2021 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK | JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT SPECIAL SECTION JANUARY 2021
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Cofounder & CEO ARM Creative
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CONTENTS JANUARY 2021 | VOLUME 38 | NUMBER 1 | AKBIZMAG.COM
FE AT UR E S 10 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
20 MARKETING
Unlock Potential & Maximize Success
Automating & Advancing
Leadership coaching offers a sounding board, fresh perspective to enhance existing skills
Why one Anchorage firm is sharing trade secrets to educate, elevate its community
By Tracy Barbour
By Danny Kreilkamp
24 FINANCE
2021 Economic Outlook Uncertainty prevails, yet experts remain positive By Tracy Barbour
54 HEALTHCARE
Unspoken Symptoms Businesses prioritize mental health as COVID-19 crisis continues By Vanessa Orr
58 OIL & GAS Every Last Drop
Developing methods to extend an oil field’s life By Julie Stricker
64 CONSTRUCTION
Understanding Ice Roads An ‘elegant’ solution to an ongoing accessibility problem By Amy Newman
70 TRANSPORTATION
From Port to Store to Home Drayage is a little known but essential transportation service
Ahtna Environmental, Inc.
Ahtna
Photo: Kerry Tasker Background: kostenkodesign | iStock
By Isaac Stone Simonelli
14 ALASKA NATIVE Hello, Shareholders
How ANCs keep the lines of communication open
By Vanessa Orr
QUICK READS 8 FROM THE EDITOR
74 INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS
78 ALASKA TRENDS
74 ECONOMIC INDICATORS
76 RIGHT MOVES
80 OFF THE CUFF
4 | January 2021
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
CONTENTS JANUARY 2021 | VOLUME 38 | NUMBER 1 | AKBIZMAG.COM
S P EC I A L S EC T I O N : J U N I O R AC H I E V EM EN T 30 Letter from the Board
Today Is Uncertain, But Tomorrow Represents Hope and Promise By Kevin Van Nortwick | Flora Teo
34 JA Educator and Volunteer of the Year
Celebrating two of many dedicated to educating Alaska’s next workforce Contributed by Junior Achievement of Alaska
36 Alumni Spotlight
Checking in with Junior Achievement success stories Contributed by Junior Achievement of Alaska
38 JA Q&A with Dave Allen
A Legacy of True Alaskan Hospitality
50 JA Q&A with Rex A. Rock Sr. Providing for My People
52 VIRTUAL JA INSPIRE
Meet your future Employee of the Month
46 TASTEE FREEZ
Small business with a big impact By Tasha Anderson
Junior Achievement of Alaska
Contributed by Junior Achievement of Alaska
42 BAGOY’S
Finding ways to flourish By Tasha Anderson
Junior Achievement of Alaska
ABOUT THE COVER Here are a few words that could reasonably describe the current state of the digital marketing world: Fresh. Frenetic. Forward-thinking. These are also a few words that might come to mind when you read the January cover story featuring Zach Aregood and Deanna Miller at ARM Creative. SOTI, or State-of-the-Industry, is a small dinner event that ARM Creative offers to Alaskans interested in gaining a better handle on the latest tools and trends in the digital marketing world. The budding Anchorage firm welcomes anyone— restauranteurs, physical therapists, even other marketing firms—as one of ARM’s chief goals with the SOTI series is to advance Alaska business while building community. To learn more about the ways Aregood and Miller are pushing the needle in Alaska, explore our cover story, “Automating & Advancing.” Photograph by Kerry Tasker • Cover by Monica Sterchi-Lowman
Alaska Business (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. © 2021 Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication May be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Alaska Business accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials; they will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope. One-year subscription is $39.95 and includes twelve issues (print + digital) and the annual Power List. Single issues of the Power List are $15 each. Single issues of Alaska Business are $4.99 each; $5.99 for the July & October issues. Send subscription orders and address changes to circulation@akbizmag.com. To order back issues ($9.99 each including postage) visit simplecirc.com/back_issues/alaska-business.
6 | January 2021
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FROM THE EDITOR
A Fresh Start H
appy New Year! I know I’m ready for a fresh start—how about you? And speaking of starting fresh, one demographic that is still paying an unknown price for the ongoing pandemic is our youth. Along with average, daily social interactions that most of us didn’t think much about pre-pandemic, young people the world over have missed out on some of life’s most momentous and memorable events: prom, graduation, clubs like drama and debate, performances, and sports events. Parents around the world have been racking their brains to concoct clever ways to give their children some semblance of “normalcy” as they bounce back and forth between home and virtual schooling, but parents can’t give their kids a football scholarship or the feeling of walking across a stage in front of their peers to receive a high school diploma. There are some things that just can’t be replicated. For Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska, 2020 seemed to be on a mission diametrically opposed to its own quest to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Each year JA provides experiential learning opportunities to some 12,000 Alaskan students in grades K-12 with the help of hundreds of volunteers from the business community. Their hard work (both students and volunteers) has been recognized at JA’s annual Alaska Business Hall of Fame gala held each January for more than three decades. The banquet is also the organization’s biggest fundraiser, so making the decision to place it on hiatus in 2020 was not only disappointing but, practically speaking, could have severe financial consequences for the program. But like they always do, the Alaska business community stepped up and local leaders raised more than $130,000 to help JA to continue to serve students in Alaska during COVID-19. “The Alaska Business Hall of Fame is Junior Achievement of Alaska’s single-largest fundraiser, and we are grateful for the business community's support,” says Flora Teo, president of Junior Achievement of Alaska. “Students are in need of practical money management skills, lessons on getting a job, and starting a business to empower them to own their economic success post-COVID.” She says the organization served nearly 2,200 students in Alaska during spring school closures, and thanks to the support of the business community, is on target to serve 10,000 students this year. We are delighted to support JA’s efforts with our annual special section honoring those who donate their time and talents to enriching the lives of Alaska’s next generation of entrepreneurs. Make sure to read about this year’s laureates, nominated for elevating the educational landscape for youth in their communities with regard to financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work-readiness. JA’s incredibly important work in Alaska will need additional financial support to continue to provide programs to students this year. To make a donation, visit alaska.ja.org and click ‘Donate’. Every bit helps.
VOLUME 38, #1 EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor Kathryn Mackenzie 257-2907 editor@akbizmag.com
Associate/Web Editor Tasha Anderson 257-2902 tanderson@akbizmag.com
Digital and Social Media Specialist Arie Henry 257-2910 ahenry@akbizmag.com
Staff Writer Danny Kreilkamp danny@akbizmag.com
Art Director Monica Sterchi-Lowman 257-2916 design@akbizmag.com
Art Production Linda Shogren 257-2912 production@akbizmag.com
Photo Contributor Kerry Tasker
BUSINESS STAFF President Billie Martin VP & General Manager Jason Martin 257-2905 jason@akbizmag.com
VP Sales & Marketing Charles Bell 257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com
Senior Account Manager Janis J. Plume 257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com
Advertising Account Manager Christine Merki 257-2911 cmerki@akbizmag.com
Accounting Manager Ana Lavagnino 257-2901 accounts@akbizmag.com
Customer Service Representative Emily Olsen 257-2914 emily@akbizmag.com
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Unlock Potential & Maximize Success
Leadership coaching offers a sounding board, fresh perspective to enhance existing skills By Tracy Barbour
E
ffective leadership is paramount to the success of every business. The leadership work can be challenging, but coaching can create a safe space where leaders can think, explore who they are, and refine their professional endeavors. Today, an increasing number of executives and managers in Alaska are capitalizing on leadership coaching to enhance their expertise and create positive outcomes for their organization. Leadership coaches serve a distinct role for executives, managers, and other leaders. They facilitate a process to help clients define their goals, generate insights, and initiate action and new ways of behaving, says Diane Decker, who specializes in executive coaching, career coaching, and
10 | January 2021
leadership development. “Coaching differs from consulting or advising in that it is about helping a client identify solutions that work for them, rather than me simply telling them what to do,” Decker says. To Erin Sedor, founder of Black Fox Strategy, the primary role of a leadership coach is to support the client and enhance the skill and talent that already exists by providing a sounding board, fresh perspective, and—above all—an open and honest platform of communication. Sedor’s niche consulting practice works with clients of all industries, sectors, and sizes. “With leadership coaching and development in particular, the goal isn't to simply provide an answer,” Sedor says. “It's to help facilitate the
discussion and thought process that allows a leader to expand their ability to find their own answers.” When working with clients, leadership coaches typically follow an agreed-upon contract to help individuals achieve their developmental goals and career objective, according to Theo Hunt, principal of Theo M. Hunt Consulting. The contract covers specific goals and objectives as well as the roles and responsibilities agreed upon by all parties. The responsibilities outlined for the coach could include a host of duties, including reinforcing and supporting the success of the leader; providing open and honest feedback on how the leader is “showing up”; challenging the leader’s thought processes and perceptions;
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providing appropriate methods and learning materials; and keeping all conversations confidential.
