated about seventy-five miles west of Anchorage, has the potential to pro-

duce fifty to one hundred megawatts of electricity annually. The prospec-tive developer, Nevada-based Ormat Technologies, was testing new sites last summer (2014) after previous areas did not prove “hot” enough, according to a report to Chugach Electric by Ormat. Current efforts focus on trying to find a location in the central region that satis-fies all major requirements of providing a commercial resource, the ability to mitigate volcanic hazard risks, and ac-cess to a road to connect it at a reason-able cost to the grid.

Geothermal power is highly site-spe-cific and requires a ratio-combination of heat, water, and rock permeability that can only be found in particular locations, Ormat has said. Another promising geothermal site is in Mount St. Augustine on lower Cook Inlet.

Also in the exploratory-feasibility stages are a series of tidal studies. The East Foreland site at Nikiski looks at a tidal energy project in a collaboration between Ocean Renewable Power Co., or ORPC, and Homer Electric. An-other tidal prospect is at a Fire Island site, also by ORPC. After performing

environmental and design work, the company submitted a draft license ap-plication for this project with FERC, but instead chose to move forward with the East Foreland site in Cook Inlet. A Point Possession site, called the Turnagain Arm Tidal Electrical Energy Project, also was under consideration.

A host of questions need to be an-swered about both geothermal and tidal energy, among them the environ-mental, marine mammal, and fisheries impact potential. But the investment has begun by government, co-ops, and private companies.

Fisheries Fisheries was a solid employer at 70,000 jobs, including fisheries management, re-search, and education, as well as the myr-iad processing and fishing jobs, according to the November 2014 Economic Trends.

Salmon composes 60 percent of all jobs, while ground fisheries at 13 percent and halibut at 11 percent together form the bulk of jobs. Optimism came more recent-ly after 2013 grew to levels not seen since 2000, with peak employment at 25,854 jobs in July 2013, the last year calculated.

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Andy Wick, an analyst with the McDowell Group, says given the high world demand for Alaska’s wild salmon and an abundant catch the past two summers, there is cause for optimism. The 5.5 billion pounds caught this sum-mer provided for a banner season. Even if most of those employed gain only short-term jobs, “that’s a lot of pounds to deal with,” he says.

But there are many variables related to temperature and climatic causes, drivers that are not easily understood when trying to predict fisheries eco-nomic contributions in years to come.

“For a look into the future, the short answer is that no one knows what [cli-mate change] will do to the volume of what we catch or the species composi-tions of what we catch,” Wick says. The Bering Sea and Alaska Gulf are fertile cold water environments.

“If water warms up—and it was this summer warmer—there is some data that suggests warmer water can im-prove the survival rates for young salm-on in the early life stages. It improves

things like plankton and food sources they eat when they are very young. That could help out, but other side of that coin is that you might also have higher rates of predators in the area that may-be you wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Commercial halibut harvests are trended down, Wick notes, due largely to a slower growth rate in halibut size than occurred in the past. When harvest num-bers are released this month, the Interna-tional Pacific Halibut Commission will get an idea of how to adjust harvest levels. So far, the news each year hasn’t proven good news to commercial halibut or the sport-charter halibut fleet of fishers.

Still, Alaska’s history is built on fish-eries, and Wick sees that staple of the Alaska economy continuing for decades to come. Fisheries have weathered a lot of historical ups and downs, he notes.

“A big part of achieving statehood was motivated by the urge to protect our fish-eries, such as getting rid of commercial

fish traps. Even other fisheries, such as over-fishing of pollock by the Japanese before the Magnuson-Stevens [Con-servation and Management] Act and a couple of examples of over-fishing,” Wick says. “Overall, we’ve had the ben-efit from mistakes made in other areas. We have a lot more fish than people.”

Alaska has a good infrastructure in place and the state funds fish manage-ment “probably better than just about anywhere else in the [United States] to keep it sustainable. I’m not sure if there’s more we can do at this point,” he says.

Another note for optimism is that Alaska has a corner on the wild fish market. “The wild capture fisheries aren’t expected to make a drastic in-crease anywhere else,” he says. “That makes our niche more valuable and more important. The number of pris-tine environments in the world do not seem to be growing. They’re shrinking.”

HealthcareAlaska’s healthcare industry has grown steadily during the past twenty years

and that trend is expected to continue. Even in Alaska’s smallest rural com-munities, where jobs are often scarce, healthcare offers year-round employ-ment opportunities. In 2010, the in-dustry provided 31,800 jobs and had a payroll of $1.53 billion.

As baby boomers turn sixty-five, Alas-ka will have more senior citizens than at any other time in history. If current projections are accurate, there could be 124,857 people age sixty-five and older by 2034. With a major customer base for healthcare likely to increase by more than 125 percent, the population growth will most likely equate to continued in-dustry growth. The ongoing expansion of the state’s hospitals and clinics and the adaptation of new technologies, will also contribute to industry growth.

Mining The Alaska Mining Association is looking at projections to the year 2022 that indi-

cate a continuation in the number of jobs increases, says Deantha Crockett, execu-tive director of the Alaska Miners Asso-ciation (AMA). According to an economic report issued by Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, a leap of 24.8 percent, or the addition of 683 new jobs, is expected from 2012 to 2022. This will be a result of a combination of increasing mineral commodity prices and the expansion of existing mines.

“The projects that are in advanced ex-ploration now have begun permitting or are expected to become permitting soon. We know that there are some very large mines coming on line in the next ten to fif-teen years that will multiply the number of workers in the mining industry,” she says.

At this fall’s AMA convention in An-chorage, Crockett says the organization reported 4,600 directly employed in Alas-ka’s mines with a combined 9,100 total direct and indirect jobs. The jobs are held by residents in over eighty communities around the state, paying out $630 million last year. Over the next decade or more, mining industry jobs are expected to be

topped only by healthcare service sector job growth projected at more than 25 per-cent, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The AMA commissioned an annual report by the research firm McDowell Group which summarizes the amount of jobs offered or potentially offered at advanced exploration projects around the state. This report itemizes from the rare earth elements in Southeast Alaska’s Bokan-Dotson Ridge to the Chuitna Coal, Donlin Creek gold’s potential, and a big Livengood gold comeback. It also includes Pebble Mine; the Niblack copper, gold, and silver prospect; the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project; and Wishbone Hill Coal.

“In terms of gold production comeback,” Crockett says, “we saw a large increase due to some really impressive commodity prices over the last three years or so. We also had Kensington come online in 2010 [which was not related to gold prices] and a number of new placer mines [related to

“A big part of achieving statehood was motivated by the urge to protect our fisheries, such as getting rid of commercial fish traps. Even other fisheries, such as over-fishing of pollock by the Japanese before the Magnuson-Stevens [Conservation and Management] Act and a couple of examples of over-fishing."

—Andy Wick, Analyst, McDowell Group


gold prices and peaked interest], which ac-counts for the increase in production.”

But for gold production, as well as other minerals in Alaska, the decades ahead are unclear, Crockett says. “We have a number of barriers, including lengthy permitting timelines, regula-tory uncertainty on the federal level, limited capital for risky ventures like mines that makes for a cold investment climate, huge expenses due to lack of infrastructure and skilled labor, and so on. That doesn’t help in the short term.”

In the long term, if those barriers are at least partially resolved, “we have great op-portunity,” Crockett says. Alaska has been ranked number one for mineral potential in its world-class deposits. “That will keep Alaska on many investors’ radar screens. We have supportive state government with the Legislature, and by all signs, with the Governor-elect as well,” she says.

Oil and GasOil and gas extraction employment is projected to increase by 15.3 percent over the next decade, according to the Alaska Economic Trends forecast in October. But there is a wide range of possible out-comes in the industry, after a “wild ride” in big price swings, declining production, and relatively strong job growth in this decade, according to the Trends report.

Neal Fried, state economist, points out that though less oil flows through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline today than previous decades, it takes more labor. “Oil isn’t gushing out. Now operators have to work harder, so it takes more people working it,” Fried says. That translates to more jobs, not less.

The industry—including exploration, production, and distribution—employs more than 20,000 workers. It spreads across 270 occupations, according to the Trends report.

How the new Senate Bill 21 tax struc-ture implemented in 2014 impacts the picture will take a number of years to assess, he says.

Visitor Industry Alaska hit a new record in tourism—near-ly 2 million visitors came in the previous year’s count. Tourism officials will receive 2014’s numbers early this year, which could prove last summer’s visitor count sur-passed the state’s new record. Total visitor spending reached $1,145,100,00 in 2013.

n State acquires railroad: The Alaska Railroad, owned by the US federal government from 1914 to 1985, transfers ownership to the Alaska Railroad Corporation, a public corporation of the State of Alaska, for $22.3 million.

n Real estate falls out: In Anchorage in 1985, nearly fourteen thousand housing units were vacant—ISER Report, “Alaska’s Economy: What’s Ahead?” December 1987. “Since the end of 1985, Alaska has lost jobs, population, and income. We now have much more housing than there is demand for. Prices of houses, condominiums, and mobile homes—especially the last two—have come down so far that Alaskans have been left queasy and disbelieving.”

n Gas pump prices: $1.20 gallon.

n Price per barrel of oil: $23 to $24.

n 1986 Nissan: $6,495.

n Macintosh Apple 512K computer: $3,025 (with software).

n Bank failings: “Alaska learned how vulnerable this narrow, dependent economy is when, in 1985-86, oil prices dropped precipitously from $40 a barrel to $15 a barrel. Jobs evaporated like water in the Saudi desert as oil work diminished. Nine of the fifteen public banking institutions in the state went bankrupt. Sixty thousand people [1985 population, about five hundred thousand] left the state, thirty thousand from Southcentral. It was not pretty.”—Steve Haycox, “Alaska’s isolation, economic dependence fosters unhealthy fear,” Oct. 16, 2014 Alaska Dispatch News.

n Timber: High costs and a strong dollar have contributed to problems in lumber. “With the refusal of the Environmental Protection Agency to ease water discharge standards for Alaska pulp mills, declines are expected for wood processing employment.” —ISER report, “Alaska’s Economic Outlook,” by Ed Eboch.

n Federal economic help: “The US Department of Defense announced an additional 2,000-2,500 military personnel will be assigned to Alaska. Their presence should add an additional 1,000-1,500 jobs.” —ISER report, “Alaska’s Economic Outlook,” by Ed Eboch.

n First foreign oil export: “With the approval and strong support of the White House, the US Commerce Department will soon issue a permit to allow the export of Alaska Cook Inlet oil to foreign nations. This is the breakthrough we have sought in our effort to begin exporting Alaska oil abroad.” —Senator Frank Murkowski, “Lift the ban on Cook Inlet Oil,” 1985.

n Times change: In 1985, Alaskans were getting used to a unified time that meant being in the same time zone, except for the Aleutians, which remained an hour behind. Four time zones had spanned the state of Alaska for several decades, the same as in all of the contiguous Lower 48 and based on longitude. A two-hour gap existed between the Railbelt towns and Juneau, for example. In 1983, Governor Bill Sheffield signed a law creating one time zone, except for the Aleutians, which could stay an hour behind. Among the complaints aired in the Ketchikan Daily News was that the move hurt business with Seattle. This was the same argument that Metlakatla used, because the Native community said it did more business with federal agencies in Seattle and Washington, D.C.

n Construction: Residential construction in Anchorage plummeted 62 percent in the first seven months of 1985, from $275.7 million in 1984 to $104.5 million in August 1985.

n “You can’t grandfather in ugliness, it’s not acceptable to the community,” said Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles, referring to a controversial sign ordinance that would soon pass. September, 1985, Anchorage Times. R

In 1985...


Given that Alaska’s three main indus-tries of oil and gas, fisheries, and tourism are considered the state’s mainstay into the coming thirty years, that bit of good news in 2014 gives reason for an opti-mistic outlook for the seasons to come.

A growing number of visitors to Alaska points to a healthy 2014 for the tourism industry and for the near future. Sarah Leonard, President and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry As-sociation, says, Alaska Travel Industry Association members from around the state have communicated that business is strong and bookings from both do-mestic and international markets have increased.”

One of the bigger news announce-ments recently is the agreement be-tween the United States and the Peo-ple’s Republic of China that extends the validity of tourist and business visas.

“Travelers from China are a hugely important and growing international market for Alaska,” Leonard says. “Policies and partnerships that make it easier for international visitors to travel to the United States help grow Alaska tourism businesses.”

The US Travel Association points to additional indicators for continued steady growth in both domestic travel and international arrivals, with a plus 5.7 percent increase in overseas arrivals to the United States.

In Alaska, other markets show mod-est increases for 2015 as well. The cruise segment projects an increase in ca-pacity of 2.8 percent with bigger ships replacing smaller vessels in the next year, according to McDowell Group and Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.

Alaska could see continued move-ment in air traffic, if the trend contin-

ues from 2014 when Alaska saw the increased presence of Delta arriving in Juneau. Other communities saw in-creases in domestic arrivals including Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Sitka, with only Anchorage realizing a slight de-crease in traffic (minus 2.5 percent).

Alaska Marine Highway ferry travel by non-residents also saw an increase of 4 percent in 2014 from numbers dip-ping in the previous years. Tourists are drawn to Alaskan hospitality, as well as to an experience among glaciers, pris-tine wilderness, and wildlife that is like nowhere else, she says.

“With continued strong investments in tourism marketing dollars at both the state and federal levels,” Leonard says, “Alaska can continue to attract visitor numbers and realize important economic benefits for businesses and communities.” R

“Policies and partnerships that make it easier for international visitors to travel to the United States help grow Alaska tourism businesses.”

—Sarah Leonard President and CEO, Alaska Travel Industry Association

Naomi Klouda is the former editor of both the Homer Tribune and previously the Tundra Drums. She is a lifelong Alaskan and freelances from Anchorage.


Are you creating the workforce you want or a bunch of drones just putting in their time un-

til something better comes along? Are you hiring people who are different and bring new perspectives and creativity to the team? Or do they all act and look a bit like you? Have you fully assessed what your group needs in order to meet the challenges facing them now and in the future? Your very survival as a com-pany may depend on how you answer these questions.

Little BoxesWe as a species are really, really good at sorting things. We sort and classify things all day without even thinking about it. This ability can be our worst enemy or our best trait. We have sur-vived on this planet by being able to dif-ferentiate. We separated the foods that nourish us from those that may kill us. We learned to sift through the back-ground noise and separate out the sig-nals of danger heading our way. Today our brains work similarly. Just think back to the last car you bought—or even just wanted. Did you start seeing it everywhere? That’s because we told ourselves to pay attention.

Our brains respond and sort out all the other clutter, so you can glance over in traffic and immediately notice the car that’s on your mind. Our brains are wired to see that which we program ourselves to look for. Therein lies the problem. If we program in the wrong things we will get the wrong results. In business, our wiring can work for us or against us when it comes to creating high performing teams.

Many employers and managers nat-urally want to group and classify peo-ple by their age, looks, or demeanor so sorting people into little boxes is easy to do. They are “Generation X” or “Y” or “Millennials” (along with a whole

host of other terms). There are papers and articles devoted to describing each one, their strengths and weaknesses and so on, so we can put them in the proper box.

Seek to DiversifyWhen hiring a candidate, we inter-view them not looking for what the team needs but whether they “fit” into the team or one of the boxes we have in mind. We commonly call this box a job description. Rarely does a team seek out someone different than their groupthink or style. Similarly, who can say they specifically sought out a lazy person to improve efficiency within a company? Yet it is the lazy person who may find the simplest and most efficient way to do things.