Key Coaching Qualifications Leadership coaches apply their unique insights, experiences, and expertise during the coaching process. Most coaches are certified by an independent coaching organization like the International Coach Federation (ICF) or the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). “This ensures they understand the context of coaching, have an opportunity to gain specific skills and abilities widely used in coaching, and uphold a code of practice for ethical behavior as a coach,” Hunt says. “Often, coaches will then track the hours they coach with clients to provide a specific measure of their experience coaching.” In addition to certification, coaches are or were often in leadership positions themselves. However, Hunt says, having specific experience with the industry, role, organization, or problem being faced by the client is not necessary and can actually get in the way of coaching the leader. “This is because facing similar situations and challenges could put the focus on the problem or challenge, rather than on the leader growing their own ability to resolve the problem or challenge,” she explains.
When to Hire a Coach So how do you know when to engage a leadership coach? General coaching already happens formally and informally in most organizations, according to Kevin Dee, president of KMD Services & Consulting. “The coworker who showed you how to perform a procedure or a skill and the experienced employee coaching a new employee what to do, those processes exist formally and informally,” he says. Leadership coaching in organizations arises as a need when they realize that supporting good leadership creates measurable business success, says Dee, who provides executive and employee coaching for businesses ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small start-ups. “When organizations truly recognize that investing in their people in order to create sustainable success for their organization, better leaders, and successive leadership, then they www.akbizmag.com
“When organizations truly recognize that investing in their people in order to create sustainable success for their organization, better leaders, and successive leadership, then they jump at the opportunity that leadership development and coaching bring.” Kevin Dee, President, KMD Services & Consulting
jump at the opportunity that leadership development and coaching bring.” However, the need for coaching may not always be obvious. Sometimes people may know that something is amiss, but they may not realize they need a coach, according to The Foraker Group President and CEO Laurie Wolf. But coaching can be particularly relevant at certain times in a leader’s professional life. Two prime examples are when an organization has a leader that is either new or longstanding. “If I were the board and had just gone through a leadership transition, the first thing I would be asking as a board is how do I set this new leader up for success,” says Wolf, who caters to nonprofit organizations. “Or if you’ve been in your organization a long time and you have a sense of loneliness or feel you need support, coaching is a really lovely gift.” From Sedor’s perspective, leadership coaching is generally driven by necessity. Strong, resilient organizations are run by strong, resilient people. And investing in people—at every level—is the key to sustaining long-term growth. “When a leader is ready to grow their leadership skills and is willing to work one-on-one is when the time is right to engage a coach,” she says. “The primary thing to remember here is that the type of coach is highly dependent on what the leader needs, as well as the fit and style of the coach engaged. It is a highly personalized endeavor.”
Typical Coaching Clients Leadership coaching is tailored to clients, which come in all types and Alaska Business
sizes. “Nearly every query to our office asks about whom we typically work with, but for us the answer is not driven by industry, sector, or size,” Sedor says. “At Black Fox Strategy, our particular 'sweet spot' is working with clients that are in the midst of or are bracing for significant transition or change. This could be start-up, rapid growth, contraction or divesture operations, or even response and recovery to a catastrophic event such as COVID-19.” She continues: “It is in these times that leaders find themselves in unfamiliar territory that requires competencies far beyond what the day-to-day business demands. Experts abound, so I think the question is rather: What type of leadership coaches do clients need to work with?” KMD Services & Consulting works with a diverse set of coaching clients with specific needs. Their goals may range from achieving time management skills to work-life balance skills to conflict management. It’s easy to coach someone who recognizes the value and wants to up their game, Dee says. But often his firm receives referrals for struggling individuals who are put on a performance improvement plan as well. “Once a client realizes we are there in support of them personally and professionally, it is very rewarding to see them take ownership of their choices going forward,” he says. In addition, leadership coaches are focused on supporting those with a role that involves leading groups to accomplish specific goals and missions. New leaders may require additional support to succeed. “Often January 2021 | 11
“Without humility, we fail to see opportunities emerging all around us. Without curiosity, we don't even bother to look.” Erin Sedor, Founder, Black Fox Strategy
someone will be identified through their accomplishments that may have never led a group before,” Dee says. “It’s not uncommon for someone with technical skills to be promoted to a leadership position. The skills needed to succeed are different from the technical ones that got you there.” At The Foraker Group, the goal is to increase leadership and management skills of professionals and volunteers working in Alaska's nonprofit and tribal organizations. As such, it primarily helps officers of nonprofit boards of directors, volunteers who serve as committee chairs, and other executivelevel leaders. The company’s coaching services are also beneficial for new managers or supervisors who may be less likely to seek additional support. Coaching can provide the kind of assistance that many of these leaders crave and need. “It creates more of a safe space for them to come together,” Wolf says. Recently, Foraker launched its new Lead Up! program geared for middle managers. The program is designed for people who are in nonprofit management roles or who want to lead in an organization but are not yet executive directors. “It’s less about title and more about the desire to explore oneself,” she says.
How Leadership Coaching Works The leadership coaching process is generally guided by the client’s articulated needs. “We hear from people about what they need, and we create opportunities,” Wolf says. “Then people have to take that initial step when they engage.” Wolf says it’s important for clients to ask for what they want. Then, it’s her job to listen and explore those areas with them. “Coaching isn’t about me telling you what I think; it’s creating a 12 | January 2021
safe enough space for you to tell me what you think,” she says. Wolf enters each coaching relationship with the conviction that people are able, and it’s her job to help them learn—even from mistakes. “Mistakes are information,” says Wolf, who has her own coach. “I’m always about what did we learn… what did I learn. Our job is to make a different mistake.” KMD Services & Consulting uses a formal approach with most clients, whether they are organizations or individuals. It conducts an intake to identify what clients want to accomplish and the benefits that would result to the organization and the person. “We often use formal and informal assessments to facilitate creating goals that are achievable,” Dee says. “Each coaching plan is very individualized and, depending on the goals that are agreed to, a schedule of coaching is developed.” Dee relates the process to that of a sports coach. He explains: “You assess what that athlete’s needs are, develop a plan to achieve those needs and goals, develop formal and informal measures of progress, and then coach for achievement of those goals.” The company also offers “whole organization” leadership programs that involve formal curriculum and can last from one to three years.
Regardless of the exact program, coaching ideally occurs in-person. But it also works virtually, which can be especially convenient for clients in different geographical locations and time zones. At Black Fox Strategy, Sedor meets with clients on a schedule and frequency that suits their needs. The meetings can happen by phone, video, or face-to-face, whether they involve the initial identification of goals or ongoing progress monitoring. “Because our practice is focused on strategy coaching, most of the work happens as part of the business cycle, and so tracking is a bit more straightforward,” says Sedor. “Notwithstanding, all professional development involves personal commitment and thus requires self-accountability. Having a clear understanding of agreements and roles keeps the relationship productive and progress steady.”
Methods and Results While there are proven and patented methods that coaches leverage when working with clients, there is no universal method. Each coach will bring the techniques and tools that they have the most experience, success, and comfort with, Hunt says. Additionally, coaches typically do their own research and critical analysis on the methods they employ and/or create methods that work well for them. “Coaches with a high degree of responsibility to their clients will bring evidence-based approaches and stay on top of the current [and growing] research within the coaching industry,” she says. Decker agrees that there are many diverse types of coaching programs and tools. Personally, Decker draws
“People respond to leaders who admit they aren't perfect and don't know everything. They appreciate leaders who show a genuine desire to hear and learn from others.” Diane Decker, HR & Leadership Coach/Consultant
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from a variety of sources, trainings, and experiences beyond her initial coaching training. “Two of the most impactful things shaping my own coaching are the brain-based coaching skills I learned via the NeuroLeadership Institute and the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,” she says. Clients can expect varied results from leadership coaching, and those results can manifest in different ways. For instance, Decker points to the times when clients tell her about an insight they have gained or new behavior they have tried, even when it felt scary or uncomfortable. “Many tell me they have great appreciation for a space to think out loud—where they feel safe to be vulnerable, to grow without feeling judged,” she says. “I remind them that although they are thanking me, it was them that did the work, and for that they should be proud.” Hunt says the outcome will vary depending on coaching engagement, purpose, and focus. Some of the positive results her clients have garnered include increased comfort and confidence dealing with conflict and critical conversations; improved time
management and productivity; success delegating tasks and empowering their team—even when working remotely; improved trust, collaboration, and teamwork within their leadership team; increased certainty and ability controlling what is theirs to control; and success improving complex processes by learning and applying process improvement tools.