A famous general in World War I, Baron von Hammerstein-Equord, uniquely classified his officers: “Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, be-cause he possesses the intellectual clar-ity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent—he must not be entrusted with any respon-sibility because he will always cause only mischief.”

Remember the Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the oth-ers; one of these things just doesn’t be-long”? It was a fun to sing and sort out what was different. Even preschoolers do it very naturally.

Embrace DifferencesWe have to overcome our natural in-stinct to exclude that which is differ-ent and instead embrace differences in people, backgrounds, and personality in order to create stronger teams. When we have homogenous groups it’s like putting blinders on the team and telling them they can only look in one direc-

tion. Teams excel at what they do when there is a commonality of purpose and goals but a high diversity of approaches and perspectives.

Homogenous teams have boring meetings with limited engagement be-tween team members. When diverse teams have safety and have trust in one another, they engage and listen to each other in lively ways—and in the end usually outperform their compe-tition. Diversity with clear rules of engagement and conflict management are the base ingredients of creating greatness. Teams that can learn to embrace differences among members and listen to one another are the ones to watch and emulate.

In developing your teams, ask these questions: Are you creating a diverse enough group to accomplish your mis-sion? What skills sets and attitudes would make for a stronger more diverse team? We need to embrace all the dif-ferent generations for what they can bring to the table for the job at hand while hiring for attitude and training for skill. R

HR Matters By Kevin M. Dee

Kevin M. Dee has a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University and is the president of KMD Services & Consulting.

He has more than thirty years of experience providing leadership development, organizational development, and human resources services in Alaska and internationally. Contact him at [email protected].

Are You Creating or Superstars?


ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATIONS

Northwest Arctic Leadership Team Invests in People

Shore Avenue faces Kotzebue Sound. The entire waterfront was redesigned to combat erosion from coastal storms.© Julie Stricker


Group works cooperatively and collaborativelyBy Julie Stricker

Traditional Iñupiat culture is strong in Northwest Alaska. When regional health provider

Maniilaq Association commissioned a study of what elders in the region want-ed and needed as far as services in 1997, they were told unequivocally that the elders preferred to stay home so friends and relatives could visit. However, if they had to live in an assisted-living fa-cility, they wanted to stay in the region.

The region, however, is remote and sparsely populated. Located mostly above the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Arctic Borough consists of eleven vil-lages with a total population of about 7,400 people. No roads connect the communities. Nearly half live in the community of Kotzebue, located on a narrow spit of land off the Bering Strait. More than three-quarters of the resi-dents are Iñupiat Eskimo.

So the completion of the eighteen-bed Utuqanaat Inaat Elder Care Center in 2011 was a milestone. Planning and con-struction for the facility took years. Ma-niilaq received the first round of fund-ing, $7 million, from the state and began construction in 2009. But the $10.2 mil-lion needed to complete the facility was slow to materialize. It was finally ap-proved after the region’s four major pub-lic and private institutions—Maniilaq, the Northwest Arctic Borough, NANA Regional Corporation, and the North-west Arctic Borough School District—worked together to get the final funding pushed through the Alaska Legislature.

NWALTThe four organizations form an extraor-dinary partnership that works to the benefit of all in Northwest Alaska. It is a testament to the spirit of cooperation that is a hallmark of the Iñupiat people, says Marie Greene, president and CEO of NANA Regional Corporation.

“At NANA, time is taken to reach out the shareholders and the villages, to listen to what our shareholders are say-ing and what they see as the priorities,” Greene says. “We are a region known for its unity because our past leadership taught us this is how it is done, and we

continue to pass that on. This is why we have the Northwest Arctic Leadership Team [NWALT], so we can work closely together, as organizations, for our peo-ple. Our cooperation and collaboration is what defines us as a region.”

NWALT’s goal is to work coopera-tively to promote projects and address problems facing the residents of North-west Alaska while honoring and per-petuating Iñupiat cultural heritage.

Prioritizing EldersAccording to Fred Smith, director of economic development for the North-west Arctic Borough, the group con-centrates on five major areas of critical importance to the region: cultural pres-ervation; wellness and healthy commu-nities; economic development; educa-tion and workforce development; and infrastructure and services.

The Utuqanaat Inaat Elder Care Cen-ter, which received strong support from NWALT, achieved many of those goals. The fifteen thousand-square-foot facility replaced the aging Kotzebue Senior Cen-ter, which had a malfunctioning heat-ing system, flooring in poor repair, and needed other fixes and upgrades. The center is attached to the Maniilaq Health Center, a state-of-the-art medical facility in Kotzebue that is the primary health care facility for borough residents.

NWALT is also working with the fed-eral Indian Health Service to stabilize funding to maintain consistent patient care in the region. The construction of an outpatient care clinic in Kotzebue is another priority.

Reaching out directly to the elders is one of the hallmarks of the public and private institutions in the region. Ma-niilaq, which is named for a nineteenth century Iñupiat leader and healer, has its roots in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly re-ferred to as ANCSA. ANCSA created twelve Alaska-based Alaska Native re-gional corporations, which were tasked with the dual roles of fostering econom-ic development in Alaska, as well as meet the needs of shareholders through education, improved living conditions,

and the preservation of their cultures.NANA is the regional corporation for

Northwest Alaska and Maniilaq ini-tially was the nonprofit arm of NANA, Greene says. The borough was created in 1986 and is largely funded through Payment in Lieu of Taxes generated by the massive Red Dog zinc mine, itself a partnership between NANA and a sub-sidiary of Teck Corporation.

Productive CommunicationLocal community and tribal leaders meet quarterly with NWALT represen-tatives in Kotzebue to discuss the issues that are important in their communities, none of which are linked by roads and have some of the highest energy costs in the state, Smith says. Other perennial issues are the high cost of living in the region, public safety, the perpetuation of language and culture, the need for im-proved education options for youth, and vocational-technical opportunities.

NWALT hosts a meeting each De-cember to prioritize the major issues in

“At NANA, time is taken to reach out the shareholders and the villages, to listen to what our shareholders are saying and what they see as the priorities. We are a region known for its unity because our past leadership taught us this is how it is done, and we continue to pass that on. This is why we have the Northwest Arctic Leadership Team [NWALT], so we can work closely together, as organizations, for our people. Our cooperation and collaboration is what defines us as a region.”

—Marie Greene President and CEO

NANA Regional Corporation


the region, meeting with the governor, state commissioners, legislators, the Alaska congressional delegation, and state and federal agencies. They decide which local agency the funding for a project will go through and “the rest of the team gets behind and supports this project,” Smith says.

The group has already had some nota-ble successes. In 2004, it helped create the

Iñupiaq Language Center to address the decline in the number of fluent Iñupiaq speakers. Today, residents can learn two Iñupiaq dialects via CDs issued by Roset-ta Stone, a language-teaching program.

NWALT was also instrumental in getting the Star of the Northwest mag-net school constructed in Kotzebue. The school is a residential facility affiliated with Alaska Technical Center to provide further training for high school juniors and seniors with two years of post-sec-ondary education, what they call up to the 14th grade, Smith says. Students will graduate from high school and get ad-ditional academic or vocational educa-tion, leading to an associate of arts de-gree or vocational certifications.

A dormitory is under construction now with an additional forty beds dedi-cated to high school students, Smith says. That’s in addition to the forty beds already in place for adults. Many Kot-zebue residents also are enrolled in the program, he notes.

NWALT is also backing expanding broadband Internet service in the re-gion, which is key to improving educa-tion and economic opportunities.

Changing Climate, High Energy Costs

Northwest Alaska is bearing the brunt of climate change. A warming Arctic has resulted in more localized flooding and erosion in several villages in the Indiana-sized region, Smith says. One of the hardest-hit villages is Kivalina, a community of four hundred located on a narrow barrier island between the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina Lagoon. The only way to access the community is by plane or boat.

In the past five years, residents have been forced to evacuate the village three times because of severe storms. The entire community will have to be relocated because of severe erosion. In 2014, NWALT helped get $2.5 million added to the state budget to start build-ing an evacuation route from the coast to higher ground at Kisimigiuktuk Hill, which is approximately eight miles inland from the existing community. It would also be the location of a new school, which would form the nucleus of the relocated community.

Addressing the high energy costs in the region is another NWALT priority

© Julie Stricker

A weathered home faces Kotzebue Sound on Shore Avenue.


and a focus for borough Mayor Reggie Joule, Smith says. That has involved items as simple as promoting energy-efficient LED lights to trying to devise region-wide strategies to lower the bulk cost of fuel. In some villages, a gallon of diesel costs $10 or more, which affects everything from home heating to be-ing able to head upriver for subsistence hunting and fishing.

In 2008, NWALT helped draft the groundbreaking Northwest Strategic Energy Plan, updating and revising it in 2013. The plan is a “dynamic, living document” that serves as a blueprint for energy conservation and develop-ment in the region. Among its goals are for the region to be 50 percent reliant on locally available energy resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and

biomass, as well as local coal and natu-ral gas reserves by 2050. Ideally, im-ported diesel fuel will be needed only as a backup, according to the proposal. The plan also champions programs to help residents improve the energy effi-ciency of their homes.

Other projects include a community-wide water and sewer project for the four hundred residents of Buckland, seventy-five miles south of Kotzebue, as well as wind turbines in Buckland and Deering. The wind turbines are “a good opportunity to reduce the de-pendence on diesel,” Smith notes. “And the price of fuel, while it fluctuates, it doesn’t seem to go down.” Officials are also evaluating whether roads and in-terties between some villages would be feasible. They are also working with

the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority to develop an infrastructure that would allow lower-cost propane to be used as an energy source in some communities.

Future PlansLooking ahead, NWALT is champion-ing the construction of a regional port at Cape Blossom, ten miles south of Kotzebue, as well an access road. The port could dramatically reduce the cost of fuel in the region, Smith says. It could also provide an economic boost for the entire area, especially with an increase in marine traffic expected as the climate warms.

It is an important project for na-tional, as well as regional interests, the city of Kotzebue notes. “The road to Cape Blossom and the deep water port is consistent with the national strategy and will be pivotal for the survival of the economy in the Northwest Arctic Borough.” R

Julie Stricker is a journalist living near Fairbanks.

“[Wind turbines are] a good opportunity to reduce the dependence on diesel, and the price of fuel, while it fluctuates, it doesn’t seem to go down.”

—Fred Smith Director of Economic Development

Northwest Arctic Borough


ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATIONS

“An Alaska Native game with whispered significance and a soul of its very own,” says the

online edition of the British tabloid news-paper The Daily Mirror about the re-cently released video game called “Never Alone.” Dozens of other publica-tions, from gaming magazines to Forbes.com, give it high praise.

“Never Alone,” a partnership be-tween educational gaming force E-Line Media and Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s for-profit arm CITC Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), is forging new ground in several different fields. It’s the first partnership between an Alaska Native organization and a video game developer and also the first time a game developer has worked inclusively with an indigenous people to include the stories and culture of that community within a commercial video game. But based on the success E-Line and CEI have seen so far, this game will be the first of many of its kind.

Telling an Old Tale in a New Way

Making “Never Alone” was a business decision by Cook Inlet Tribal Council em-ployees working under its relatively new

for-profit arm CEI. Pita Benz, vice president of Social Enterprise for

CITC, says the organiza-

tion set up the for-profit venture to reduce dependence on grants and federal dollars.

“We spent a year looking at a variety of projects. We ended up talking at lunch one day about, how do we really reach Alaska Native youth? How do we lever-age technology to reach Alaska Native youth and make money? We stumbled on the idea of video games,” Benz says.

But the idea was voiced as an unlike-ly choice. Benz says she was surprised when CITC president and CEO Gloria O’Neill directed her to pursue it.

Benz did and asked E-Line Media to come up to give the company a primer on video games. E-Line did their best to dis-courage the company from jumping into the often-unpredictable world of gaming.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council Invests inSustainability with ‘Never Alone’

Partnership develops new ‘world games’ genre in consumer video gamesBy Rindi White

Never Alone concept art of the little people. Courtesy Upper One Games

Never Alone concept art of the wolf. C

ourt

esy

Upp

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ames


Never Alone screen shots, clockwise from top: Sky people, in the forest, and underwater.Courtesy Upper One Games

“Initially, we really tried to stress that this is really risky; over the years, we’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands, of game companies come and go,” says E-Line president and co-founder Alan Gershenfeld.

E-Line performed a three-month business analysis to assess both the op-portunity and risk with CEI and, at the end, Cook Inlet Tribal officials agreed to move forward on the project. Choosing a theme was relatively easy, Benz says.

“Every step of the way we’ve analyzed the business and what’s best for the or-ganization. You’re best off doing what you know best, so we focused on Alaska Native stories,” she says.

Cook Inlet Tribal employees collected dozens of Alaska Native stories—enough to fill several boxes—and shipped them to E-Line’s Creative Director Sean Vesce. Ultimately, in collaboration with Ishmael Hope, an Alaska Native writer, a story written by Robert Cleveland of Ambler was chosen as the basis for the game. But the game is multi-faceted and includes tales from other regions of Alaska, from vengeance wreaked by Northern Lights spirits bent on swiping the heads of peo-ple who stay out after curfew and using

them as footballs to stories of the Immin-naurat, or the Little People.

Those stories, along with twenty-four cultural vignettes, were added as a re-sult of two visits to Barrow and several visits to Anchorage by the game design team as well as many visits to the E-Line Seattle studio by the Alaska Native writers and elders.

Benz says CEI is proud of the game and is looking forward to more involve-ment in the video game industry, but the learning curve has been steep.

“Looking back, I think everyone on the team would say how hard this was, how messy. How do you balance au-thenticity with making a fun game?” she says. “It’s really, really hard work.”

The community participation ele-ment was a new facet for E-Line and one Gershenfeld says was the most re-warding aspect of developing the game.

“It’s been an amazing experience. I think everyone on the team will tell you it’s been one of the most incredible and powerful experiences [in video game development] they’ve had in years,” Gershenfeld says.

The development process for any game is typically inspiring and even

sometimes moving, he added, but this process was different.

“[That’s] nowhere near as enriching as getting to know a new culture and… getting to share it with a new audience,” he says.

The Story of the Game“Never Alone,” or Kisima Ingitchuna in Iñupiat, is the story of a young Iñupiat girl, Nuna, and her companion, an Arctic fox, who search for the source of an ongoing blizzard that threatens the livelihood of Nuna’s village. The pair faces Arctic condi-tions such as fierce winds and an eternal blizzard, and they progress with the aid of Helping Spirits, traveling through an abandoned coastal village and through the tops of trees in a frozen forest.

Set up as a two-player game, single players can alternate between the roles of Nuna and the fox or play side by side with a friend or family member. Neither Nuna nor the fox can make it through the game alone; their skills must be paired for the team to succeed.

“It works better as a two-player team rather than one player,” Benz says.

“Never Alone” is a digital download; it’s not available on store shelves, but


can be downloaded from neveralone-game.com or from the digital game store Steam. It’s currently available for play on PC, XBox One, and PlayStation 4.

The game is rated T for Teen, a rat-ing Benz says was given because there is some violence in this survival tale.

James Nageak of Anaktuvuk Pass narrates the game in Iñupiat. And at key points in the story, players can learn more about the Iñupiat culture, values, and “the amazing Arctic world encountered by players,” through twen-ty-four “cultural insight” videos that get unlocked through gameplay.