More Insights and Advice Alaska’s leadership coaching experts naturally have an abundance of advice for anyone looking to increase their leadership skills. For example, Hunt says recruiting a coach is a prudent investment in a leader’s professional growth and development. It’s also an admirable step for individuals to take. “With as much complexity and uncertainty that is in our current environment, additional support does not indicate ‘you can’t handle it’ or ‘you are broken’; it just gives you more tools and resources in supporting your team and those that rely on you,” she says. Decker encourages leaders keep growth in mind, nurture self-
compassion, and be vulnerable. “People respond to leaders who admit they aren't perfect and don't know everything,” she says. “They appreciate leaders who show a genuine desire to hear and learn from others.” Sedor urges people to find opportunities to examine their humility and curiosity, which are essential to leadership. She says: “Without humility, we fail to see opportunities emerging all around us. Without curiosity, we don't even bother to look.” Dee says more organizations are instituting coaching programs to support individual and group achievements as an essential component to their overall success. “Successful individuals create successful companies,” he says. And rather than offering advice, Wolf extends a broad call to action: Increase racial diversity in nonprofit leadership. Closing the racial leadership gap can help nonprofit organizations better support their missions and communities. “You can lead better with a more diverse leadership,” she says. “We want to create a space where we thrive, not just survive.”
Growing with Alaska. Span Alaska’s new Anchorage Service Center (ASC) means even better service and more options for our customers statewide. Our new facility increases our capacity, improves our security, offers customizable storage areas, and streamlines freight handling — all to enable faster, smoother, and more consistent delivery of your cargo to its final destination. Stop by our new ASC and see what Span Alaska can do for you. Or, to schedule a pickup or find the terminal nearest you, call 1-800-257-7726 or visit us at spanalaska.com. www.akbizmag.com
Serving Alaska since 1978 Alaska Business
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only convey A L A SaKmessage A N AT I Vbut E to reinforce a company’s brand. While putting together a 0-minute documentary instead of an educational video required a lot more work—the nal product actually took more than two years to come to fruition—he had the full ckimade,” says Hardt. “Here we are fifty years later, and you can see how hat they did then made such a big difference.” He adds that the opportunity to interview Bill Van Ness was really unique, as he as one of the people who helped craft the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ANCs to keep the mission. lines “Unfortunately, he has NCSA) and was absolutelyHow committed ASRC’s nce passed away, and if weof hadn’t done that documentary, we wouldn’t have had communication open By Vanessa Orrthe stories behind the legacy.” at interview,” says Hardt. “We wouldn’t know The documentary also laska helps ASRC introduce itself to people who may not be Native corporations (ANCs) were established to positively benefit their shareholders. To this end, communication is paramount; however, many miliar with the corporation or Iñupiat values. ANC shareholders live far outside the state’s urban areas in places that can be hard to reach by mail, telephone, or even digital means. I was in Seattle speaking to a vendor, and she didn’t know anything about ASRC,” Add this to the fact that shareholders range greatly in age, technological savvy, and communication preferences—and it’s easy to understand why ANCs corporate ys Hardt. “I popped the documentary up on my computer and she watched about communications and shareholder services departments are constantly exploring ways to reach their audiences. And the continuing pressures of communicating 5 minutes of it andnew became very emotional. She said that it inspired her because during COVID-19 means even more changes to the way information is being conveyed. was the first time that she really understood our values and the people we Traditional Media vs. the Digital Age present.” It used to be that shareholders could expect to receive word of what corporations were doing from targeted mailings, community meetings, and sometimes ad Other Alaska Native corporations, including Cape Fox Corporation in Saxman, campaigns. Today, ANCs have more options, thanks to growing adoption of and to technology in the state’s rural locations. e starting to takeaccess advantage of the power of media. In July 2020, Cape Fox “Along with a lot of the traditional media tools, we use our website, social media, direct email to reach our shareholders,” says Matt Carle, senior director of ceived a bronze and award in the Branded Content Category in the 41st Telly corporate communications at Sealaska. “The most direct way is through e-news; we have approximately 14,000 shareholders on our e-news distribution list.” wards, which honors excellence in video and television. Its video, about One of the benefits of using social media, according to Carle, is that when breaking news happens, the shareholders can be informed pretty immediately. orking at Cape Fox, is used to encourage recruitment and for onboarding new “For example, when Sealaska recently acquired New England Seafood International [NESI], a London-based seafood company, we were able to develop a rollout mployees. strategy and get it out through e-news and our website while supplementing the message with more information on social media channels. When I first started at BBNC in 2003, the culture from a communications “More than anything, we try to make sure that all of our communications are integrated,” he continues. “When it comes to social media platforms, the type of andpoint was to fly under the radar—it’s not that we were afraid of speaking content we’re putting on Twitter may not necessarily be what we’re pushing on Instagram, but every message is in support of our overall communication goals. ut or messaging, but we didn’t seek out media or recognition,” says Metrokin, We want to make sure that our shareholders feel informed about what’s going on the corporation and instill pride in the work that we’re doing. We also use it as a ding that he has inrecruiting fielded numerous inquiries from other Native corporations tool.” Sealaska relies heavily on metrics to make sure that it is reaching its shareholders out how to createwith athesuccessful campaign. “Fifty years after ANCSA passed, a right message. t of people still don’t quite know what an Alaska Native corporation is, and we eed to share that story. I really | encourage all Alaska Native corporations—for-profit, nonprofit, and 14 January 2021 Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com bes—to harness the power of media,” he adds. “People need to understand our
Hello, Shareholders
roundicons | Evatoelements
A
“Providing shareholders with a way to share their thoughts is an important aspect that sometimes gets
engagement, and the number of impressions, we’re seeing that it’s not more content that is driving engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter but the type of content. So we hold weekly editorial meetings to outline our communications strategy and different themes for the next week, month, and quarter.” In November, for example, Sealaska posted messages promoting Native American History Month, in addition to highlighting other important events. “We look at what other ANCs
are doing so that we can tailor our messages to reinforce our common goals, such as getting out the vote or filling out the census,” says Carle. “We want to make sure that the Native voice is heard.” Doyon is unique in that, in addition to having monthly newsletters, e-newsletters, and e-updates, the corporation also has a monthly radio show in which Village Outreach Liaison Sharon Hildebrand brings in guests to talk about issues important to its shareholders.
overlooked. That’s why we strive to provide ways for
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our shareholders to connect with us—to have a voice in their corporation. It’s not
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a one-way street; it’s an ongoing, two-way conversation.” Ethan Tyler, Director of Corporate Affairs, CIRI
“We know the average age of our shareholders and where they are located, and our communications really do fall in line with those demographics,” he says. “Our older shareholders still like to receive print newsletters in the mail, so we still have a fairly active print campaign as part of our communications strategy. “As we’re seeing how effective social media can be, we’re expanding into that area as well; this year, we created an Instagram page that now has 1,500 followers.” According to Carle, what Sealaska has discovered is that it’s not the quantity of the messages it communicates but the quality. “Looking at the growth of our audience, the growth of our www.akbizmag.com
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One of Ahtna’s shareholder enrichment advocates works with a past Ahtna Special Forces (intern) participant. Ahtna
“Sharon may host a member of Doyon’s leadership to talk about what’s going on within the corporation, as well as guests who share what’s happening in our sister organizations,” says Cheyenna Kuplack, a Doyon public relations specialist. “For example, a recent show talked about COVID-19 procedures.” Doyon also has an integrated social media presence and uses Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to communicate with shareholders. Pre-COVID-19, the organization also focused on village outreach through its Dialogue with Doyon program and annual meetings as a way for shareholders to learn about what was happening and to ask questions. The corporation is now holding webinars to share this information. “We know that many of our shareholders still like to get printed newsletters in the mail, and that’s important to us,” adds Kuplack. “Though we have a large presence on social media, and we utilize email and our website, we try to make sure that our newsletter also includes everything going on so that none of our shareholders miss out on information.” 16 | January 2021
“We use different social media to reach different demographics; Boomers and Gen X typically utilize Facebook and Twitter for information, while the younger generation trends toward Instagram. Some people still prefer printed material, which we provide, and the articles in the printed materials are put up on our website and sent out electronically as well.” Ethan Tyler, Director of Corporate Affairs, CIRI
Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) also provides its shareholders with a bimonthly newsletter, called Raven’s Circle, which is supplemented by a monthly email message to shareholders. The corporation has a strong social media presence that includes Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and LinkedIn and has a specific section on its website dedicated to shareholders. “We use different social media to reach different demographics; Boomers and Gen X typically utilize Facebook and Twitter for information, while the younger generation trends
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toward Instagram,” explains Ethan Tyler, director of corporate affairs. “Some people still prefer printed material, which we provide, and the articles in the printed materials are put up on our website and sent out electronically as well.” Because CIRI is affiliated with several nonprofits, it makes a point of sharing that information with shareholders. “We want to get the word out about the great work that CIRI-affiliated nonprofits do,” says Tyler. “We share the nonprofits’ posts on social media, write articles about them, and even have a section dedicated to them on our website. “The more our shareholders and descendants are engaged in the corporation and understand how we are working on their behalf, the better,” he adds. “The mission of Alaska Native corporations goes beyond the financial; our goal in shareholder communication is certainly to keep them apprised of their corporation’s activities, but we also want to provide shareholders and their descendants with a connection to one another and to their culture.” Ahtna has also found that effective communication plays an important role in building trust and positive shareholder relationships. Ahtna’s corporate communications and shareholder services teams work collaboratively with others within the organization on the development and release of communications. In addition to traditional media, Ahtna offers a MyAhtna shareholder portal newsfeed that will soon include the option for shareholders to optin to receive text messages. It also communicates through video content on Vimeo, its website, and social media. “Technology plays an important role and has made communicating easier, faster, and more effective,” says Ahtna’s Corporate Communications Director Shannon Blue. “Our last shareholder survey showed that 65 percent of shareholders prefer to receive information and updates from Ahtna via email. Social media has allowed for greater shareholder engagement, more regular twoway communication, and sharing of dynamic content such as videos.” Ahtna also uses demographic information to target specific audiences. www.akbizmag.com
Alaska Business
January 2021 | 17
“More than anything, we try to make sure that all of our communications are integrated. When it comes to social media platforms, the type of content we’re putting on Twitter may not necessarily be what we’re pushing on Instagram, but every message is in support of our overall communication goals. We want to make sure that our shareholders feel informed about what’s going on in the corporation and instill pride in the work that we’re doing.” Matt Carle, Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Sealaska Corporation
“For example, some communications only apply to shareholders over the age of 18 or that hold a particular class of shares,” says Blue. “Sometimes communications are targeted to shareholders that live in a specific area, especially when it comes to publicizing job opportunities and events.” Ahtna’s shareholder services team can pull tailored distribution lists from the shareholder database depending on the need, and social media also allows for audience targeting based on demographic and geographic parameters.
Helping Shareholders Communicate It’s imperative that ANCs are able to stay in touch with their shareholders and it is just as important that shareholders have a way to communicate with their ANC. “Providing opportunities for shareholders to provide feedback to the corporation, as well as gaining an understanding of how they feel about particular issues, is an important priority,” says Blue, adding that this year has been difficult as opportunities 18 | January 2021
for face-to-face interactions have been limited. Ahtna did not hold an in-person annual meeting and had to cancel its AFN reception and Christmas gatherings. “It was important to Ahtna leadership to provide alternate ways to gather comments and questions this year, so comment cards were included in shareholder proxy packets and an email address was publicized that shareholders could send input and questions too,” says Blue. Ahtna also sends out regular shareholder surveys to improve the manner in which it responds to shareholder questions and concerns, to determine how satisfied shareholders are with what it is doing, and to find ways to improve its service standards. “It is important that Ahtna’s corporate goals align with the priorities of its shareholders, and the programs or topics that rank as top priorities for shareholders are incorporated into Ahtna’s strategic planning, with related goals cascaded down throughout the organization,” says Blue. With a little more than 2,000 shareholders, Ahtna is one of the smaller regional corporations in terms
of shareholder enrollment, so its shareholder services team also reaches out via phone campaigns when the need arises. “These calls provide another opportunity for shareholders to ask questions and provide valuable feedback,” says Blue. Some examples include encouraging voting; encouraging completion of shareholder surveys; gathering information on shareholders’ employment status, needs, and goals; assisting with completion of forms (testamentary dispositions); and helping with direct deposit sign-up. Sealaska also considers shareholder input a top priority, Carle says. “One thing that we emphasize is the importance of listening to our shareholders,” says Carle, “so we offer as many ways as possible to provide direct feedback.” Options include Sealaska’s shareholder portal, MySealaska, as well as holding community meetings with a live camera function so that shareholders can ask questions in real time. “ We also spend a lot of time answering shareholder questions throughout the year, and in 2021, we’ll be adding more frequent ways of getting feedback from shareholders, including adding comment boxes on online stories and the thumbs up [or thumbs] down icon to provide informal feedback,” Carle adds. CIRI’s shareholder relations department provides a direct contact point for shareholders who want to speak with someone at the corporation and also has a monitored email address that provides a direct line to CIRI’s board of directors. “It’s an ever-evolving process,” says Tyler. “We constantly evaluate and adjust our communication tools based on trends or what specific demographic we feel like we’re not reaching as well as we’d like to. “Providing shareholders with a way to share their thoughts is an important aspect that sometimes gets overlooked,” he adds. “That’s why we strive to provide ways for our shareholders to connect with us—to have a voice in their corporation. It’s not a one-way street; it’s an ongoing, twoway conversation.”
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MARKETING
Automating & Advancing Why one Anchorage firm is sharing trade secrets to educate, elevate its community
Kerry Tasker
By Danny Kreilkamp
magine hosting an event with an array of prospective clients in attendance, and the first slide of your presentation reads: “Here Is Exactly How Not to Hire Us.” It seems counterintuitive, but this is precisely what ARM Creative has done with its educational event series: SOTI. SOTI, or State of the Industry, is an event curated by the full-service marketing firm that aims to inform Alaskans about new tools available to advertising professionals in the digital age. But the event isn’t just limited to marketers; ARM welcomes anyone who’s interested in learning how to better leverage these tools—including its competition. Co-founder and CEO Zach Aregood says there’s so much more to a digital marketing strategy than simply boosting a Facebook post; from building targeted ad campaigns to creating content at scale, the tools available to marketing professionals have never been more powerful, or certainly, more profitable.
20 | January 2021
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The inspiration for SOTI was due in part to the lag time that exists for business trends in the Lower 48 to catch on in Alaska, Aregood explains. While most companies in Alaska are familiar with tried and true advertising mediums like print, radio, and television, information surrounding more recent trends in digital marketing has only been around for a fraction of the time. Aregood likens this space to the “Wild West,” which his team hopes to pioneer. “There is currently a gap in the understanding of how a lot of these things work in our market,” says the UAA grad. “And because of this, what we were finding was that, on the agency and sales side, it might take six months to a year from when we first connect with a potential lead to when we close.” This delay was less than ideal in a business environment where clients have the money to spend today and demand results tomorrow. “So we thought: How can we close or shorten that window? How can we educate people on the advantages of these tools and put our money where our mouth is? But also: How can we build community?” In a way, this lack of information in the state is ironic. Because information—or data—is precisely the fuel for one of the most influential tools covered in SOTI: programmatic advertising.
in buying its product. Once a company decides to invest in programmatic advertising, it can use demand-side platforms to plug in its campaign budget and other specifications to purchase ad space from supply-side platforms on an ad exchange. This process can also be further augmented through the use of data management platforms, which allow companies to import specific customer data they might
Leave It to the Data
already possess. It sounds like a mouthful—and at times it can be—but there are reasons to take a deeper look at this kind of process: consider the reach of a radiobased ad campaign compared to that of a programmatic approach. “Say you spend $10,000 on a radio ad and reach 100,000 people,” Aregood posits. “That station may only have 30,000 people listening that you really care to reach. Whereas with programmatic, with a fraction of that budget, you could reach a similar amount of people, but all of them are interested and highly qualified buyers.” He is quick to note that programmatic advertising is just as capable of reaching large audiences, but the important takeaway from the example is that it’s maximizing a company’s budget. And while advertising to targeted audiences isn’t necessarily a new
Programmatic advertising utilizes software that pairs artificial intelligence with real-time bidding to streamline the digital ad-buying process. Programmatic—sometimes called automated—advertising offers marketers a number of advantages compared to traditional ad-buying methods which can often include time-heavy negotiations and requests for proposals. But at its core, what Aregood says is special about the process is that it takes the guesswork out of identifying a company’s “customer persona.” Customer personas begin with demographics like age, gender, and income. And when paired with psychographics like interests, motivators, and behaviors, a company can develop a pretty clear idea of the type of person who might be interested www.akbizmag.com
“We really are trying to educate ourselves, educate our clients, and also educate the market. We truly believe that when the market is doing better as a whole—everyone does better.” Zach Aregood, Cofounder/CEO, ARM Creative
Alaska Business
concept, the level of detail with which marketing professionals are able to target these audiences—and subsequently place personalized ads for—undoubtedly is. “Digitally, everything is tracked through cookies,” Aregood says. “We tell Facebook everything we like whether we put those interests on our profile or through the things that we engage with.” It’s a familiar feeling for everyone. After a conversation with a friend about their fabulous new sunglasses, not even a day later while scrolling through Facebook, there’s an advertisement for those same sunglasses. It’s concerning, and most people are understandably creeped out and proceed to contemplate deactivating their account. There isn’t any definitive proof that phones are indeed “listening,” but that’s certainly what it feels like; however, due to the strength and sophistication of modern algorithms, Aregood believes a more likely scenario is that a consumer probably took some action or expressed interest in those sunglasses without even knowing it. “And that’s the thing—the ways that advertisers are allowed to target on Facebook would blow your mind.” To illustrate this notion, Aregood points to a past ad campaign for one of ARM’s clients, CombatBet. CombatBet manufactures challenge coins, a commemorative token with traditions dating back to the Vietnam War. “We create these Facebook ads for them, and I’ll run a campaign targeting anyone who’s been to their website in the last thirty days, anyone who’s watched any of their videos in the last thirty days, or anyone who’s made a purchase in the last thirty days. “Then I’ll run a simultaneous campaign that serves a different message that targets anyone who saw that other stuff. Anyone who visited their website, anyone who added something to their cart and then abandoned it. And at each of those levels, I can give that customer a different message. For example, to someone who added payment information but didn’t follow through, I can place an ad that says, ‘Hey, come back now and finish your cart and we’ll give you 5 percent off.” January 2021 | 21
But it doesn’t stop there. “There might be three different types of people who abandon their cart,” Aregood adds. “We can even place an ad that’s more female-driven or one that’s more male-driven. These messages can be tailored at every step of the buyer’s experience.” To those unversed in the world of modern advertising, this might be unsettling, if not mildly invasive; to Aregood and other marketing professionals, this is simply called “the customer journey.”