Jana Harcharek, director of Iñupiat education for the North Slope School District, helped provide suggestions for community leaders who might par-ticipate in the vignettes; mostly people who had hunting and whaling experi-ence that would be relevant to the story of Nuna and the fox.

Harcharek also helped bring together

the group of high school students who talked early in the process with game designers and discussed how they want-ed to see their culture represented in a game being released around the world.

The design team’s first visit to Barrow coincided with a Messenger Feast, a cel-ebration held every two or three years in Barrow that sees singers, drummers, dancers, and feasters from all over the region. Because the event was going on, high-school students from around the region were able to talk with the designers and, she says, the designers were able to get a rare look into the Iñu-piat culture.

Benz says the design team also vis-ited museums in Barrow and the Alas-ka Native Heritage Museum and the Anchorage Museum in Anchorage to gather information about tools, cloth-ing, and other design elements.

“We tried to be as authentic as pos-sible,” she says.

“It’s been a meaningful project for ev-eryone that’s worked on it,” Benz says. “That’s one thing that has been different [in working with E-Line Media]. Bringing in the storytellers… it wasn’t just ‘check off the box, we ran this by Alaska Native community members.’ People were in-volved in a real and important way.”

Shared Vision, Shared FutureThrough the process of working togeth-er, Gershenfeld and Benz says their re-spective companies glimpsed a bright-er, shared future.

“We thought a closer relationship would better align our interests,” Benz says.

CEI now owns between 33 and 35 percent of E-Line Media, the largest ownership share.

“It really happened organically,” Gershenfeld says. “We found we had a shared vision, and we really got along. We found that the more we worked to-gether, the more we enjoyed working to-gether and the greater the opportunity [before us]. There seemed to be a hunger in the marketplace, so it seemed natural to, instead of saying ‘Let’s do one game,’ say, ‘Let’s do a line of games.’”

E-Line is seeking to bridge the gap between educational video games and commercial games. Gershenfeld got his start in the film industry and then moved to Activision, where he worked on a number of large commercial games.

“I got very interested in the power of games to do more than just entertain, to open and inspire new worlds,” he says.

He started tracking gaming projects funded by philanthropic and social or-ganizations.

ABOVE: Early project strategy

discussion at the Cook Inlet Tribal

Council offices in Anchorage.RIGHT: Sean

Vesce (left), Ossie Kairaiuak

(center), and Ishmael Hope at an early project

meeting.Photos by Wayde

Carroll/Courtesy Cook Inlet Tribal Council


Anne CampbellSenior Advertising Account Manager

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“We weren’t seeing a lot of those games competing successfully in the consumer space, or really working in the classroom. We started E-Line Media to help close that gap,” he says.

The goal, he said, is to design “gate-way games,” or games designed to com-pete in the consumer market, but that also step beyond entertainment—“to engage, inspire, and open new worlds,” he says, as well as “pathways,” which is game-infused curriculum designed for the classroom, he adds.

In the scope of the partnership, he says, E-Line has a wealth of experience behind it, which helps cut the risk of launching a new gaming business. CITC brings a collaborative working process that helps make the development pro-cess—and the final product—richer.

“At the core, I think the partnership is really on solid ground. It’s built on strong goals and trust and a shared vision for what games can do,” he says. “We’re all trying something new here, with this in-clusive development process.”

Gershenfeld says working on “Never Alone” necessitated building a whole new studio and incorporating an ex-

panded range of platform offerings. “Up until now at E-Line, we had

been doing game-based curriculum for schools,” he says. This is the first time the company has developed a consumer game for XBox and PlayStation.

The team grew as well, he says. About a dozen E-Line employees started the proj-ect, but as the game moved toward release, the team grew to include twenty people.

If the new world games genre that “Never Alone” introduces succeeds, Gershenfeld says the resources E-Line dedicates to games in the genre will also increase.

Tapping a New MarketOne of the most striking aspects of the November launch of “Never Alone,” Benz and Gershenfeld say, was the inter-est in the game from all over the world.

ABOVE: Gray is with E-Line Media’s award winning creative director/de-signer Sean Vesce. RIGHT: Inupiaq elder Minnie Gray recording stories for Never Alone as part of the unique partnership between members of the Alaska Native community and ac-claimed game developers to preserve cultural authenticity during the game development process. C

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“Reviews have been coming in from around the world, which is exciting—the global reach of people trying to learn about another culture,” she says.

Gershenfeld says E-Line has been ap-proached by cultures around the world that are interested in the idea of trans-lating traditional stories into new me-dia. Native Hawaiians voiced an interest in the process months ago, after CITC President O’Neill spoke at a conference there. Other places, from Siberia to Ire-land and South America to Australia, have also approached E-Line, he says.

Rich traditional tales are found around the world. Films, television pro-grams, music, and even graphic nov-els have explored traditional tales and themes to a successful end, Gershenfeld says. Why not games?

“I think this idea of fusing languages and themes and stories that have been around for generations and passed down through generations with these new me-dia platforms is a really exciting oppor-tunity and a creative challenge,” he says.

Shaping the Future Many of the loose ends the “Never Alone” team is still working on related to the game involve making it more us-able. A parent guide was recently post-ed on the game website that provides discussion prompts and activities to extend the learning process.

Benz says the team is also working on a curriculum guide for teachers.

“That’s really where our interest lies, in using technology in new ways to en-gage the kids who are kind of falling off the rails in middle school,” she says.

Much of the educational information will be posted on the game website, she says. A team will also demonstrate the game at the Alaska Society for Technol-ogy in Education conference to be held in Anchorage in February, and a teach-er guide will be available there.

“We’re getting a lot of inbound calls from teachers,” she says. “A lot of people know about the game and are coming to us.

CITC Village Liaison Eric Wat-son says the game development process allowed a number of CITC representatives to become more familiar with the video game industry. He hopes to use the partnership to provide ad-

ditional learning opportunities for stu-dents.

“When we showed the games in Bar-row and Anchorage, we’d have kids come up and say, ‘This is cool, how can I get in-volved?’ This is [a career] that, when you get the skills and experience, you can work remotely. A lot of people do,” Benz says.

Watson says CITC already offers a couple of video game development ac-tivities through its Schoolyard program, a multi-pronged after-school program for students in middle school and high school aimed at helping students gradu-ate. The program is offered to all Alaska Native students in the Anchorage School District, but more students living or at-tending school in the Bartlett, East and Service high school areas have been the focus of recruitment efforts.

Harcharek says she’d like to bring the initial group of Barrow-area high school students back together to go through the game and see how their input was incorporated into the game “and see how we can use this avenue to perpetu-ate the stories that come from our part of the world—and the potential that we have for people in other parts of the world to do the same thing.”

“Especially given how violence is so much perpetuated in mainstream media, whether in the gaming world or in films, taking this kind of a track reminds people that we can be caring, loving people in this world, and not hone in only on vio-lence, which is not in our nature,” Harcha-rek says. “We also want our kids to think about the contributions they can make in computer programming as a profession. There are terrific opportunities.” R

Freelance journalist Rindi White writes from Palmer.

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Two Liebherr container cranes being used to offload an oversized load of cargo at the Port of Anchorage.

© Judy Patrick


CONSTRUCTION

Dam Port BridgeSpecial projects take ‘one step at a time’ By Kirsten Swann

Three major construction projects, poised to change the landscape of commercial transportation and

renewable energy in Southcentral Alas-ka, are making slow but steady progress in the face of uncertain success.

The Port of Anchorage moderniza-tion, the Knik Arm Crossing, and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric projects collectively involve billions of dollars in capital investments and thousands of new jobs. When complete, the projects are set to increase efficiency and lon-gevity at Alaska’s largest port, connect one of the fastest-growing areas in the state with the Municipality of Anchor-age, and provide valuable, reliable hy-droelectric power to the Railbelt region.

But the three massive projects also involve years of development, exhaus-tive permitting, and licensing processes and other hurdles that are set to push construction well into the future.

Project managers believe the long-term reward is worth the work.

Knik Arm CrossingShannon McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Alaska’s Department of Transporta-tion and Public Facilities, says the pro-posed toll bridge over the Knik Arm is the largest project the department has taken on in years.

“The last project of this magnitude that Alaska built was actually the Parks Highway,” McCarthy says.

The Knik Arm Crossing would con-nect Anchorage with rapidly growing populations in the Matanuska-Susitna

Dam Port Bridge


Borough, spanning 1.74 miles across the Knik Arm, according to project documents. It could help alleviate traf-fic on the Glenn Highway, which saw a 32 percent increase in average daily traffic past the Eklutna Overpass be-tween 2000 and 2010.

Previously under the purview of the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA), the project was transferred to the Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) by the Alaska Legislature near the end of the 2013-14 legislative session. The state transportation department will oversee the development and construction of the state-owned bridge, McCarthy says, and then hand operations to KABATA once the project is complete. That trans-fer is still years from happening.

When the transportation department took control of the project in spring 2014, McCarthy says, it began the pro-cess of reexamining project plans and documentation to make sure every-thing is in place for the next stage—ap-plying for a federal loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).

The success of the Knik Arm Cross-ing construction hinges on that TIFIA loan: According to a joint KABATA-DOT&PF funding proposal from March 2014, the project is banking on more than $341 million in TIFIA fund-ing, which would ultimately be repaid through bridge toll revenues. The to-

tal projected cost of the bridge devel-opment comes in at just under $900 million—a mix of federal funds, state capital money, and bonds—according to project documents provided by the Alaska Legislature.

Before DOT&PF moves forward with its application for the integral TIFIA

Lashing down the load at the Port of Anchorage.

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loan, McCarthy says it’s making sure it’s crossed every T and dotted every I.

“The project development process has been fairly intensive over the past ten years,” McCarthy says. “Now is a good time to reexamine everything; make sure it’s in the shape you want it to be in moving forward.”

There are decades of work at stake. The Knik Arm bridge concept was first

conceived by railroad engineers in the 1920s, according to DOT&PF, and the Alaska Department of Highways com-pleted an engineering study on the proj-ect about fifty years later. A draft environ-mental impact statement was issued by DOT&PF in 1984, and the Alaska Legisla-ture began pursuing the project in earnest with the creation of KABATA in 2003.

In 2008, the Federal Highway Admin-istration published a Final Environmen-tal Impact Statement for the Knik Arm Crossing, and it signed a Record of Deci-sion two years later. From 2008 and 2012, the project successfully obtained various memorandums of understanding and applied for several federal permits.

In 2013, the project shifted gears to-ward a publicly financed model and was transferred to the state transpor-tation department with the passage of House Bill 23 in April 2014.

McCarthy says the department is now faced with the task of securing essen-tial federal funding for the Knik Arm Crossing, also a transportation priority for the Federal Highway Administra-tion. Pending approval of the multimil-lion-dollar TIFIA loan, McCarthy says

DOT&PF hopes to put out an RFP for the project within a year or two.

“We’re at the point now where a great deal is known about where the bridge should go—the economies of both An-chorage and the Mat-Su,” McCarthy says.

When construction eventually be-gins, McCarthy says, it’s expected to last for roughly four years and gener-ate 1,500 full-time positions annu-ally. Because the project involves fed-eral money, it would be required to use American steel by the Buy America Act. McCarthy says construction would most likely first involve clearing in the Mat-Su and then in-water work that would require contractors to drill down into the ocean floor.

“In-water work in the Knik Arm is going to be interesting, because we’d have to limit work around beluga whales,” McCarthy says.

Cook Inlet beluga whales were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2008, and it took more than two years for the National Maritime Fisheries Ser-vice to issue a biological opinion of “no jeopardy” in regards to the Knik Arm Crossing project and the belugas’ safety.

At low tide, McCarthy says, the pro-posed site of the bridge project is shorter across and shallower than other parts of Knik Arm, but contractors would still have to contend with powerful currents and sensitive environmental conditions.

“You’re dealing with both tides and the river,” McCarthy says. “But at the same time it can be done and the engi-neers have found solutions for it.”

Watana DamAlmost due north of the future bridge site, more than 180 river miles above Cook In-let, another massive public project is inch-ing its way through an extensive process similar to the Knik Arm Crossing’s.

The Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, expected to cost upwards of $5.2 billion, is expected to generate about 2.8 million megawatt hours of electricity annually, according to the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA). That power could fulfill about 50 percent of current Railbelt demand.

But Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric isn’t breaking ground any time soon.

AEA, which oversees the hydro proj-ect, is currently in the end-stages of a three-year pre-application phase—the first in a multi-step process expected to last through 2025. Wayne Dyok, AEA’s project manager, says the pre-applica-tion phase involves fifty-eight different studies and ends with the submission of a license application to the Federal En-ergy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Dyok says the studies cover all of the resource areas potentially impacted by the hydroelectric project, including wa-ter quality, fisheries, vegetation, wildlife, social, and cultural resources. The en-ergy authority aims to understand the existing resources well enough to be able to protect them going forward, he says.

“The key challenge is dealing with the fish—primarily salmon,” the project manager says. “We’re collecting base-line information and undertaking a suite of assessments to be able to under-stand what the effects of the project are.”

Those pre-application phase assess-ments also involve studying the reser-voir and upstream flow and assessing the potential impacts of earthquakes and floods, information vital to the fi-nal FERC application.

“All those things get modeled so we understand the effects,” Dyok says. “Dam safety is very important.”

Dyok said the study process—which typically only lasts a year—was extend-ed to three years by budget restraints. It culminates with a feasibility report set to be released in early 2015, he says.

If all goes according to plan, AEA hopes to submit its license application for the 735-foot-tall, roller-compacted concrete dam to federal regulators by 2016. After a review period of several years, Dyok says,

Rendering of the Watana Dam.

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The energy authority has some expe-rience managing projects of this size—Dyok says the 120-megawatt hydroelec-tric facility at Bradley Lake is one notable example. As the Susitna-Watana project inches closer to construction, the AEA project manager says it would most likely bring on additional support staff, too.

“It’s really important that you have the right internal team set up to con-struct the project,” he says.

Port of Anchorage Steve Ribuffo agrees.

Ribuffo, director at the Port of An-chorage, says he is preparing to lead the facility through a multimillion-dollar modernization project with a staff that includes “two licensed civil engineers … no politicians, and more than fifty years of experience.”

While a port expansion effort pursued by the Municipality of Anchorage in years past cost hundreds of millions of dollars and culminated in a lawsuit against sev-eral of the engineering firms associated with the project, Ribuffo says the port is now moving in a new direction.

“We’ve learned a lot from history down here,” he says. “We are absolutely disinterested in repeating any of that.”

In 2014, the Port held a design char-rette with numerous stakeholders—in-cluding the Southwest Alaska Pilots Association and area tugboat opera-tors—to identify a different approach to new construction at the Port. They con-cluded an expansion wasn’t even neces-sary in the first place, Ribuffo says.

“We’re not busy every day; there’s a lot of opportunity for other stuff to come in across these docks,” the port director says. “When you sat down and did the analysis, we’re big enough. We don’t have to add new docks in addition to the ones we have now.”

So, rather than expanding, Port stakeholders have shifted their focus toward modernizing existing facili-ties. About 240,000 containers move through the Port annually, but Ribuffo says it can handle more.