Students of SOTI Aregood left Walsh Sheppard in 2017, taking with him then-client Deanna Miller, now co-founder of ARM. It’s only been a matter of years the two have been offering their expertise to the Alaska market, and the questions they aim to address with SOTI are considerable. “We started SOTI last year, and we were able to get several events in before COVID-19 hit,” Aregood reflects. “What I have noticed is a shift in the way those people who’ve attended are starting to think when I follow up with people on LinkedIn or when I see their social media as they start to put things in place.” Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Manager of Programs and Communication Tosha Swan, former SOTI attendee, is an example. Swan first became familiar with ARM’s SOTI event after, unsurprisingly, coming across a Facebook ad at the beginning of the year. “Since we don’t have a dedicated marketing person at the Chamber, it was helpful to hear the ways that we can be more efficient with our content,” says Swan. “For example, if we have an hour-long video that we’d post to YouTube, we can take screenshots and snippets of the video to use across other platforms,” she adds. “Snippets of that hour-long video can be shared on Instagram TV or for Facebook Live.” On suggestions as to how ARM might improve the event, Swan only has one request: “I would just suggest that maybe they do it more often and on a larger scale. I think this type of training is important for many of the small businesses, gig workers, and nonprofits who have limited resources.” 22 | January 2021
Jesse Hale of Alcan Electrical & Engineering is another SOTI alum. Reflecting on his experience, Hale says he attended the event feeling that there was more to leverage in the social media realm than what his company had been previously doing. “I wanted to learn more about this and educate myself on something that I truly don’t fully understand.
“And bottom line doesn’t always mean dollars, it could also mean community perception, and they did a great job of explaining what these different platforms do and how best to utilize them. You don’t necessarily want to sell on Twitter, you don’t want to go to YouTube to discuss politics—there is a time and place for every platform.” Jesse Hale, Vice President, Alcan Electrical & Engineering
“The event brought a lot to my attention; especially in the construction industry, where at 42, I’m still considered a ‘young’ guy,” Hale jokes. “I did not have a good understanding
of how these different platforms could bring value to your bottom line. And bottom line doesn’t always mean dollars, it could also mean community perception, and they did a great job of explaining what these different platforms do and how best to utilize them. You don’t necessarily want to sell on Twitter, you don’t want to go to YouTube to discuss politics—there is a time and place for every platform.” After the event, Hale actually decided to hire ARM to guide his company through a rebrand following a change in ownership. “It’s been a really collaborative effort working with ARM to maintain our past while also looking to the future,” Hale says, underlining the amount of work that was put into maintaining the company’s heritage throughout its digital facelift.
Advancing Alaska Businesses The ARM team is in regular communication with tech giants like Facebook and Google each month, constantly trying to gain a better grasp of the ever-changing algorithms and platforms that modern advertising depends on. But despite a proven track record, a business partner possessing decades of experience in Miller, and a client roster that includes local names like The Alaska Club and Alyeska Tire— not everyone is so ready and willing to sit down and take the advice of a 27-year-old. “I’ll be totally transparent: I’ve had people in Alaska laugh at me when I’m introduced as the CEO of ARM Creative,” he says with a smile. “But the funny thing is, I’ve also had conversations with clients down in the Lower 48 where they’ve said, ‘If you were any older, I wouldn’t even be having this conversation with you.’” Aregood feels this is a microcosm of the lag time described earlier and a symptom of a deeper issue: wellestablished businesses operating in the state haven’t really needed to adjust their marketing efforts due to a lack of competition. But times are changing. And Alaska companies are increasingly feeling the pressure of an expanding market— especially as businesses navigate the uncertainties of COVID-19. “This isn’t a town of 30,000 people
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Components of Programmatic Advertising Hearst Bay Area
anymore. A lot of businesses are recognizing that they’re losing market share and finding themselves in a position where they need to invest in, and educate themselves on, modern marketing strategies.” Aregood believes an event like SOTI can also serve as an antidote to a market that is otherwise closed-off or uncollaborative, which isn’t what consumers want today. “If you look Alaska _ Monthly Buz ad.pdf
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at every big brand there is right now, everyone is doing collaborations.” After a SOTI event, ARM sets up a private Facebook group where attendees can bounce ideas off each other, troubleshoot, or work through problems together. “People can chime in with a question on a certain social platform or strategy they’re trying to implement,” he explains. “We try to create a space where people can meet
someone that they wouldn’t have met otherwise. How can we bring together someone who's a physical therapist and someone who works at a bank— and how can they work toward a common goal?” “We really are trying to educate ourselves, educate our clients, and also educate the market. We truly believe that when the market is doing better as a whole—everyone does better.”
THE WORLD IS CHANGING... AND SO IS ALASKA. ARE YOU READY?
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Connecting Alaska for over 40 years Integrated electrical, telecommunications, construction, and engineering solutions www.akbizmag.com
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FINANCE
2021 Economic Outlook Uncertainty prevails, yet experts remain positive
Nuthawut Somsuk | iStock
By Tracy Barbour
24 | January 2021
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
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s Alaska was emerging from its longest recession on record, COVID-19 struck and delivered its devastating blow to the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost all the state’s industries, severely depressing revenue, employment, and consumer confidence. Now, what’s next for Alaska’s key industries? What economic forecasts are experts able— or willing—to make for 2021? In October, the consensus among economists was that Alaska’s fate is uncertain. However, there was that ever-present cautious optimism that the state will recover slowly, but surely, from the recession—and the added burden of the pandemic.
Performance of Key Industries Alaska’s recent recession never actually ended, according to Anchorage Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Bill Popp. In the first quarter of 2020, Alaska was in its fifth year of recession and down 800 jobs. Then COVID-19 reared its ugly head and continues to have a chilling effect on many aspects of the state’s economy. “The white-collar
“The state should try to mitigate business failures, as those could have long-run impacts on future growth. Businesses should work with economic development agencies and government agencies to access the aid available to make it through these lean times.” Mouhcine Guettabi, Associate Professor of Economics, UAA
jobs have not felt the pain as much as the blue-collar jobs,” Popp says. “The service sectors have all taken a beating.” The pandemic is having a broadbased impact, causing a considerable decline in Alaska’s overall economic activity. “There is virtually no sector of our economy that is untouched by the pandemic,” Popp says. “The only area we’re seeing positive news in jobs is the federal government because of the Census.”
Even healthcare, which historically has been a rock-solid industry in Alaska, has been hit unexpectedly hard. Elective procedures have pretty much dried up as hospitals reduced or cancelled elective surgeries, in part, to conserve personal protective equipment. Plus, many people are forgoing optional procedures for fear of contracting COVID-19 in the hospital. These and other factors have led to hospital personnel layoffs, from
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“We are projecting modest job growth [3,300 jobs], based on tourism seeing the beginning of a recovery next year. We think there will be some return to activity of significance in the oil patch and some ripple effect from what we hope are going to be future federal relief funds in the form of infrastructure funding and employment and business assistance funds such as PPP [Paycheck Protection Program].” Bill Popp President/CEO Anchorage Economic Development Corporation
26 | January 2021
admin and food prep to janitorial. “We had thirteen years of job growth in healthcare,” Popp says. “This is the first drop in the healthcare sector in fifteen years.” In addition, tourism and tourismadjacent businesses have been hit severely by the pandemic. Alaska’s highly seasonal economy typically has 15 percent more jobs in July than it does in January, according to Mouhcine Guettabi, associate professor of economics at UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. And the decline in travel and travel spending, which normally occurs in just three short months, has cost the state thousands of jobs. “As of September 2020, employment in leisure and hospitality is 33 percent below the same month last year,” Guettabi says. “The recovery of the sector is dependent on virus containment, financial health of the consumer at the national level, and business failure mitigation efforts. In my forecast, I predict that the leisure and hospitality sector will grow at double-digit rates, but it will still be below pre-pandemic levels.” Manufacturing, specifically seafood processing, was also hit hard by the pandemic. Seafood processing, which represents 70 percent of all manufacturing jobs in the state, has been negatively affected by COVID-19 due to significant declines in demand. Guettabi says, “In 2021, I expect the sector to slowly start regaining the jobs lost the previous year and grow at a rate of 1.5 percent, but of course its recovery is dependent on demand from other parts of the world.” Another hard-hit sector in Alaska is the oil and gas industry. As of September 2020, the oil and gas sector had only 6,900 jobs, a 2,900job decline relative to the same month last year. “For 2021, I see the sector either being flat or growing slowly as most oil price forecasts show prices remaining in the mid$40s at least over the next year,” Guettabi says. The oil and gas industry has pulled back significantly due to reduced demand and efforts to exercise caution and safety for its workers, according to Popp. “They are maintaining current
production in a safe manner,” he says. “This was supposed to be a big year in new exploration and development spending, but that wasn’t the case.”
COVID-19’s Lingering Impact State labor economist Neal Fried also laments the lingering effect of the pandemic on Alaska. He points out that in 2020 any areas that were tied to the visitor industry, such as Skagway and Denali, were affected more than other locations in Alaska. Many of these communities also rely on sales taxes paid by tourists. From a regional standpoint, communities in Southeast—which depends heavily on cruise ships and fisheries—were hit the hardest. Fisheries is sort of a mixed bag, Fried says. They have done relatively well in some places and not so well in others. Bristol Bay, for instance, had a very good year in 2020 while places like Southeast and Prince William Sound did not. On the flip side, the mining sector fared relatively well in 2020. The outlook for mining has been positive, which make sense considering the elevated price of gold. “It’s one of our industries that has remained quite healthy,” Fried says. “It’s just not very large; it’s not a big employer.” In addition, the military is stable and growing in Alaska. And air cargo has done well, with international cargo being very strong, Fried says. In fact, as of the end of September 2020, 2.5 million tons of cargo had touched down at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, a 13.6 percent increase over the first nine months of 2019, according to an Alaska Department of Transportation press release.
High Unemployment Unemployment claims are a major economic indicator of COVID19’s impact on Alaska. In March, unemployment surged from some of the lowest to the highest levels ever recorded. For example, in week ten of 2020—in late February/early March— the state went from having 1,100 to 15,000 unemployment claims. And unemployment remains high. “We’re still looking at 5,000 in unemployment claims,” Fried says. At one point, almost 70,000 people
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out of a workforce of 330,000 were receiving unemployment benefits in Alaska, Fried says. Near the end of 2020, 40,000 Alaskans were receiving unemployment checks, compared to about 5,000 recipients during the same period in 2019. The 2020 unemployment numbers, Popp says, are not only staggering but unprecedented in the modern history of Alaska. He explains: “The ‘80s was terrible, but those job losses were spread out over two years. This is the worst year for unemployment numbers in the last twenty years.” Tremendous economic uncertainty exists in Alaska, according to Mark Edwards, executive vice president, chief credit officer, and bank economist with Northrim Bank. That uncertainty reduces consumer confidence and slows investment decisions. In a virtual “Alaska Economic Update 2020” presentation in October, Edwards reported that he expects low interest rates to continue over the next several years, as well as higher-than-normal unemployment and low inflation. And an increasing trend toward a remote workforce will
translate into reduced demand for office space, lower demand for oil, less pollution and traffic congestion, and reduced tax collection from public transportation. However, Edwards is looking forward. “I, personally, believe that we will get through this challenge like so many that we have faced in the past,” he says.
Implications for Recession Recovery So how do economists characterize what has happened to Alaska’s emergence from the recession? Was it halted by the pandemic? Has the timeline now been pushed back? The narrative for 2020 was that a record number of visitors was going to nudge Alaska into positive territory. Here’s Fried’s perspective: “Every forecast that was made in 2020 was made for modest growth,” he says. That, obviously, was not the case. “That last recession—the second-worst one Alaska has experienced—pushed us back to our 2010 levels,” Fried says. “So, when we started to recover in 2019 with a modest 0.5 percent growth, we still had a lot of ground to cover to get back
to our previous high of 2015. If you just look at the 2020 levels, it will look like we’ll be slipping back to the 2004/2005 levels. On a percent basis, we’ve slipped back—so far this year—7 or 8 percent. We’re getting a double whammy.” Based on numbers for September, Alaska’s employment is still running 11 percent below a year ago (at 37,600 job losses in September). For every industry, except for the federal government, there are job losses. Similarly, Guettabi says Alaska’s economy was on a path to emerge from the recession in 2019 when it had a modest 0.5 percent growth. In 2020, pre-pandemic, the economy was expected to grow at the same rate it did in 2019. “The pandemic has caused an unprecedented shock to the labor market, businesses, and general public,” he says. “Based on my forecast, I think the recovery from this shock will be a slow one, and we will still be below pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2022.” In 2021, Guettabi expects the economy to slowly start regaining jobs lost the previous year and grow at a rate of 2.2 percent. “There is clearly a
Can Humor Work in Advertising? Juneau It! By Charles Bell, VP of Sales
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uns... groan if you like… or chuckle if you don’t! Comedian Victor Borge once said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Everyone can use a good laugh every once in a while, so why not try it in your advertising? Done correctly, you will gain a favorable impression with your audience. Just keep in mind that if done poorly, you might get pun-ished and the joke will be on you! Effective advertising draws attention and delivers a favorable brand impression or a call to action. If people don’t notice your ad, how can it be effective? Make sure your advertising message aligns with your strategic goals. Pro tip: Being funny is You want your target associate your business one positive benefit that or service delivers.
not enough. audience to with at least your product
One of my favorite ways to utilize humor in advertising by combining creative imagery with clever copywriting.
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” — Leo Burnett
I think Leo Burnett’s quote perfectly sums up effective advertising. Achieve those things and you will be well on your way to creating a compelling and effective ad. Humor releases endorphins, which create positive feelings. You might make somebody’s day better by giving them a reason to smile, and if it improves your brand equity in the process, then that sounds like a win to me.
Whale, Hello There!! Charles Bell is the Vice President of Sales at Alaska Business Publishing Co. and is known for his witty puns and successfully helping advertisers reach their target audience. Having worked at Alaska Business since 1998, Charles is well-versed in Alaska’s economic landscape and looks forward to assisting the magazine clients with their marketing endeavors.
CHARLES BELL
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“That last recession— the second-worst one Alaska has experienced—pushed us back to our 2010 levels. So, when we started to recover in 2019 with a modest 0.5 percent growth, we still had a lot of ground to cover to get back to our previous high of 2015. If you just look at the 2020 levels, it will look like we’ll be slipping back to the 2004/2005 levels. On a percent basis, we’ve slipped back—so far this year—7 or 8 percent. We’re getting a double whammy.” Neal Fried Labor Economist Department of Labor and Workforce Development
28 | January 2021
tremendous amount of uncertainty due to the resurgence of the virus, lack of clarity on the timing of the fiscal packages, and the continued hesitation surrounding travel,” he says. Fried is reluctant to make predictions about Alaska’s 2021 economic outlook. He explains: “I think it’s almost audacious to try to predict 2021. COVID-19 is going to define a lot of this, and who knows what will happen.” The national and global economies will also be important factors in Alaska’s fate, Fried says. So will consumer sentiment, which will affect local consumption. Alaska was just beginning to emerge from recession when COVID-19 struck. It was in a vastly different place than the rest of the country, which was doing well, Fried says. The pandemic maybe hit Alaska a little harder, partially because of the seasonality of the state’s employment and the timing of COVID-19. “So you would think that Alaska’s recovery would be slower than the rest of the country’s,” he says.
Reasons for Optimism Overall, Alaska’s economists are considering 2021 with guarded optimism. Popp, for example, feels there is reason to be “cautiously optimistic” in terms of 2021 being better than 2020. “ We are projecting modest job growth [3,300 jobs] based on tourism seeing the beginning of a recover y next year,” he explains. “ We think there will be some return to activity of significance in the oil patch and some ripple effect from what we hope are going to be future federal relief funds in the form of infrastructure funding and employment and business assistance funds such as PPP [Paycheck Protection Program].” He adds: “All of that will help to turn the corner, but it will be a long road ahead. All of this is also predicated on the idea that a vaccine is being deployed by early next spring.” Popp also expresses positivit y about how tourism will per form in 2021, following 2020’s "lost season." While local businesses are hopeful that 2021 will be a better year, no one is thinking exuberantly, he says.