“We’ve got plenty of space, we’ve got plenty of time; it annoys me that when we see business opportunities go elsewhere, more often than not people will tell us, ‘We thought you were too busy,’” the port director says. “The fact of the matter is, we’re busy but we’re not so busy you can’t come talk to us and we’ll make you work.”

The modernization project comes with a seventy-five-year design life; a much-

the project would hopefully receive clear-ance to proceed to the next step: detailed design and engineering work, power sales agreements, and financing.

Because, like the Knik Arm Crossing, the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Proj-ect has yet to secure complete funding for the multibillion-dollar proposal.

“We’re keeping all options on the table at this point,” says Dyok, who de-clined to go into detail about whether that would include majority public fi-nancing, private investment, or a com-bination of both.

He says AEA is working with finan-cial consultants, the Alaska Legislature, the administration, and Railbelt utili-ties to pinpoint a plan that pencils out. The bottom line, he says, is to ensure the state will be repaid its investment in the hydroelectric project. The total end cost would most likely exceed the cur-rent $5.2 billion projection, Dyok says.

Under the energy authority’s cur-rent project schedule, the construction phase is scheduled to begin in 2019.

“One of the first things that we want to do is build a road to the site,” Dyok says. “You need to have the access.”

There are currently three proposed routes to the dam and powerhouse site on the Susitna River: The Denali Corri-dor approaches from the Denali High-way to the north, the Chulitna Corridor would connect to the Alaska Railroad to the west, and the Gold Creek Corri-dor would do the same, just to the south of the Susitna River. The energy author-ity says a favored route isn’t expected to be announced until the submission of the FERC license application.

After creating access to the remote site, Dyok says, the next step would be to build infrastructure and housing for construction crews and the diversion-ary structures to reroute the flow of wa-ter around the proposed dam site.

“So those three things—the road, the camp, and the diversion facilities—are going to be the first three things that have to be completed,” Dyok says.

It’s no small task.At peak construction, Dyok says the

project is expected to employ about one thousand people and involve multiple subcontractors.

“We would have all kinds of trades as-sociated with this—from mechanical, electrical to civil carpenters,” he says.

Ronda is a Longshoreman, or a Longshore-woman, at the Port of Anchorage.© Judy Patrick


needed upgrade for the current facility, which is more than fifty years old.

And while the aging infrastructure could use a facelift, Ribuffo says, there isn’t a strong business case for adding additional capacity.

“Until the population of the state doubles or triples, we’ve got enough port,” he says. “There is no low-hanging fruit, untapped market out there that you need more port to support.”

With that in mind, Ribuffo says, the Au-gust Design Charrette whittled the options down to three possible design concepts. Each of the three concepts would replace Terminals 2 and 3, upgrade existing infra-structure, and improve seismic resilience, all without a gap in Port operations.

“One of the goals going forward was to see if we could find a design that would minimize dredging,” Ribuffo says.

Engineering firm CH2M Hill—which was awarded a five-year, $30 million contract to manage the new modern-ization project—unveiled the chosen design concept in November 2014.

Now, Ribuffo says, the design needs to mature and progress: It was presented to Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, the Anchorage Assembly, and other stake-holders at the 15 percent design phase.

“You don’t want to go any further then that at this phase of the game,” he says. “It’s way too much investment.”

Bringing the plans to 100 percent would involve zoning in on the final cost, and the port director says driving test piles would play a major role in the process.

“A big part of what it’ll cost to physi-cally do construction is the cost of pile driving,” Ribuffo says.

He says the Port hopes to drive test piles in 2015. And before construction can be-gin, he says, the project would need to re-obtain mandatory permits. The new plan is different from the previous expansion project, and none of the old permits carry forward, Ribuffo says. There would most likely be a need for whale watchers and other environmental work.

“You can’t do any of this without per-mitting,” the port director says. “We’re back to the drawing board on permitting because the new design is so drastically removed from what the last one was.”

While the Port still has about $130 million in funding left over from the old expansion project, Ribuffo says it would still need to obtain some additional dol-lars to complete the new modernization work. And, unlike the previous project, Ribuffo says the new endeavor wouldn’t go forward without being fully funded.

“We’re not going to start anything we don’t have the money to finish,” he says. “I don’t want people to be surprised if the decision is, ‘Don’t do anything.’”

For a project of this scope, the port director says it’s best to take things one step at a time.

“That’s about as much crystal ball as I’ve got,” Ribuffo says.

The same goes for the Susitna-Wata-na Hydroelectric Project and the Knik Arm Crossing: With licensing, financ-ing, and many other steps left to take, construction itself is still a long way down the road. R

Kirsten Swann is an independent journalist based in Anchorage.

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Concept D, the chosen design for the Port of Anchorage.Rendering by CH2MHILL


OIL & GAS

Oilfield HSE ComplianceUsing science in strategies for health, safety, and the environment By Brian McKay

Compliance is a hard word to write about. If you don’t believe me, try to de-fine it. The online version of the Merri-

am Webster’s dictionary offers a couple of ver-sions; “(1) the act or process of doing what you have been asked to do along with the act or process of complying to a desire, demand, pro-posal, regimen or coercion, and (2) the ability of an object to yield elastically when a force is applied.” These two definitions seem to con-tradict each other where the former is begging for rigidness and rules and the latter seems a bit more flexible. Regardless of the semantics, when it comes to matters of health, safety, and the environment (HSE), there should be little doubt as to the context of the definition; follow the rules and nobody gets hurt.

Little DoubtIn the Alaska oil and gas industrial sector, there should be little doubt as to what is meant by compliance when it comes to the health and safety of the workforce and the environmental considerations when working in the Arctic. There is tremendous effort expended in the development and deployment of HSE related materials “on the slope” and “in town” from awareness campaigns, hazard hunts, and signs to compulsory training, root cause analysis, and contractual or personal consequences related to contracts, or even employment, if someone is found to be “non-compliant.”

Company specific new hire orientations and awareness campaigns are a constant feature in presenting expectations. In an at-tempt at consistency, those who want to work on the North Slope for one of the majors need to have attended the North Slope Training Cooperatives (NSTC) eight-hour Unescorted Class, which they get from their employer or a third party provider. The Unescorted Class covers working conditions and safe work process (work at height, confined space, hot work, etc.) that can be applied throughout the participating companies’ working areas and

covers the minimum information needed to comply with both company policies and HSE related regulations.

The regulations governing the minimum safety and health standards at work can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): 29 CFR 1910 for General Industry and 1926 for Construction. These CFRs describe the mini-mum standards for training and performing work in the field at various locations and are the product of what is known now as the OSHA Act.

At times, this act is very prescriptive, for example, in describing in great detail the minimum height and width specifications for guardrails, while other times there is room for interpretation in the standard. In addition, since the OSHA Act is a federal regulation, the states have to adopt these regulations ver-batim or provide their own OSHA state plan that meets or exceeds the protective measures of the federal plans. Alaska is a state with its own OSHA plan that is administered through the Alaska Department of Labor and Work-force Development.

In addition, companies may have their proce-dures or policies in place that are even more de-scriptive or protective of personnel and working conditions in the field. With the combination of federal OSHA, state OSHA, company specific requirements, and NSTC training, there is an opportunity for personnel to be overwhelmed with the volume and consistency of HSE related regulations. The question comes up often, how do we maintain a consistent level of HSE related compliance in the field?

Safety GuyI have spent a career in the field of health, safety, and the environment and am known as a “safety guy.” Through my experience, I have come to realize that most of my time has been spent in the arts of influence: that is to say, I have used my time and energy influenc-ing, cajoling, bribing, forcing, asking, plead-ing, nudging, and suggesting to my fellow


workers better, safer, or more efficient methods of work.

There were times that I was simply the old cliché of the consultant—borrowing their watch to tell them what time it is. Other times, I am in their business tell-ing them what they don’t want to hear, and other times I am an active partici-pant in the discussion. At times I am not wanted. Sometimes I am asked for.

On the whole, though, I would say that most of the time I was just trying to pass on information derived from OSHA regulations and the company’s will to employs in the field and, as with all human endeavor, I have found there are effective methods and methods that are not so effective. In this role, I have made a habit out of trolling for evidence-based effective solutions that will help improve my effectiveness in getting these messages out.

A couple of years ago, I picked up a copy of “Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive” and asked the usual question: can this be used to im-prove safety performance in the field?

The book, written by Robert B. Cialdi-ni with Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin, outlines fifty short methods for increasing the effectiveness of day-to-day and business communication and influencing skills. Each of these fifty chapters presents a short story about a business problem, like influencing ho-tel guests to recycle/reuse their towels more often. The short story is told, a theory from communication of influ-ence psychology is presented, and then a solution is tried out in the laboratory of real life experiences.

Three of my favorites are offered be-low and involve fear, positive social proof, and negative consequences.

Does Fear Persuade or Does it Paralyze?

Story: Research has demonstrated that fear arousing communications usually stimulate an audience to take action. However, if the audience is not told to take specific, effective means to reduce the hazard, they may ignore it or think that it doesn’t pertain to them.

The Effect: Public health announce-ments designed to influence behavior are not effective unless accompanied by a specific plan of action.

Safety Use: The more clearly people

see behavioral means for ridding them-selves of fear, the less likely they will resort to denial.

Example: A photo designed to elicit fear, such as a nail sticking from an eye, may backfire if not accompanied by the proper actions to take in order to prevent the injury. A fear based appeal will be more effective if concrete, and easy, be-haviors are available to the intended re-cipients of the message, such as “in order to prevent eye injuries, new pairs of safe-ty glasses are available at the tool room or through your supervisor. Just ask.”

What Shifts the Bandwagon Effect into Second Gear?

Story: A hotel chain wanted to in-crease the rate by which their guests reused their towels in order to save en-ergy, water, and costs as part of an envi-ronmental awareness campaign.

They proposed to appeal to the con-cept of what psychologists call the posi-tive social proof or what we would call the bandwagon effect. In other words, the hotel devised an experiment in which two different requests for reusing the towels were provided to guests: one


request was a simple reminder that re-using towels can save water, energy, and cost while the other offered the same information with an additional piece of information about how many people reused towels coming from this same room. In other words, information was given about the towel use of previous guests in the same hotel.

The Effect: Increased rate of reuse of towels in that SAME room by 26 percent.

Safety Use: The appeal to positive social proof is a powerful motivator for humans. In another example from advertising, an infomercial used to sign off with the commonly heard “operators are waiting, please call now” to a more ambitious “if operators are busy, please call again.” The results, again, were dra-matic with the effect of increased sales after the “operators are busy” sign off. The social “proof” that this product is so popular that there may be a wait to order it is a strong motivator to get the product. After all, if everyone else is do-ing it, it must be good.

Example: Arguably one of the most popular uses of the appeal to positive social proof is the claims by business-es that “the so and so work group has worked 1 million hours without a lost time injury.” However, there is a better way to use positive social proof by back-ing off the all-inclusive reporting or lagging indicators such as injury rates. After all, there could be many people in this group that didn’t do anything dif-ferent from their day to day routines except be lucky enough not to get hurt.

A better example would be: “The in-sulators in the ISBL piperack decreased their rate of foreign debris in their eyes by switching to XXX brand of safety glasses with side shields,” or something similar.

When Can the Right Way be the Wrong Way?

Story: A behavioral researcher was interested in the most effective train-ing methods in an industry where mis-takes can mean the difference between life and death—firefighting. Specifi-cally, this researcher wanted to find out whether initial training based on other firefighters’ errors (bad decisions) is better than training that focuses on firefighters’ good decisions or the ways in which firefighters performed their duties while complying with policies.

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An experiment was set up where ap-plicants were presented with case stud-ies; one set of case studies portrayed firefighters that made errors leading to negative consequences and the other set of case studies focused on firefighters making the right decisions and avoid-ing negative consequences.

The Effect: The results indicated that the firefighters exposed to the negative consequences or “war stories” showed improved judgment and decision mak-ing skills than those trained in the con-ventional way. Vicarious experiences and outlines of how firefighters solved real life problems were a far better teacher than traditional hazard/risk/rule-based education.

Safety Use: Another word for “war stories” or vicarious experiences is the term “near miss.” Depending on the company, a near miss is defined in dif-ferent ways; some definitions include unsafe conditions and unsafe behav-iors while also including the classic near miss (a wrench falling from the pipe rack) or other releases of energy. In any case, it is important to identify and capture these near misses as they

happen because they become the topic of discussion the very next day. Not only are the near misses recorded, but their solutions or mitigating factors are discussed so that personnel are armed with the right information to make quick decisions in the future.

Example: I will write about a near miss program we conducted back in 2011 in upcoming articles, but, in short, we showed (through correlation statistics) that the more near misses are reported and acted on, the less frequent first aid cases and recordable injuries become.

Improve SafetyHow can using these strategies im-

prove safety performance in the field?Using the near miss program in con-

struction decreased recordable injuries by 300 percent.

Using vicarious experience to pro-vide educations skits increased partici-pation and fun in all-hands meetings held with more than six hundred camp staff and caterers—also decreasing their rates of injury in the field.

My “appeal to fear campaigns” al-ways include a message on how to pre-

vent the injury in order to influence that behavior change.

If you feel dirty about using the se-crets of persuasion in the same way that infomercials use them to influence your purchase decisions, you shouldn’t. Your motives should be pure in providing an effective, evidence based strategy for better communications. Sharing strate-gies from our friends in psychology and the behavioral sciences is a proven way to reach the personnel that we serve. R

Brian McKay has a post graduate degree in Public Health and is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and Certified

Industrial Hygienist (CIH). McKay is the Director of Quality, Health, Safety, and the Environment for Fairweather, LLC. Contact him at 907-270-6804 or [email protected].

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Nunivak #1—Doyon Arctic Fox rig setup.

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OIL & GAS

Ahtna, Doyon, NANA Explore Middle Earth

Frontier basins of the Interior closer to developmentBy Mike Bradner

Are the North Slope and Cook Inlet the only places where oil and gas will be discovered and produced?

There are unexplored “frontier” ba-sins in Interior and western Alaska. Will they remain unproductive? That could easily happen but for the leader-ship of Alaska Native regional corpora-tions who are staking their own money in exploration of these high-risk areas.

Three of the corporations, Doyon Limited, of Fairbanks; Ahtna, Inc. in

the Copper River region; and NANA Regional Corporation, in northwest Alaska own lands in and near large and essentially unexplored basins that could someday produce hydrocarbons for the benefit of local residents as well as out-of-state markets.

All three make no secret of the fact that they would like to have oil and gas companies as partners, and all three have had partners in their efforts—Ahtna is currently teaming with two

independent oil and gas companies. However, it is tough to find oil and gas companies who are willing to take a flyer on rank “wildcat” prospects in re-mote, high-cost areas of Alaska.

Given the reality of that, Native cor-porations have stepped in with their own money, investing in geologic and seismic and, in Doyon’s case, drilling. These are effort aimed “de-risking” prospects in these basins sufficient enough to land a partner, it is hoped.


Middle Earth BasinsDoyon and Ahtna are targeting pros-pects on state-owned lands, although both corporations also own lands that are nearby. Doyon is working on four hundred thousand acres of state oil and gas leases in the Nenana Basin about sixty miles west of Fairbanks. Ahtna is exploring on state lands west of Glen-nallen in the Copper River Basin under a state exploration license, an alterna-tive state exploration program to con-ventional leasing.

Doyon completed new seismic work in the Nenana Basin last fall, and Aht-na was expected to have completed its seismic program in late December in an area west of Glennallen.