However, the cruise industry is bullish for 2021, Popp says. Alaska is showing up as a highly ranked destination of interest. “That will work in our favor,” he says. “Domestic travel is going to come back more quickly than foreign travel.” Indeed, the winds of economic change are shifting for the cruise industry. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its no sail order in October for cruise ships sailing in US waters. The order, which originally went into effect on March 14, 2020, has been replaced with a conditional sailing order that requires a phased approach to resuming passenger operations in US waters. Cruise ships will have to satisfy multiple stipulations before passengers will be allowed back on board. Edwards of Northrim Bank identifies several positive aspects about Alaska and its economy. For instance, he says Alaska’s housing market is stable and even up, with average sales prices increasing from 4.3 percent to 11 percent around the state. There is a solid amount of home improvement taking place, as people convert to home offices and spend more time in quarantine. Historically low interest rates have led to an increase in home refinance activity. Also, the state’s delinquency and foreclosure rates are better than elsewhere in the country. As a general note, Edwards says this might be a good time for businesses to make key investments in new locations. They could also consider hiring key employees that are suddenly available. He adds that oil exploration spending could be a major boost for the state, generating much-needed investment and jobs. For example, the US Department of the Interior recently signed a record of decision on the final environmental impact statement for ConocoPhillips Alaska’s proposed Willow Master Development Plan. This allows for the construction of up to three drill sites, along with associated processing and support facilities. The project, which could produce 590 million barrels of oil over its anticipated
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30-year life, is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs during peak construction and more than 400 jobs during operations.
Guidance from Experts Alaska’s economic experts share an assortment of insights about what to do or be aware of when navigating 2021. Guettabi says it will be a long road for the state to revert to pre-pandemic levels. And it is clear that businesses still need more fiscal aid because demand remains depressed and foot traffic to most establishments is still well below pre-pandemic levels. “The state should try to mitigate business failures, as those could have long-run impacts on future growth,” he says. “Businesses should work with economic development agencies and government agencies to access the aid available to make it through these lean times.” Popp’s advice is to wear a mask and avoid large-group gatherings. He says: “The business community is pleading for the public to follow these guidelines to help them keep their businesses safe and open... We can’t withstand another shutdown. A shutdown can cause businesses to be lost—and these businesses may never come back.” It is critically important that Alaskans partner with the business community to help everyone get through the next several months, Popp says. “This is going to be one of the darker winters we’ve had,” he says. “We can make it a little brighter if we all work together.” As for Edwards, he says: “Make sure you are open to adapting to the everchanging environment. Stay positive and look into the future, where this will one day be behind us.”
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Today Is Uncertain, But Tomorrow Represents Hope and Promise By Kevin Van Nortwick, Office Tax Managing Partner, BDO Flora Teo, President, Junior Achievement of Alaska
O
Kevin Van Nortwick
30 | January 2021
Event Hiatus
ut of an abundance of caution, the Alaska Business Hall of Fame event has been postponed until 2022. While this feels like another blow to the business community due to COVID-19, we feel it is important to wait until we can celebrate safely in person—this year’s class of laureates is exceptional, and so deserving of this honor. We look forward to celebrating with them in person on January 20, 2022. COVID-19 has so quickly and so profoundly changed our daily lives. Schools have closed for face-to-face learning and businesses of all sizes are suffering. As unsettling as the past months have been to us as adults, consider the impact this is having on thousands of young people who are suddenly schooling at home.
To gain a better understanding of how US youth are reacting to the pandemic, in April 2020 Wakefield Research conducted a survey on behalf of Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Bank | Citizens One. The survey of 1,000 thirteen- to eighteen-year-olds is summarized below. What teens are concerned about: Participating teens were asked about their level of concern regarding the financial impact of COVID-19 on them, their families, or loved ones. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of teens surveyed say that they are “somewhat” or “very concerned.” Survey respondents were also asked what concerns them most about COVID-19. Most teens (72 percent) say that they had a discussion with their
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Disruptions to plans for college: On the topic of future plans, nearly half of high school juniors and seniors (44 percent) say COVID-19 has impacted their plans to pay for college. Of those saying their plans have changed, most (58 percent) say they are more likely to take out a student loan to pay for college than they were prior to the pandemic. Teens and work: On the topic of work, nearly half of teens (42 percent) say they earn money through odd jobs working for other people, and more than a quarter (29 percent) have a job with an outside employer. Of those working outside the home, close to half (46 percent) say they or their families depend on their income. A significant
Many of our education partners have been searching for solutions to provide educational opportunities for their students at home. JA responded immediately and continues to respond with educational materials made available online to education partners and parents struggling to give their kids direction at home. Materials include traditional programming converted to virtual, experiential formats. percentage of teens (42 percent) say their parents or caretakers are now working from home in response to COVID-19, while more than quarter (28 percent) responded that their parents are working fewer hours as a result of the pandemic. Job loss: Job loss has also hit teens. A quarter (25 percent) say they have lost jobs, such
as lawn mowing and snow removal, as a result of COVID-19. Nearly as many (21 percent) have lost babysitting and pet-sitting jobs. Almost one-fifth (18 percent) have lost a job at an outside employer due to COVID-19.
How JA Is Stepping Up to Serve Alaskans To support our young people, JJA is offering free online resources to
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SAVE THE DATE: January 22, 2022 th
34 Alaska Business Hall of Fame
Please join us for the celebration of Alaska business leaders moved to next year
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parents or guardians about finances related to COVID-19. The possibility of a family member other than a parent or guardian getting sick is a top concern (60 percent). Far fewer teens (39 percent) are concerned about getting sick themselves.
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WHY JA? AND WHY NOW?
58% 57% 46%
of Americans had less than $1,000 in savings even before COVID-19.
of teens are concerned about how COVID-19 will impact their plans for the future.
of teens who work say they or their families depend on their income for living expenses.
teachers, parents, and young people at ja.org/tomorrows. We are doing this so that our children can spend more time planning for and dreaming about tomorrow and less time worrying about today. Since the pandemic started, JA has served more than 2,500 students through teaching financial capability, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship. Many of our education partners have been searching for solutions to provide educational opportunities for their students at home. JA responded immediately and continues to respond with educational materials made available online to education partners and parents struggling to give their kids direction at home. Materials include traditional programming converted to virtual, experiential formats. JA Alaska is working with local employers to develop a JA Online Career Speaker Series and a JA Inspire Virtual Career Fair for students and schools. This event will include short, impactful videos of individuals talking about their Alaska careers. The videos will be organized into twelve career clusters/pathways. JA is connecting with educators, other youth development organizations, and libraries to ensure access for all JA participants. There are several key features that are a part of JA’s programs: • Multiple content delivery types, designed to meet local school system mode(s) of delivery • Flexible models that infuse community volunteer connections • Online and personal training and support for educators • Student activity pages in fillable PDF forms for digital delivery across multiple platforms • Content aligned with academic standards • Relevant, interactive learning experiences • Self-guided, interactive, asynchronous learning activities in a bite-sized design (5 to 10 minutes each)
32 | January 2021
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A Word (or Several) of Gratitude Junior Achievement of Alaska would like to recognize the Lead Sponsors of the Campaign: Mary K. Hughes, Andrew Eker, the John C. Hughes Foundation, GCI, Lynden, and Jim Jansen. Many thanks to supporting sponsors: Betsy Lawer, Leonard & Martens LLC, Financial Planning and Investments, John & Kai Sims, ENSTAR Natural Gas Co., Alaska Communications, Northrim Bank, ASRC Energy Services, Delta Constructors, KPMG, Arctic IT, The Planning Group Northwest, Cal IV Tubulars, NANA Management Services, Jana Smith, Petro 49 Inc., TOTE Maritime Alaska, Alaska Airlines, Wells Fargo, Jason Metrokin, Udelhoven Oilfield System Services, Connie Yoshimura, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Alaska Realty, Randy & Chanda Mines, Odom Corporation, Jana Hayenga, Cabin Fever, Jo Michalski, Adm. Tom Barrett, Pat & April Reilly, Rain Proof Roofing, Kevin and Jeana Van Nortwick, Harry McDonald, Blue Arctic Waste, John & Mary Witte and Rita Sholton, and other businesses who donated after the release of this announcement. JA must raise additional funding to continue to provide programs to students this year. To make a donation, please visit alaska.ja.org and click "Donate."
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Looking Forward As demand for the program continues to grow, JA is partnering with the communities that we serve to prepare young people for a global economy. Through the ongoing investment by corporations and businesses in Alaska, JA Alaska can continue to reach more students. From the board, staff, and students of Junior Achievement of Alaska, we wish you the very best in 2021.
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JA Educator and Volunteer of the Year Celebrating two of many dedicated to educating Alaska’s next workforce Contributed by Junior Achievement of Alaska
Linson Thompson Junior Achievement of Alaska
insure they will be prepared for future success,” says Flora Teo, president of Junior Achievement of Alaska. “Every year we look forward to working with their students in this really beautiful collaboration of educators and business professionals. Principal Thompson makes it a point to come to welcome all the volunteers and thank them all for taking time off for the students at Sand Lake. People remember that, and we appreciate his dedication and support.”