Meanwhile, NANA is interested in exploring its own lands in the Selawik Basin near Kotzebue and is working to secure an industry partner. There are no state-owned lands in the area.

The state of Alaska is supporting these efforts through its exploration licens-ing program, where large areas of state lands can be made available to explorers under an alternative to the state’s tradi-tional oil and gas leasing program.

Doyon began its efforts in the Nenana Basin under an exploration license and then converted to conventional oil and gas leases. Ahtna is still working under an exploration license. If discoveries are made, Ahtna and its partners will convert these to conventional leases.

The state also offers special tax cred-its and incentives for frontier basin ex-ploration, regions that the state Legis-lature nicknamed “Middle Earth.” The name stuck and is now the official title of sections in state law providing for the tax incentives.

Proven PotentialIn addition to the Nenana Basin pro-gram, Doyon is also active in the Yukon Flats Basin where it and village corpo-rations in the Doyon region own large areas. Doyon controls 1.4 million acres in the region.

This basin is considered just as pro-spective as the Nenana Basin and is much larger, three times the size of the Nenana Basin in fact, and though much of it more remote than areas near Nena-na, it also has the advantage of proxim-ity to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the route of a potential future natural gas pipeline. Doyon is looking at three specific areas in the Yukon Flats. One of them, near Stevens Village on the Yukon, is very near the TAPS (Trans Alaska Pipeline System) line.

Nenana, Yukon Flats, Selawik, and the Copper River Basin aren’t the only frontier basins in Alaska by a long shot, but they are among the few that are not locked up or hemmed in by federal land conservation units formed by the Alas-ka National Interest Lands and Conser-vation Land Act, or ANILCA, passed by Congress in 1980. The national parks,

The state also offers special tax credits and incentives for

frontier basin exploration, regions that the state Legislature nicknamed

“Middle Earth.” The name stuck and is now the official

title of sections in state law providing for the tax

incentives.

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wildlife refuges, and other federal land units formed by ANILCA preclude oil and gas exploration for all practical purposes.

What is also different about the lands targeted by the three corporations is that they have proven their potential. In the case of Doyon’s programs, the presence of active petroleum systems, oil and gas, have been confirmed in the Nenana Basin by drilling and through geochemical sampling in the Yukon Flats, where Doyon has also done seis-mic work.

In the Selawik Basin there was drill-ing and seismic done in the years fol-lowing NANA’s acquiring the lands through the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and more recently NANA has reprocessed some of that seismic using new reprocessing tech-niques. That work shows the area has more potential than was previously be-lieved.

NANA has reprocessed 400 miles of older two-dimensional seismic done years ago by Chevron Corporation in the Selawik Basin using new techniques

that shows prospects that are much more inviting. Chevron and Unocal Corporation “shot” about 1,500 miles of 2D seismic in total. NANA also has ac-cess to data from two exploration wells in 1974 and 1975 by Chevron, Nimiuk No. 1 drilled to 6,311 and Cape Espe-nberg No. 1, drilled to 8,373 feet total depth. Both wells were dry.

On Ahtna’s lands, natural gas discov-eries have been made by drilling but, in the most recent case, technical problems hampered commercial development.

Gutsy DoyonThe impetus for all of these efforts has been providing fuel for local use, but if a discovery is large enough and near enough to a pipeline, as could easily hap-pen with Doyon’s prospects, these re-sources could be sold outside the region.

Doyon’s move to drill its 2013 well in the Nenana Basin, Nunivak No. 2, and to fund the drilling itself was a particu-larly gutsy move. The corporation had three partners in its first Nenana Basin well, Nunivak No. 1, drilled in 2009, but with no commercial discovery made

(often the case with an initial well) the three partners decided not to partici-pate in further work.

Doyon kept going, however. It funded additional seismic and the full cost of Nunivak No. 2.

These two wells were also the first deep tests in the basin, fully testing the potential. Two wells drilled by industry much earlier were shallow wells that were actually drilled at the southern edge of the basin and did not reach the deeper, more prospective rocks.

Again, no commercial discovery was made in Nunivak No. 2, but the results were encouraging, more so in fact, by demonstrating that oil and gas were there, possibly nearby. Excellent oil and gas source rocks, reservoir traps (struc-tures to hold oil and gas), and compe-tent “seals” (impermeable rock layers to hold oil and gas in a reservoir trap) were found in the well, but finding an actual deposit of hydrocarbons proved elusive.

Further work was commissioned, and paid for, by Doyon, including the fifty square miles of 3D seismic work completed in late 2014.


Deep Oil or Shallow GasWhy are oil and gas companies, even with generous state exploration incen-tives, so reluctant to explore in the fron-tier basins with the result that Alaskan companies, like the Native corpora-tions, have to lead the early work?

Doyon’s Senior Vice President for Lands Jim Mery says that, in fact, major oil companies spent a lot of time, and money, looking at the Alaska frontier basins from the 1960s through the early 1980s. A very early exploration well was drilled near Nulato, on the lower Yukon River, and Louisiana Land & Explora-tion Company drilled three wells in the Kandik Basin in the eastern Interior where a sedimentary basin overlaps the Canada border and extends into Yukon Territory. ARCO Alaska was also very interested in the Kandik.

ARCO and Unocal also drilled two early wells in the Nenana Basin, and Chevron drilled two wells in northwest Alaska near Kotzebue.

All of these were unsuccessful, such that the companies did not continue the exploration. However, it was a dif-ferent era for the industry and the tools

that were used, the seismic for example, were not as well developed as explora-tion tools now available.

Those companies’ primary targets were also oil, because a market for any gas discovered was not available at the time. Today the regional corporations have local markets for any gas that is dis-covered. The hope is that gas discoveries could help reduce high local energy costs.

However, the industry’s initial drill-ing, at least where some of the early wells

were drilled, also seemed to indicate that the sedimentary rock layers were shal-low, creating geologic conditions more prone to the formation of gas than oil.

State and federal geologists generally concurred in this conclusion, although later work by the US Geological Survey in the Nenana Basin and Yukon Flats Basin helped Doyon in its own reassess-ment of those regions.

There were other disincentives for industry, however, such as the locking

Arctic Fox rig sub-base on Nenana River barge.

Phot

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Mike Bradner is publisher of the Alaska Legislative Digest.

lands, but the corporation is also in the oil service business through subsid-iaries, including drilling and pipeline contractors. Creating new markets for Doyon companies is a motivation, the corporation has said.

Athna and NANA, which are also ex-ploring, are also landowners and have industry-service subsidiaries share-holders living near places they are look-ing for oil and gas.

What is also important is that the new exploration technology now being employed by all three corporations is demonstrating potential that was not apparent to companies exploring ear-lier. Doyon’s demonstration that the big Interior sedimentary basins are much deeper than believed earlier and that oil is present as well as gas is a total shift from what was believed earlier by both industry and government geologists.

There is also infrastructure available now in at least the Interior and Copper River basins. The Parks Highway, the Alaska Railroad, and a major electric transmission line go through Nenana just a few miles from Doyon’s targets.

Some prospects in the Yukon Flats are near the TAPS pipeline and a pos-sible future gas line.

Ahtna’s prospects are just off the Glenn Highway and not distant from Glennallen, where there is a regional electric utility and a local market for gas.

Like Doyon in the Nenana and Yu-kon Flats basins, NANA has found the Selawik basin deeper than previously thought, which improves it as a pros-pect, but the region is still remote and lacking infrastructure. However, there are also customers in the region, such as Kotzebue itself and the Red Dog Mine, a large mining operation which requires a lot of energy to support min-ing operations. R

Normally, smaller independent companies move in as large companies move on, and this indeed happened in Cook Inlet

and now the North Slope. But the frontier basins, being remote, high-cost, and virtually unexplored (but with the belief that they

were gas-prone), kept even the independents at bay.

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up of significant areas of the state in national land conservation units, like parks and refuges.

Shifting ProspectsHowever, there were further discour-agements in attracting industry to the area, such as the oil price crashes in 1986 and again in the late 1990s that caused the industry to change its busi-ness models. Big companies like Exx-onMobil, BP, and Chevron shifted their exploration focus to regions with really big prospects.

Normally, smaller independent com-panies move in as large companies move on, and this indeed happened in Cook Inlet and now the North Slope. But the frontier basins, being remote, high-cost, and virtually unexplored (but with the belief that they were gas-prone), kept even the independents at bay.

If anything was to happen local land-owners, Alaska Native corporations, had to initiate things, which they have done.

When Doyon began later taking its own look at the Nenana Basin and subsequently in the Yukon Flats with the help of the US Geological Survey,

it found the sedimentary rocks to be much deeper than previously thought.

This pointed to the possibility that the basins might be deep enough, with pressure and temperatures high enough, that oil might be formed. Sub-sequent work, including the Nenana Basin drilling, has shown this to be correct.

The Alaska Native corporations are motivated somewhat differently than oil and gas companies. As Doyon has explained it, Interior Alaska is where many of Doyon’s shareholders live, and the prospect of proving local jobs and local sources of energy were goals that are different than would motivate con-ventional petroleum companies.

Doyon owns land in the Interior, although it is initially exploring state


Simply Voice & DataTELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

Telecoms make it easy for businessesBy Russ Slaten

Alaska is dubbed the Last Fron-tier, but as industry and govern-ment have discovered the state’s

value through it resources, location, and people, more attention continues to be put toward building its infrastructure. The one industry continually connect-ing Alaskans, shortening the distance between the mountains, lakes, and ice, is the telecommunications industry.

In only the last three years, AT&T has invested $200 million to bring fast, reli-able internet and tools for Alaska busi-nesses. GCI says it will have spent about $200 million in 2014 alone to bring Alaskans the most reliable network in the state. Verizon opened its first retail stores in September and has invested $115 million since 2011 and is continu-ing its build out in the next few years.

Each telecommunications company has the same end goal for industry in the state: to make it easy to do business in Alaska.

AT&TAT&T’s premier voice and data plan for Alaska is the AT&T Mobile Share Value plan, says AT&T Alaska Business Sales Manager Amy Merchant. Com-panies using the Mobile Share plan can connect up to one hundred devices from smartphones to basic messaging phones, laptops, mobile hotspot de-vices, tablets, cameras, and many other devices with wireless connectivity.

“At AT&T, we are always looking for ways to measurably impact our custom-ers’ business. We look for opportunities within their business to drive revenue, control expenses, and increase productiv-ity and efficiency, making AT&T the ideal partner for local business,” Merchant says.

Plans are meant to fit business needs ranging from 300MB per month for $20 up to 50GB for $375 per month.

And like all Mobile Share plans, Mer-chant says, customers enjoy unlimited talk and text on the nation’s most reli-able 4G LTE network, unlimited inter-national texting outside of the United States, and 50GB of free cloud storage.

“In just three years, we’ve invested $200 million on the things our customers tell us they want. AT&T has been a mem-ber of the Alaska community for more than twenty years and invested millions of dollars to deliver a finely-tuned state-wide network, must-have devices, and great customer service,” Merchant says.

GCIGCI continues to expand its network throughout Alaska, while keeping it simple.

“GCI Business Simplified has been our mantra for years. It’s about sim-plifying our customers’ decision pro-cess by asking and answering a few questions about how they use their voice and/or data and then designing a streamlined product catalog to match,” says GCI Director of Commercial Mar-keting Rochelle Marshall.

To begin by covering a company’s wireless needs, GCI offers its Simply Share plans starting at $19.99 for 0.5GB and scaling up to 450GB of data with unlimited Alaska or nationwide voice and the ability to connect as many de-vices as necessary.

New to GCI’s offerings is the r:series business broadband plans, giving GCI a distinct advantage in being capable of connecting its customers beyond wireless.

Plans range from 10 megabits per second (Mbps) for the r:10 plan, rise to 50Mbps through the r:50 offering, and 100Mbps under r:100. Markets include Anchorage (Girdwood to Eagle River), Mat-Su, Fair-banks, North Pole, Homer, Kenai, Sol-dotna, Juneau, Kodiak, and Prudhoe Bay.

Recently publicized was GCI’s re:D broad-band for business service, currently offer-ing 250Mbps, the fastest speed in the state. By the end of 2015, customers on re:D in Anchorage will have their speed increased to 1GB at no additional cost. Fairbanks and Juneau will follow with additional markets being evaluated.

“Unequivocally, the GCI network makes us stand apart. Our investment in Alaska’s communications infra-structure is our top priority. In 2014 alone we spent about $200 million dol-lars,” Marshall says.

GCI has the largest voice and mes-saging coverage in Alaska, reaching all throughout the Railbelt, much of the Southeast, and including parts of West-ern rural Alaska and the North Slope.

And to wrap up the savings, GCI of-fers business bundles through Business Flex. This gives companies the flex-ibility to choose only two of a complete suite of business products and receive up to 30 percent off their monthly bill.

MTAMatanuska Telephone Association (MTA) holds a sixty year history in Alaska as locally-owned and operated telecommunications company servicing Southcentral Alaska from Eagle River to nearly 250 miles north of Wasilla.

MTA’s premier plans come in the form of an advanced Voice Over IP hosted telephone service and a robust “fiber extreme” internet offering with 75Mbps download speed and 25Mbps upload speed along with unlimited data usage under a term agreement, says MTA Busi-ness Sales Manager, Micah Weinstein.

“MTA is a local communications company that takes pride in its net-work, employees, and reputation. We are focused on providing a superior product to our customers while deliv-

Simply Voice & Data

ering superior, friendly, and conscien-tious local customer service, technical support, and repair,” Weinstein says.

Weinstein says the perks in choosing MTA’s unlimited gig usage (when pur-chased on a term agreement) is a worry-free internet product, and using a web hosting package allows businesses to cus-tomize internet services to fit their needs.

VerizonAfter launching in September, Verizon began offering the same nationwide business solutions in Alaska at the same rates. Some of the voice and data plans that fit Alaska businesses are the MORE Everything Plan for Small Business, which connects up to one hundred de-vices, or the Nationwide for Businesses plan that connects companies with ser-vices for more than one hundred devices.

The MORE Everything Plan gives customers unlimited talk and text, sharable data, personal hotspot, inter-national messaging, 25GB of cloud stor-age, and access to one of the nation’s farthest reaching 4G LTE networks, though most of its coverage is in the

Lower 48, according to Demian Voiles, Verizon, Alaska vice president for sales and operations.

Verizon offers two types of coverage, 3G and 4G LTE.

“We were the pioneers of 4G LTE starting in 2010. We have the largest LTE footprint in Alaska and nationwide. And within that 4G LTE footprint we also of-fer HD voice and video calling known as ‘Advanced Calling,’” Voiles says.

Advanced Calling is integrated high-definition voice and video that allows Verizon customers to hear the clarity of HD voice and easily switch to video calling without a Wi-Fi connection. Anchorage houses one of the most advanced switching networks in the nation, used to process data and Ad-vanced Calling, Voiles says. The com-mand center resembles an air traffic control tower at a major US airport, in contrast to many of the aging switch fa-cilities that exist in Alaska.

“At Verizon the network is built for re-liability through redundancy. Verizon’s investment over the past few years has included a lot of behind-the-scenes tech-

nology work to meet the highest possible standards. Network facilities are built with power outages, windstorms, and blizzards in mind,” Voiles says.

Verizon’s Advanced Calling capa-bilities reaches the Anchorage bowl, the Mat-Su Valley, sections along the high-way towards Talkeetna, Fairbanks and North Pole, Juneau, Valdez, and Cordo-va, with Ketchikan set to be connected to 4G LTE in 2015.

Alaska businesses have many deci-sions to make, but with the shared, ongoing goal for telecommunications companies to streamline services, Alaskans will continue to have a choice in connecting with a provider that fits their needs. R

Market Squares For Information About Advertising in Market Squares Call (907) 276-4373 or Toll Free (800) 770-4373


Russ Slaten is the Associate Editor at Alaska Business Monthly.

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Elliott Bay Design GroupElliott Bay Design Group announced the hire of Jeff Kelton as its Field Liaison Engineer in Ketchikan. Kelton is a naval architect with more than thirty-eight years of industry expe-rience. His vast experience includes project man-agement, shipyard liaison engineering, structural engineering and design, environmental engineering, and waterborne transpor-tation planning. He holds a BS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan.

KeyBankLisa Gentry joined KeyBank in Fairbanks as a business b a n k i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p manager and vice pres-ident. In her new role, she is responsible for business development and customer service delivery in Fairbanks. Gentry has more than fifteen years of financial service and sales management expe-rience. She is a graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Leadership Fairbanks graduate.

Builders ChoiceBuilders Choice welcomed Charles Benshetler as the Business Development Manager at their Anchorage Headquarters. He will also be work ing wi th thei r Vermillion, South Dakota facility. Benshetler began his professional career in Houston, Texas, in 1989 serving in various roles for PVF suppliers in the oilpatch. The last eleven years were spent in Alaska with Ferguson, Inc. as the Sales Manager serving the oil and gas, mining, EPC, and general/mechanical contractor community.

Golder Associates, Inc.Golder Associates, Inc. Anchorage office welcomes new hires Chasen Cunitz, Jessa Karp, and Nick Moran.

Cunitz is a project coordinator. Prior to joining Golder, Cunitz performed business and legal consul-

tations for small to midsize businesses, specializing in insurance and risk evaluations, contract review, pro-posal writing, environmental permitting, and process auditing.

Karp is an entry level engineering geologist. She graduated in June of 2014 from Western Washington University with a Bachelor’s in Geology with a con-centration in Environmental/Engineering Geology.

Moran is a staff geotechnical engineer. Prior to joining Golder, Moran performed field and project support for geotechnical studies and prepared geotechnical recom-mendations for roads and airports, and has worked in the geotechnical engineering field since May 2011.

LyndenLynden Transport Driver John Schank was rec-ognized for thirty-seven years of accident-free driving over one of the most treacherous roads in America, the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. Schank began driving for Lynden Transport in 1975, deliv-ering essential supplies and materials for the Alaska pipeline construction. He has the highest number of miles on the Dalton Highway of any driver in history.

McCool Carlson Green

Associate Architect Scott Brodt has been promoted to Senior Associate in rec-ognition of his strong lead-ership in the studio and in the field. In sixteen years with the firm, Brodt has guided the completion of some of MCG’s most suc-cessful projects.

A rc h i te c t s G a r r e t t Burtner and Jason Gamache

have both been promoted to Associate Architect.Burtner has been with MCG for nine years, and his

passion for design is integrated into his life through his artwork, architectural design, and his personal projects.

Gamache has been with MCG for six years and is a leading sustainability expert who has managed the LEED Certification process for six buildings throughout Alaska.

Alaska Energy AuthorityGene Therriault, deputy director for energy policy at the Alaska Energy Authority, has been elected as vice-chair of the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) board of directors. In his role as vice chair, Therriault will continue to focus and inform six US Territory and fifty state energy offices as they interact with the federal government on energy matters.

R&M Consultants, Inc.

Holly Weiss-Racine, CPG, has earned her Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) certification. She is an Environmental Specialist in R&M’s Environmental and Planning Group. Weiss-Racine has more than eight years of experience in providing environmental and geological services. She possesses a strong knowledge of environmental standards and regulatory agency permitting and compliance.

Taryn Oleson joined R&M’s Environmental and Planning Group in the Anchorage office as a Planner in August 2014. Oleson is responsible for research and data compilation on transportation projects and comprehensive plans; assisting with public and agency meetings; communicating with project stakeholders; and reviewing, evaluating, and summarizing adopted plans and policies.

Hope Community Resources, Inc.Hope Community Resources announced the pro-motion of Michael Bailey to Chief Financial Officer. Bailey has more than fifteen years of experience in finance, management, and disability services. Prior to becoming CFO, Bailey spent three years providing direct support as a Care Coordinator before he was

RIGHT MOVES Compiled by Russ Slaten


Burtner

Oleson

Brodt

Weiss-Racine

Gamache

Kelton

Schank

Gentry

Benshetler

OHMY!SLED DOGS & SOFAS & MILK

WE’RE OFF TO RURAL ALASKA

tapped to lead Hope’s billing department. In 2009 he was promoted to Controller.

CRW EngineeringCRW Engineering Group, LLC announced that Matt Edge, PE, earned his Professional Traffic Operations Engineer, or PTOE, certification. Edge has a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Environmental Quality Engineering from the University of Anchorage Alaska, with professional licenses in both Civil and an Environmental Engineering.

Bering Straits Native CorporationB e r i n g S t r a i t s N a t i ve Corporation announced the promotion of share-holder Larry Pederson to Vice President of Lands and Natural Resources. In his new role, Pederson is responsible for establishing and main-taining goals and objec-tives for the development of BSNC’s mineral and land resources. Pederson earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. He joined Bering Straits with more than eight years of experience in environmental contracting and management.

Carlile

Greg Kessler joined Carlile as the Alaska vice president of sales. His primary responsibility will be managing and planning for the Alaska sales team out of the Anchorage office. Kessler has more than fifteen years’ experience in the transportation industry and holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from St. John’s University and an MBA with a Finance concentration from UAA.

Joe Fey joined Carlile as an account manager in the Heavy Haul Department in Anchorage. Fey has been with Carlile for seventeen years and has worked in a variety of positions in Kenai, Seward, Kodiak, and Anchorage. Fey has specialized in construction and petroleum projects while working for the commercial side of the sales team.

First National Bank Alaska

S e c o n d a r y M o r t g a g e Market Officer Tina Lynch was appointed Assistant Vice President. Originally from Kansas, Lynch has more than fifteen years’ experience in the financial industry.

Kippy Mena was pro-moted to Branch Manager and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the

new U-Med Branch. She has worked for the bank for twenty-three years.

Assistant Vice President Vicki Myers was promoted to Anchorage Branch Administrator. Myers has thirteen years of experience in bank management and twenty-five years in customer service.

Moving from the Fairbanks Johansen Branch to the Interior City Branch, Jutta Pence was promoted to Branch Manager and has been employed at First National for ten years.

Mary Roser was promoted to Operat ions Supervisor at the Johansen Branch, working for First National for almost a decade.

Assistant Vice President Jennifer Snodgrass recently joined First National as Consumer Underwriting Manager.

After working in Cash Management as a Business Development Officer, Loan Officer Matt Thon is headed back to the Dimond Branch where he first started as a Personal Banker in 2012.

CIRI Alaska Tourism

Dawn Venters has joined CIRI Alaska Tourism as sa les manager for the marine division, repre-senting Kenai Fjords Tours and Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge in the Alaska tourism markets. Venters brings more than eighteen years of Alaska tourism industry experience to the company.

Cameron Morrison was hired as CIRI Alaska Tourism’s lead reservations agent for the Anchorage call center and Alaska Heritage Tours office. Morrison worked as a seasonal reserva-tions agent in 2014 and brings to the company years of supervisory retail experience.

Dan McDonald has rejoined CIRI Alaska Tourism as Revenue Control Supervisor in the Anchorage office. McDonald has twenty years of history with the company, most recently as the Director of Marine Operations. R

RIGHT MOVES Compiled by Russ Slaten


Snodgrass

Mena

Morrison

Fey

Roser

Lynch

Myers

Venters

Kessler

Thon

Pence

McDonald

Edge

Pederson

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INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS Compiled by Russ Slaten


USI Insurance ServicesUSI Insurance Services closed the ac-

quisition of Anchorage-based em-ployee benefits practice Wallace Insur-ance, Inc./Scott Insurance Services and all of its employees joined USI’s Anchor-age office. By acquiring Wallace/Scott, USI’s footprint in the Northwest has been further extended and strengthens USI’s vision of becoming the nation’s number one brand in the middle-market insur-ance brokerage industry. Wallace/Scott has been managing the Alaska Public Em-ployee Insurance Group since 2013. USI is headquartered in Valhalla, New York.

Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union

Denali Alaskan signed an agreement with CO-OP Financial Services to of-

fer more than thirty thousand surcharge free ATMs to its members. This partner-ship adds to more than forty-five Denali Alaskan ATMs in Alaska as well as con-venient account access via internet, phone, and mobile app. In addition, Denali Alas-kan members have access to their accounts at more than 6,500 shared branches across the nation. CO-OP Financial Services is based in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union also joined forces with Vantiv to offer merchant services. Vantiv, a leading pro-vider of payment processing services and related technology, will help Denali Alas-kan provide the next generation of pay-ment solutions to businesses throughout Alaska. Denali Alaskan’s relationship with Vantiv will allow Denali Alaskan to provide the latest payment solutions and related technology to member busi-

nesses. Denali Alaskan has offered busi-ness lending to local businesses for more than eleven years; the new department fills out the business services suite so lo-cal firms and organizations may find all the services they need under one roof.

Emerald Alaska, LLCEmerald Alaska, LLC, a leading Alas-

ka environmental services com-pany, was acquired by Great River, New York-based National Response Corpo-ration from Emerald Services, Inc. of Seattle, Washington, in November.

Emerald Alaska has been one of Alas-ka’s top providers of environmental and emergency response solutions to the oil and gas industry for eleven years. Head-quartered in Anchorage, with seven permitted facilities strategically located throughout the state, Emerald Alaska employs more than one hundred people and will continue to operate under its name, Emerald Alaska, LLC.

GeoNorthGeoNorth, an Alaskan-based geo-

spatial and information technology solutions provider headquartered in An-chorage and a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Native Corporation the Tati-tlek Corporation, was awarded a new In-formation Technology Support Services contract by the Denali Commission.

GeoNorth is charged with collabora-tive efforts with Denali Commission office management for the planning, scheduling, and implementation of various IT projects from inception to roll out, planning and installing new servers, inventorying all hardware and software (and properly dis-posing of excess government IT property),

and maintaining all systems in accordance with Federal Information Management Security Act of 2002 requirements.

Merrick AlaskaMerrick & Company, a global geospa-

tial solutions, surveying, engineer-ing, architecture, and design-build firm, opened a full-service, multi-disciplinary regional division office in Anchorage in the Calais Office Center I at 3201 C Street. Merrick Alaska offers an experienced and highly-skilled, Alaska-based staff that understands the unique climate, ge-ography, and culture that Alaska offers, with a core team based in Anchorage and additional personnel in Fairbanks, Val-dez, and other client facilities.

CES Oil Services Pte. Ltd.The Alaska Industrial Development

and Export Authority (AIDEA) com-pleted deal structuring with CES Oil Ser-vices Pte. Ltd. to jointly finance and own an oil and gas production and processing facility at the Mustang Field on Alaska’s North Slope. AIDEA and CES will own the facility through Mustang Operations Center #1 LLC. Brooks Range Petroleum Corporation will build and operate the facility, which will cost between $200 million and $225 million. AIDEA will invest up to $50 million and previously invested $20 million for the construction of the Mustang road and pad.

Mustang Operation Center #1 will process up to fifteen thousand barrels of crude oil per day from the Southern Miluveach Unit (known as the Mustang Field) and transport produced crude to the Trans Alaska Pipeline System via the Alpine and Kuparuk oil pipelines,

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and will produce 7.5 million cubic feet per day of gas for fuel and reinjection. The facility will also have 10 megawatts of electrical production as well as an op-erations camp and personnel quarters.

AIDEA’s overall $70 million invest-ment in the Mustang Development Pro-gram is estimated to leverage more than $500 million in private investment. The facility is expected to be flowing oil into TAPS in the first quarter of 2016.

ConocoPhillips AlaskaConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. an-

nounced in October that the Kupa-ruk field expansion project Drill Site 2S has been sanctioned for funding by Con-ocoPhillips and the Kuparuk co-owners. Plans for construction will move forward. This is the first new drill site at Kuparuk in nearly twelve years, and it is expected to add about eight thousand barrels of oil per day gross at peak production.

The approximately $500 million (gross) Drill Site 2S project includes a new gravel road and a new drill site, power lines, pipelines, and other new surface facilities. ConocoPhillips began laying gravel for the project in the first quarter of 2014 in order to initiate facility construction in late 2014. Drilling is slated to begin in mid-2015, with first oil expected in late 2015.

In addition to Drill Site 2S and increased rig levels, since the passage of Senate Bill 21, the More Alaska Production Act, ConocoPhillips has also announced plans to pursue two other new projects on the North Slope. Permits for Greater Mooses Tooth #1 in the National Petroleum Re-serve-Alaska were filed in July 2013. Plans for viscous oil development at Drill Site 1H North East West Sak in the Kuparuk Unit were announced in February 2014. Other

Kuparuk owners include BP Exploration, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.

Valley Family Fun CenterThe Alaska Industrial Development

and Export Authority Board ap-proved a $5.4 million loan, to John C. Schweiger Loving Trust and John C. Schweiger, for 90 percent of a $6 mil-lion loan brought by Northrim Bank, which originated the loan and is par-ticipating with $600,000. The purpose of this loan is for long-term financing for Valley Family Fun Center, a pro-posed 58,333-square-foot facility locat-ed at 1450 Seward Meridian Parkway in Wasilla. The project is expected to cre-ate thirty-five to fifty new jobs.

Matson, Inc.Matson, Inc. and Horizon Lines, Inc.

entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Matson will acquire the stock of Horizon, includ-ing its Alaska operations and the assump-tion of all non-Hawaii business liabilities. Separately, Horizon also announced that it has agreed to sell its Hawaii operations to the Pasha Group for $141.5 million and intended to shut down its Puerto Rico liner operations by the end of 2014.

Under the terms of the Horizon trans-action, Matson will acquire Horizon for $0.72 per fully diluted common share, or $69.2 million, plus the repayment of debt outstanding at closing. The total value for the transaction is $456.1 mil-lion (before transaction costs).

Matson will fund the Horizon trans-action from cash on hand and available borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to

close in 2015 after the completion of Horizon’s sale of its Hawaii operations, Horizon’s shareholder approval, and other customary closing conditions.

Kenai Offshore Ventures, LLC

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) agreed to

sell its ownership stake in the Endeavour, Spirit of Independence jack-up drilling rig owned by Kenai Offshore Ventures, LLC (KOV), in which AIDEA invested with partners Ezion Holdings Limited and Teras Investments Pte, Ltd., an Ezion sub-sidiary, to acquire and own the rig. AIDEA is the preferred owner of KOV; Ezion and Teras are the common owners.

AIDEA was approached by KOV common owners with a request to ex-ercise their rights to purchase AIDEA’s ownership stake in KOV under provi-sions of the KOV Operating Agreement. KOV is repurchasing AIDEA’s preferred shares, leaving the common members as sole owners of KOV.

Pending final AIDEA approval of the sale of its preferred ownership in the En-deavour, the rig will leave Cook Inlet on a heavy lift vessel for transport to South Africa for use in offshore exploration.

LifeMed AlaskaLifeMed Alaska launched medevac

jet service from its Fairbanks base and now has the resources to respond quickly and efficiently to medical emer-gencies on the North Slope and Western Alaska from Fairbanks.

LifeMed relocated a Learjet 35 from Anchorage to provide expedient re-

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sponse to a broader area of Alaska. The company’s Fairbanks-based King Air turbo prop will remain in service to re-spond to surrounding villages.

As an added advantage, long-range medevac flights from Fairbanks to Seattle are now possible for the company. Eight experienced medical flight crew members were hired to staff the Fairbanks-based Learjet with around-the-clock coverage.

A Learjet and King Air will remain based in Anchorage, along with a Cess-na Caravan in Bethel and AStar heli-copters in both Palmer and Soldotna.

ConocoPhillips AlaskaConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. signed a

contract with Nabors Alaska Drilling to build a new coiled-tubing drilling (CTD) rig for use in the ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River Unit on Alaska’s North Slope. The new Nabors CDR3 CTD rig is scheduled to begin drilling in late 2016.

CTD is a leading edge technology that utilizes spools of continuous tub-ing to re-enter existing wells and then drill multiple horizontal laterals from a central wellbore. CTD has proven suc-cessful in producing oil resources that might otherwise be left in the ground.

State of AlaskaThe State of Alaska received $59.7

million in high bids for its an-nual Northern Alaska oil and gas lease sales in November—the third highest amount received in state history.

Competition was high among bid-ders—seven lease tracts received a bid of $1 million or higher and a total of fif-ty-six tracts attracted competition from multiple companies. The two highest

winning bids, both for $2,538 per acre and submitted by 70 & 148 LLC, netted a combined $13 million for the state.

Based on preliminary results, the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas received a total of 356 bids from twelve different bidding groups on 298 tracts encom-passing approximately 641,696 acres.

The Arc of AnchorageThe Commission on Accreditation

of Rehabilitation Facilities Interna-tional (CARF) accredited the Arc of An-chorage for a period of three years for its Community Integration: Integrated De-velopmental Disability/Mental Health programs (Behavioral Health Services). This is the first accreditation that CARF has awarded to the Arc of Anchorage.

The Arc helps Alaskans who experi-ence intellectual and developmental dis-abilities. Some of the individuals served may also experience a mental illness. The Arc strives to help these Alaskans achieve lives of dignity and independence as val-ued members of the community.

An organization receiving a CARF Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process. It has demonstrated to a team of sur-veyors during an on-site visit its com-mitment to offering programs and ser-vices that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

Hageland Aviation Hageland Aviation, the rural air carrier

in the Ravn Air Group, was awarded a Medallion Foundation Star for Operation-al Control in November. The Operational Control program is meant to establish an effective flight operations management

system that considers all hazards and as-sociated risks. It also requires shared de-cision-making for dispatching all flights with appropriate management involve-ment as risk levels increase.

This star is the next step in Hageland Aviation’s increased safety procedures. Hageland is proactively working to-ward a five-star rating and the award of the Medallion Safety Shield in the Medallion Foundation safety program. The Medallion Shield program require-ments exceed current FAA regulations. In order to achieve this goal, Hageland Aviation expanded its operational con-trol center in Palmer.

GCIWellAware, the oil and gas indus-

try’s only full stack solution for oilfield monitoring and optimization, announced it has entered a strategic partnership with GCI, the top provider of voice, data, and video services in Alaska. This new partnership will be managed by GCI Industrial Telecom, a division of GCI, and will increase its al-ready dominate presence in the Alaska energy sector. WellAware will give oil and gas field operators in the region access to the industry’s most advanced analytics solution.

GCI Industrial Telecom brings full lifecycle support to clients and dispatch-es to their projects from offices in Dead-horse, Anchorage, and Houston, Texas.

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January

n Meet AlaskaJanuary 8-9—Dena’ina Center, Anchor-age: Hosted by the Alliance, this annual energy conference includes educational forums and a tradeshow. alaskaalliance.com

n Alaska Marine Science SymposiumJanuary 19, 2015—Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: Scientists, researchers, and stu-dents from Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond come to communicate research activities in the marine regions off Alaska. alaskamarinescience.org

n Alaska RTI ConferenceJanuary 23-25—Dena’ina Center, Anchor-age: Featured presenters include Doug Fisher, Austin Buffum, Anita Archer, Tricia McKale Skyles, Catlin Tucker, Lexie Domaradzki and Gary Whiteley. The small and rural schools preconference will take place on Friday, January 23. asdn.org/2015-alaska-rti-conference/

n Anchorage AEYC Early Childhood ConferenceJanuary 28-31—Hilton Anchorage, Anchor-age: “Reaching Potential Together: Join in the Journey.” Join other early childhood com-munity members to learn new strategies, hear about the latest research, try out a few practical techniques, and discover new tools and resources to help face any challenge. anchorageaeyc.org

n Alaska Peony Growers Association Winter ConferenceJanuary 29-31—Westmark Hotel, Fairbanks: The Alaska Peony Growers Association is a membership organization comprised of commercial peony growers as well as those interested in the emerging peony industry in Alaska. alaskapeonies.org

n Junior Achievement’s Alaska Business Hall of FameJanuary 30—Dena’ina Center, Anchor-age: Junior Achievement of Alaska is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.juniorachievement.org

February

n Alaska Forum on the EnvironmentFebruary 9-13, 2014—Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: The Alaska Forum on the Environment is Alaska’s largest statewide gathering of environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit and for-profit businesses, community leaders, Alaskan youth, conservationists, biolo-gists, and community elders. akforum.com

n ASTE Annual ConferenceFebruary 21-24—Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: This is the educational tech-nology conference of the Alaska Society for Technology in Education. This years’ them is “Game On! Games in Education; Game Based Learning; Gamification.” aste.org

March

n Sustainable Agriculture ConferenceMarch 3-5—Fairbanks: Held every year in Fairbanks, this conference brings together farmers, ranchers, researchers, extension agents, and members of the agriculture support industry to find wyas to improve the agriculture industry in Alaska. uaf.edu/ces/ah/sare/conference/

n Alaska Anthropological Association Annual MeetingMarch 4-7—Hilton Anchorage, Anchor-age: The annual meeting includes work-shops, an evening reception for informa-tion and registration, paper presentations, and an awards banquet, business meeting, and the Belzoni meeting. alaskaanthropology.org

n Alaska Native Studies ConferenceMarch 6-8—University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks: This year’s theme is “Troth Yeddha’ Roots: Connecting The Place With The People.” alaskanativestudies.org/

n Alaska Tribal Transportation SymposiumMarch 30-April 3—Fairbanks: The annual symposium is designed for tribal leaders, managers, and administrators and transportation staff; transportation and infrastructure professionals; federal and state representatives; and all those seeking to learn more about tribal transportation and transportation challenges in remote Alaska communities. attwg.org

April

n AOPA Crime ConferenceApril 20-24—Anchorage Sheraton Hotel & Spa, Anchorage: Hosted by the Anchor-age chapter of the APOA, or Alaska Peace Officers Association. apoaonline.org

n AFCCA Annual Child Care ConferenceApril 24-25—BP Energy Center, Anchor-age: The theme of the Alaska Family Child Care Association’s 2015 conference is “For the Love of Kids.” alaskafcca.org

n NEA Alaska Spring ConferenceApril 24-26—NEA Alaska, an affiliate of the National Education Association, is an organization with over twelve thousand members who work in Alaska’s public schools. neaalaska.org

May

n AWWMA Annual ConferenceMay 4-7—Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: The Alaska Water Wastewater Manage-ment Association is dedicated to the stewardship of the environment and the protection of public health. awwma.org

n APCOM 2015May 23-27—Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center, Fairbanks: This

is the international symposium for the Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry. apcom2015.org

June

n Animal Behavior Society Annual ConferenceJune 10-14—Anchorage: The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior in the broadest sense, including studies using descriptive and experimental methods under natural and controlled conditions. animalbehaviorsociety.org

n Southcentral Foundation 2015 Nuka System of Care ConferenceJune 15-19—Anchorage: The conference describes the entire healthcare system created, managed, and owned by Alaska Native people to achieve physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness. It includes a pre-conference workshop for building effective relationships, general workshops and break-out sessions, eve-ning networking, and a cultural reception. southcentralfoundation.com

n International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and MicrosystemsJune 21-25—Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: The world’s premiere conference in MEMS sensors, actuators and integrated micro and nano systems. transducers2015.org

July

n Rocky Mountain Mineral Law InstituteJuly 16-18—Dena’ina Center, Anchor-age: The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF) is a collaborative educational non-profit organization dedicated to the scholarly and practical study of the law and regulations relating to mining, oil and gas, water, public lands, energy, environmental protection, and other related areas. rmmlf.org

n Alaska Snow SymposiumJuly 23—Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: A one-day trade show for the snow and ice management industry brought to Alaska by the Snowfighters Institute. This year’s conference will include special educational conferences targeting snow contractors, property managers, and municipalities and “Lunch and Learn,” round table discussions facilitated by sponsors and industry leaders during a buffet lunch. alaskasnowsymposium.com

n Annual Strategic Lending ConferenceJuly 23-26—Anchorage: One of the CU Conferences, which educates the Credit Union Community, this conference pro-vides information such as generating loans across all age groups and what types of loans can increase earnings. cuconferences.com

AGENDA Compiled by Tasha Anderson



By Tasha Anderson

DINING

Meier’s Lake Roadhouse

ALASKA THIS MONTH

Located at Mile 170 on the Richardson Highway, fifty-five miles north of Glennallen and sixteen miles south of Paxson, Meiers Lake Roadhouse was built in 1906

by Charles Meiers, who had originally worked as a cook for Alvin Paxson at the Timberline Roadhouse at Mile 192. Ac-cording to its website, Meier eventually tired of that arrange-ment and went a few miles down the way to build his own roadhouse on a lake. Today it is owned by Harvel Young.

The restaurant is open year-round, according the cook, Wi-ley Koyoti. “The food is pretty basic—open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. [We have] a variety of burgers with anything you want on them,” he says. We’re not what they’d call fine dining, with candlelight and high dollar wine, but we’ll fill you up.”

Most of the patrons of Meier’s Lake Roadhouse aren’t there for a delicate meal, but to re-fuel on the way to hunt, snow-machine, or other Alaska recreational activities. Koyoti says their busiest time of year is understandably in the summer, but “we do have a few events in the winter,” that can fill the roadhouse. In the first week of January, a dog sled race begins and ends at the roadhouse, Koyoti says, and “in the second weekend in January we’re the halfway stop on the Copper Ba-sin 300. Both are qualifiers for the Yukon Quest and Iditarod.”

For those who need a place to stop, Meiers Lake Roadhouse is the right food in the right location.

“We’re the only place open between Glennallen and Delta, so it’s one hundred miles to the next place north and sixty miles to the next place south,” Koyoti says. The roadhouse is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the winter season.

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Typical meal at the Roadhouse, pictured at left.


By Tasha Anderson

TRAVEL

Peninsula Winter Games

ALASKA THIS MONTH

Join the fun on Saturday, January 31 at the Soldotna Re-gional Sports Complex during the annual Peninsula Winter Games. Initiated by Al York, a member of the Sol-

dotna Lions Club, in 1976, the event was intended to provide children with an opportunity to enjoy sports, games, and kid oriented events during the winter season.

“After [York] passed away, many people picked up the torch to help keep the games alive… thanks to tremendous community support, the games have continued to grow each year,” says Tami Murray, the visitor center coordinator for the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center.

Leading up to the main event, the Native Youth Olympics take place at Kenai Middle School January 23-25, which includes games such as the scissor broad jump, one-hand reach, seal hop, two-foot high kick, arm pull, toe kick, Es-kimo stick pull, wrist carry, and Alaskan high kick.

In the week before the games there is an ice carving ex-hibition featuring works by local artists. “Local businesses sponsor a sculpture and all the proceeds go to the Peninsula Winter Games, helping to fund all of the free games, food, and activities,” Murray says.

January 31 events include a hockey tournament, a Monop-oly tournament, ice bowling, kid sled races, snow machine rides, an archery lane, face painting, a bouncy house, cookie icing, building birdhouses, scavenger hunts, and a giant ice slide. The sports complex will be busiest at noon: “We have a free lunch for everyone; over one thousand corndogs will be served,” Murray says. “Then, to top off the day, we have a fantastic fireworks display.”

Murray says that it’s the partnership between the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce Community Partners and local busi-nesses that makes it possible to “turn what might otherwise be another long winter day into a winter carnival for all to enjoy.”

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Kids enjoying Winter Games.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Let’s Murder Marsha

ALASKA THIS MONTH

Valley Performing Arts, located at 251 West Swanson in Wasilla, is excited to present “Let’s Murder

Marsha,” a comedy of misunder-standing written by Monk Ferris.

Gary Forrester, executive di-rector of Valley Performing Arts, summarizes the plot: “A happy housewife named Marsha, hope-lessly addicted to reading murder mysteries, overhears her husband discussing her upcoming birthday surprise with an interior decorator. To her ears, though, it sounds like they are planning to murder her! With the assistance of her next door neighbor she tries to turn the tables on them with a poisoned potion. When her own mother shows up for her birthday a day early, Marsha thinks she is in on the diabolical scheme. When her maid’s date, a policeman, shows up to take the maid out, Marsha thinks he is on to her poisoning attempt. Finally, just when you would think all of this would be cleared up, Marsha’s intended vic-

tims discover what she has supposed and decide to teach her a lesson by actually pretending to be murderers!”

The cast of three men and four women consists of four new faces and three Valley Performing Arts veterans, including Jennifer McGuffey, Mathew Firmin, and Patty Taylor. “Let’s Murder Marsha” is being directed Patricia Blossom.

Valley Performing Arts Artistic Director Larry Bottjen selected the play based on its great reviews and top notch comedy aspects. Forrester says “the play is quick moving and fun. It’s a lighthearted romp through an episode of misun-derstandings with twists and turns to circumstances involv-ing everyone who interacts with Marsha.”

The play runs January 9 through January 25 and is two hours long with a thirty minute intermission. It is recom-mended for those ages twelve and up. Curtain times are Fri-day and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., second and third week Thursday at 7 p.m.

valleyperformingarts.org R

“The play is quick moving and fun. It’s a lighthearted romp through an episode of misunderstandings with twists and turns to circumstances involving everyone who interacts with Marsha.”

—Gary Forrester Executive Director, Valley Performing Arts

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ANCHORAGE9-10 Alaska’s Best Wholesale ShowAlaska's Best Wholesale Show (at the Clarion Suites hotel) coin-cides with the Wholesale Alaska Gift Show (at the Dena’ina Convention Center), creating an opportunity for store owners to shop two shows in Anchorage, Alaska. Wholesale vendors of exclusively hand-crafted, Alaskan-made products capitalize on this buyer traffic at Alaska's Best, where buyers hand-select inventory, place orders, and meet the artists. Alaska's Best Wholesale Show distinguishes itself by featuring a limited number of Alaska's best established and emerging crafters, attracting respectful buyers, and hosting a comfortable, fun and friendly marketplace where artists and buyers meet and mingle at their own pace. The sustainable relationships forged at Alaska’s Best drive the Alaskan economy. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. alaskasbestwholesale.com

15-25 Anchorage Folk FestivalMore than five hundred performers will fill stages at several locations in the city, including the main stage at Wendy Williamson Auditorium on the UAA campus, for the 25th annual Anchorage Folk Festival than spans two weeks. This Anchorage cultural staple offers shows, contests, classes, dancing, educa-tional workshops, and open jams. Various locations and times. anchoragefolkfestival.org

16 Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine FestivalShowcasing beers of the Northwest and beyond with special attention to Alaska’s brews, the whole weekend is a celebration of brewing beer, mead, and barley wine. There will be more than two hundred beers and barley wines from fifty regional brewers. auroraproductions.net

17 Silent Film Double FeatureThe Anchorage Symphony provides the sound track for two classic silent films: Buster Keaton stars in “Steamboat Bill Jr.” —he tries to win the girl, impress her father, and save them both when a fierce storm hits the steamboat; in “Mighty Like a Moose,” Mr. and Mrs. Moose, not the prettiest couple with his big teeth and her beak of a nose, try to fix the situation with hilarious results when they don’t recognize each other. Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. anchoragesymphony.org

18 Anchorage Wedding FairFor those planning the big day, this is a one-stop solution for wedding arrangements, including gown collections, catering samples, information on venues, music, cosmetics, flowers, and more. Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

FAIRBANKS31 C Note Poker TournamentThe annual C Note Poker Tournament supports the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Players get their names entered into the prize drawing pot with their initial buy in and with each “double your chips” or regular buy back in. Play and prizes continue throughout the evening. Final table players will be eligible for Alaska Airlines miles and more. Pikes Waterfront Lodge. fairbankssymphony.org

JUNEAU6 WorldQuest 2015This is the largest fundraiser for the Juneau World Affairs Council and features an international buffet, no-host bar, silent auctions, and a trivia contest. Centennial Hall, 6 p.m. jwac.org

23-25 Platypus-ConThe community comes together to play both new and old board and card games. Demonstrations, organized games, miniature painting, and a massive lending library for open tables will be provided. Platypus Gaming hopes both new gamers and those with more experience will join the weekend long gaming extravaganza. Juneau Arts and Culture Center, Friday 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. facebook.com/PlatypusBoardGaming

KODIAK28 Intergalactic NemesisIt’s radio play meets comic book in a live action adventure for the kid in everyone. Here’s how it works: three actors voice the dozens of characters, a Foley artist creates all the sound effects, and a pianist plays a cinematic score, while more than 1,250 individual full-color hi-res comic panels tell a hilarious sci-fi adventure story visually from an enormous movie screen. And it’s all done live. Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium, 7 p.m. kodiakartscouncil.org

SEWARD17 Polar Bear JumpIndividuals dress in costumes and wacky costumes and then jump into Resurrection Bay. Sponsors are acquired by the jumpers in order to raise money for the Alaska Division of the American Cancer Society. This is the main event of a weekend-long festival that includes auctions, a carnival, turkey bowling, seafood buffet, and parade. Seward Small Boat Harbor, various times. seward.com

SITKA7 Russian Christmas and StarringRussian Christmas is celebrated by the old Julian calendar, on January 7, as it is still today in Russia. The week-long Feast of the Nativity celebration features Festal Vigil and Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Great Vespers, a Christmas feast, and a nativity “starring”—the Orthodox practice of caroling and sharing the joy of Christmas. St. Michaels Russian Orthodox Cathedral. sitka.org

EVENTS CALENDAR Compiled by Tasha Anderson

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With the start of a new year comes a look at Alaska’s likely economic fortunes. With a new legislative session about to begin, the topic looming large

above all else is the state’s economic outlook. Starting in the third quarter of 2014, the price of a barrel

of Alaska North Slope crude began to decline, from a high in 2014 of just over $110 per barrel in June to less than $70 per barrel in December. Because of the huge role oil plays in the state budget, Alaskans will soon be feeling the pinch.

The state’s fiscal-year 2015 budget was built on the as-sumption of approximately $105-per-barrel oil; at $85 per barrel, the state can expect a $3.3 billion deficit, according to Scott Goldsmith of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Why is this price dip hurting Alaska’s economic pros-pects so much and so rapidly? Because oil production on the North Slope has been declining for many years. In the recent past, the high price of oil has masked this decline. But with prices and production trending downward, there’s little relief in sight with status-quo spending and taxation policies.

Revenues from taxation on the oil and its associated industries account for 90 percent of state General Fund revenues, and more than 50 percent of overall state spend-ing. In the past, when oil prices declined, recessions were

mitigated somewhat by federal government spending. But federal spending is also on the decline, and it is unlikely to cushion this latest price drop to the degree it has in the past.

The good news is Alaska has options for mitigating the situation. As of the beginning of the current fiscal year, the state holds $4.82 billion in its Statutory Budget Reserve, and another $12.78 billion in the Constitutional Budget Re-serve. These two accounts can be tapped in the short term, but won’t cover Alaska’s current level of spending if existing dynamics remain in place.

Budget cuts will certainly be necessary, but are easier said than done, particularly in the operating (versus capi-tal) budget.

Politically unpopular options include tapping the earn-ings of the Alaska Permanent Fund, implementing state sales or income taxes, or a combination of all of these op-tions. The Alaska Permanent Fund was worth $51.6 billion in December 2014, and while the balance of the fund cannot be tapped without the approval of Alaska voters, a portion of the earnings on the fund could be. Alaska is also the only state in the United States without a state income tax or a state sales tax. R

Oil Prices DominateAlaska State Budget Discussions

Alaska Trends, an outline of significant statewide statistics, is provided by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development.

ALASKA TRENDS By Amy Miller

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(907) 659-9010

GENERAL Personal Income—Alaska US $ 2ndQ14 37,941 37,542 35,977 5.46%Personal Income—United States US $ 2ndQ14 14,688,618 14,465,404 13,639,239 7.69%Consumer Prices—Anchorage 1982-1984 = 100 1stH14 214.78 213.91 205.22 4.66%Consumer Prices—United States 1982-1984 = 100 1stH14 236.38 233.55 228.85 3.29%Bankruptcies Alaska Total Number Filed September 42 35 41 2.38% Anchorage Total Number Filed September 35 26 21 40.00% Fairbanks Total Number Filed September 7 7 6 14.29%

EMPLOYMENTAlaska Thousands September 346.17 349.51 331.90 4.30%Anchorage & Mat-Su Thousands September 187.78 186.81 184.40 1.83%Fairbanks Thousands September 43.97 42.96 41.70 5.44%Southeast Thousands September 39.63 41.69 40.50 -2.15%Gulf Coast Thousands September 38.81 40.88 33.50 15.85%Sectorial Distribution—AlaskaTotal Nonfarm Thousands September 349.6 357.2 345.6 1.16% Goods Producing Thousands September 55.7 62.5 51.1 9.00% Services Providing Thousands September 293.9 294.7 294.5 -0.20% Mining and Logging Thousands September 19.1 19.4 18.7 2.14% Mining Thousands September 18.6 18.8 18.1 2.76% Oil & Gas Thousands September 15.0 15.1 14.8 1.35% Construction Thousands September 18.7 19.6 20.1 -6.97% Manufacturing Thousands September 17.9 23.5 12.3 45.53% Seafood Processing Thousands September 13.3 18.7 8.2 62.20% Trade/Transportation/Utilities Thousands September 68.6 70.9 66.6 3.00% Wholesale Trade Thousands September 6.6 6.7 6.0 10.00% Retail Trade Thousands September 38.4 39.4 36.8 4.35% Food & Beverage Stores Thousands September 6.9 7.3 6.3 9.52% General Merchandise Stores Thousands September 10.6 10.7 9.9 7.07% Trans/Warehouse/Utilities Thousands September 23.6 24.8 23.8 -0.84% Air Transportation Thousands September 6.7 6.9 6.1 9.84% Information Thousands September 6.2 6.1 6.1 1.64% Telecommunications Thousands September 4.0 4.0 4.0 0.00% Financial Activities Thousands September 12.0 12.3 13.6 -11.76% Professional & Business Svcs Thousands September 31.1 31.5 29.2 6.51% Educational & Health Services Thousands September 46.6 46.5 47.0 -0.85% Health Care Thousands September 33.5 33.9 33.6 -0.30% Leisure & Hospitality Thousands September 35.8 38.5 36.1 -0.83% Accommodation Thousands September 8.6 9.6 11.9 -27.73% Food Svcs & Drinking Places Thousands September 22.4 23.2 21.5 4.19% Other Services Thousands September 11.6 11.5 11.9 -2.52% Government Thousands September 82.0 77.4 84.0 -2.38% Federal Government Thousands September 15.0 15.3 15.1 -0.66% State Government Thousands September 26.4 25.2 26.7 -1.12% State Education Thousands September 8.2 6.5 8.4 -2.38% Local Government Thousands September 40.6 36.9 42.2 -3.79% Local Education Thousands September 22.9 18.3 23.0 -0.43% Tribal Government Thousands September 4.2 4.5 3.4 23.53%Labor Force Alaska Thousands September 367.69 371.88 366.05 0.45% Anchorage & Mat-Su Thousands 197.99 196.97 197.19 0.41% Fairbanks Thousands 46.30 46.08 46.98 -1.45% Southeast Thousands 41.80 43.89 41.28 1.26% Gulf Coast Thousands 41.36 43.48 40.20 2.89%Unemployment Rate Alaska Percent 5.9 6.2 6.5 -9.23% Anchorage & Mat-Su Percent 5.2 5.6 5.1 1.96% Fairbanks Percent 5.0 5.5 4.6 8.70%

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Southeast Percent 5.2 5.3 4.7 10.64% Gulf Coast Percent 6.2 6.2 6 3.33%United States Percent 5.9 6.1 7.3 -19.18%

PETROLEUM/MININGCrude Oil Production—Alaska Millions of Barrels September 14.32 12.33 15.33 -6.59%Natural Gas Field Production—Alaska Billions of Cubic Ft. September 8.92 9.16 7.48 19.25%ANS West Coast Average Spot Price $ per Barrel September 96.05 101.78 110.48 -13.06%Hughes Rig Count Alaska Active Rigs September 10 7 12 -16.67% United States Active Rigs September 1930 1904 1760 9.66%Gold Prices $ Per Troy Oz. September 1240.08 1297.01 1348.8 -8.06%Silver Prices $ Per Troy Oz. September 18.49 19.80 22.56 -18.04%Zinc Prices Per Pound September 2.29 2.33 0.93 146.24%

REAL ESTATEAnchorage Building Permit Valuations Total Millions of $ 57.7 59.7 36.46 58.26% Residential Millions of $ 17.5 20.5 15.28 14.53% Commercial Millions of $ 39.7 38.1 21.18 87.44%Deeds of Trust Recorded Anchorage--Recording District Total Deeds September 763 846 857*GeoNorth -10.97% Fairbanks--Recording District Total Deeds September 232 222 247 -6.07%

VISITOR INDUSTRYTotal Air Passenger Traffic—Anchorage Thousands September 446.81 632.86 436.49 2.36%Total Air Passenger Traffic—Fairbanks Thousands September 90.7 127.45 89.52 1.32%

ALASKA PERMANENT FUNDEquity Millions of $ September 50718.00 51838.70 47,033.70 7.83%Assets Millions of $ September 51828.10 52442.30 47,906.20 8.19%Net Income Millions of $ September 302.30 224.20 297.9 1.48%Net Income—Year to Date Millions of $ September -1170.20 769.10 1411 -182.93%Marketable Debt Securities Millions of $ September -175.40 11.23 80.6 -317.62%Real Estate Investments Millions of $ September 20.00 5.92 29.7 -32.66%Preferred and Common Stock Millions of $ September -895.60 20.72 1,165.10 -176.87%

BANKING (excludes interstate branches)Total Bank Assets—Alaska Millions of $ 2ndQ14 5,589.78 5,477.64 5,126.68 9.03% Cash & Balances Due Millions of $ 309.79 347.62 59.56 420.13% Securities Millions of $ 145.27 139.05 133.58 8.75% Net Loans and Leases Millions of $ 2,703.46 2,517.48 2,443.81 10.62% Other Real Estate Owned Millions of $ 18.73 18.63 20.09 -6.77%Total Liabilities Millions of $ 4,814.61 4,731.67 4,398.85 9.45% Total Bank Deposits—Alaska Millions of $ 4,188.54 4,070.91 3,833.54 9.26% Noninterest-bearing deposits Millions of $ 1,702.65 1,612.83 1,542.92 10.35% Interest- bearing deposits Millions of $ 2,485.89 2,458.08 2,290.61 8.53%

FOREIGN TRADEValue of the Dollar In Japanese Yen Yen September 107.18 102.92 99.15 8.10% In Canadian Dollars Canadian $ 1.10 1.09 1.04 5.77% In British Pounds Pounds 0.61 0.60 0.63 -3.17% In European Monetary Unit Euro 0.77 0.75 0.75 2.67% In Chinese Yuan Yuan 6.15 6.16 6.16 -0.16%

Notes:1. Source of Anchorage Deeds of trust (GeoNorth) is cited in the data field.2. Banking data has been updated to include Alaska State Banks and Alaska’s sole federally chartered, Alaska-based bank, First National Bank Alaska.

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A D V E R T I S E R S I N D E X

Alaska Executive Search ...............................42Alaska Interstate Construction ................... 67Alaska Park .......................................................29Alaska Roof Coatings .....................................62Alaska Traffic Co. ............................................ 35Alaska Usa Federal Credit Union ................ 41Alaska Usa Insurance Brokers .....................43American Marine / Penco ............................86Anchorage Opera ......................................... 84Arctic Office Products .................................. 32Avis Rent-A-Car ..............................................83Bering Air Inc. ..................................................82BP ........................................................................11Brand Energy & Infrastructure.................... 73Calista Corporation ........................................ 39Carlile Transportation Systems .............19, 91Chris Arend Photography ............................90Construction Machinery Industrial ..............2Cruz Construction Inc. ..................................69Donlin Gold ......................................................42

Doyon Limited ................................................. 57Fairweather LLC .............................................. 14First National Bank Alaska ..............................5Fountainhead Hotels .....................................29GCI ..............................................................66, 92Homer Marine Trades Assoc. ...................... 75Horizon Lines ....................................................33Implus Footware LLC ....................................20Island Air Express ...........................................83Judy Patrick Photography ............................66Junior Achievement of Alaska .....................25Lynden Inc. ......................................................... 9Magtec Energy ................................................72Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge ........ 84N C Machinery ................................................ 63NCB .................................................................... 55Northern Air Cargo ................................. 76, 77Northwest Data Solutions............................56Olgoonik Corp. .................................................71Oxford Assaying & Refining Inc. .................85

Pacific Pile & Marine .......................78, 79, 80Paramount Suppy Co. .................................... 75Parker Smith & Feek .........................................3PenAir ............................................................... 50Personnel Plus .................................................82Ravn Alaska ...................................................... 16Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers ...................... 59Span Alaska Transportation Inc. ..................31Stellar Design Inc. ........................................... 75T. Rowe Price ................................................... 27The Odom Corp. .............................................23Trailercraft Inc/Freightliner ..........................46Turnagain Marine Construction ...................61Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. ................................51United Way of Alaska .....................................17Usibelli Coal Mine ............................................17Washington Crane & Hoist ...........................13Waste Management ....................................... 65

Alaska Business Monthly January 2015

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Transcript of Alaska Business Monthly January 2015