Junior Achievement of Alaska Educator of the Year
S
and Lake Elementary Principal Linson Thompson has been selected as the Junior Achievement of Alaska Educator of the Year. Thompson has been a strong supporter of Junior Achievement’s mission to encourage entrepreneurship and help Alaska’s youth build workforce readiness and financial literacy skills. Through the annual JA in a Day event at Sand Lake Elementary School, in partnership with ExxonMobil, students are given the opportunity to interact with professionals from the business community while participating in handson, experiential learning activities that will prepare them for the future. For the past several years, Thompson’s support of community partnership and collaboration has been inspiring. “The teachers and principal at Sand Lake go above and beyond for their students to
34 | January 2021
Jenna Compehos Denaa Photography | Jenna Compehos
Junior Achievement of Alaska Volunteer of the Year
J
enna Compehos, a compliance specialist for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, has been selected as the Junior Achievement of Alaska Volunteer of the Year. Compehos serves as the community committee chair in Valdez. As such, she works with members of
the professional community to recruit volunteers to teach Junior Achievement programs at Hermon Hutchens Elementary School and has done so for several years. “People like Jenna are inspiring because, in a place like Alaska, access to opportunity can be a real barrier for students. Junior Achievement would not be able to provide programming to students in Valdez if it weren’t for the dedication of volunteers,” says Teo. Despite significant geographic and technological challenges, the Valdez committee is one of Alaska’s longest standing committees, right after Anchorage and Fairbanks. The benefit of Junior Achievement’s K-12 programs is that lessons are intended to be taught each year, so the student receives lessons that build on concepts from the prior year. Because of this, Junior Achievement alumni report 20 percent higher gross incomes when compared with their peers, are 45 percent less likely to be unemployed, and 1 in 5 grow up to work in the same industry as their Junior Achievement volunteer. This is something that volunteers in Valdez understand, and they are committed to providing this benefit for their students. “Valdez has been going strong for several decades in Alaska, and without people like Jenna it would not be possible,” says Teo.
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Alumni Spotlight Checking in with Junior Achievement success stories Contributed by Junior Achievement
J
unior Achievement (JA) helps students develop successful financial management habits, empowers them to explore the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, and provides them with the skills necessary to succeed in a global workforce. In addition, external evaluations have found that, overall, elementary students who participate in JA think about how the things learned in JA will be important later in life. A significant number of middle school students develop or improve their entrepreneurial, leadership, and decision-making skills by participating in JA activities designed to give them financial literacy skills, prepare them to enter the workforce, and teach them about the pros and cons of entrepreneurship. High school students who participate in JA agree that what they learn in the classroom is important to the success of their future. And research indicates that students engaged in JA are able to connect classroom lessons with real life experiences. Overall, students at all grade levels report that JA fosters an attitude and provides knowledge that helps them set goals, seek out important information, and, ultimately, find success. Here we recognize and celebrate Alaskan entrepreneurs who have been involved with JA either in the past or the present. In these Q&As, JA asks: Why it is important that this type of education continues to be taught in Alaska’s schools? 36 | January 2021
Megan Militello Junior Achievement of Alaska
Megan Militello Founder/CEO, Elevated Oats JA: What inspired you to start your company? Megan Militello: Elevated Oats was inspired by many aspects of my life. I had been working a government job and saw what food was being consumed and what was not. It was shocking to hear local Hawaiians say they had never heard of popular local fruits or vegetables. I recognized an opportunity in the marketplace. One recipe and a failed relationship opened the flood gates of ideas for a food manufacturing business that provided healthier breakfast/snack options. And thus, Elevated Oats was born. JA: Why does Alaska need entrepreneurs? Militello: I believe Alaska needs entrepreneurs to innovate and contribute to the growth of our
economic future. For such a large state, Alaska is very small. Entrepreneurs of all sorts are in Alaska, hoping to make Alaska an even better place. Our local entrepreneurs are motivated differently than the large companies that already control the majority of business in the United States. I feel the business owners here care more about providing the best options for our community. JA: What’s one thing that would surprise people about you/your company? Militello: We’ve been very lucky with scaling our operation and having equipment that works shockingly well for our granola. We started cooking our granola in a regular at-home oven and have since moved to an old Pizza Hut conveyor belt oven. We had no clue if this huge oven would fit our needs—after a few test runs, we had the temperature and timing down. We’re about to upgrade to a double stack conveyor belt oven, improving the speed of our operation.
Mike Jipping Founder/Soda Chef, Beach Tribe SodaWorks JA: How did Junior Achievement inspire you? Mike Jipping: After participating in JA in high school, I’ve always considered myself entrepreneurial and have started a few small businesses prior to Beach Tribe SodaWorks. That entrepreneurial attitude has also helped me to succeed in many jobs throughout my life, providing me a think-outside-the-box mindset and discipline.
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Mike Jipping Junior Achievement of Alaska
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more leadership roles. I hope you get into it! JA: What’s one thing that would surprise people to know about you/ your company? Jipping: I rarely drank soda and had never made craft soda before I started Beach Tribe SodaWorks.
Mary Miner Cofounder, Atikus Investments Incorporated (Rwanda) JA: What inspired you to start your company? Mary Miner: The fact that access to capital can be life changing for an individual and a family. I saw this life changing transformation take place during a gap year traveling abroad, in my post-secondary education focused on microfinance, and throughout my work at a microfinance institution in Cape Coast, Ghana. Atikus Investments Incorporated aimed to expand access to capital for qualified yet underserved individuals, particularly women, across the developing world. It pursued this goal through the use of data, technology, and credit insurance tools developed alongside financial institutions in Rwanda. Starting Atikus allowed me to build on my work in microfinance and pursue targeted, meaningful impact that I believed would change the financial sector for the better. JA: Why does Alaska need entrepreneurs? Miner: Alaska needs entrepreneurs to diversify our economy and continue the spark of innovation in our state. Alaskans deal with unique challenges every day. Located in the Arctic, with 570,641 square miles of land, Alaska is the largest state in the union. With approximately 700,000 residents, Alaska has the lowest population density of any state and roughly 86 percent of communities reside off the state’s official road system. Innovative entrepreneurs are needed to advance the state’s economic
Alaska Business
Mary Miner Junior Achievement of Alaska
growth and development, particularly in rural off-the-road-system communities. JA: How do you support entrepreneurship in Alaska? Miner: As a governing board member of Launch Alaska–the state’s first entrepreneurial accelerator—I’m proud to support new entrepreneurs tackling some of our state’s most pressing challenges around energy and energy intensive businesses such as food, water, and transportation. As the VP of community development at Alaska Growth Capital—a wholly owned subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and a small business lender operating across Alaska—I’m excited to advance entrepreneurs’ access to capital in Alaska. JA: What’s one thing that would surprise people to know about you/ your company? Miner: I am a mother of two. Being an entrepreneur is a lot like being a mom. It’s important to remember, it takes a village, both in motherhood and in building a business. No entrepreneur or parent can do everything themselves. Balancing it all is more difficult than you think, but supporting something (or someone) from the beginning is the most rewarding thing you will ever do.
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JA: What inspired you to start your company? Jipping: Beach Tribe SodaWorks was a culmination of ideas that I was passionate about, good at, and also believed that I could make a living at. I had reached a ceiling in my job and was looking for various ways— outside of the box—where I could make a business move using my strengths and continue to grow my goals and relationships. Providing refreshments to Anchorage, Alaska— and ideally the rest of the world— was something that kept coming up. JA: Why does Alaska need entrepreneurs? Jipping: Well…what is an entrepreneur? How about: hard-working disciplined people, who create value for their communities? Then, yes, we need more of them! I love Alaska. And I’m optimistic. And I believe that with all of our many resources, Alaskan entrepreneurs have a special opportunity to continue to grow this great state into one of the coolest places on the planet. The variety of entrepreneurship that has been developing in our unique communities is exciting and inspiring, and I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labor ripen. As long as our people are pursuing value-added lifestyles, our state can look forward to moving into
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JA Q&A with Dave Allen A Legacy of True Alaskan Hospitality
D
ave Allen is the owner of Alaska Dream Cruises and Allen Marine Tours, a family-owned business and one of the oldest tour companies in Alaska, operating in the Inside Passage for more than forty-five years. Allen Marine operates more than thirty vessels, employs more than 300 Alaskans, and provides daily and week-long tours and cruises throughout Southeast Alaska. The company also builds aluminum boats and structural products at its boat shop in Sitka.
Alaska Business: How did you get your start? Dave Allen: I grew up in the family business, which started as a shipyard in Sitka in 1967. Our family spent countless hours hauling boats, propping them up, scraping barnacles off hulls before adding fresh layers of copper paint, and making repairs. Summers were slow since all the boats were out fishing. To fill this time, we fixed up a sunken motor yacht and outfitted it for sightseeing tours. Our refurbished tour vessel, the Manana II, was re-christened as the St. Michael and we began running tours of Silver Bay. Dad was the captain, mom was the first mate, and my siblings and I were deckhands. 38 | January 2021
"It is important to be actively involved with the local school district. We enjoy hosting class field trips to our shipyard, where students learn about business operations and the various positions we offer—from welding and plumbing to accounting and marketing." Dave Allen
AB: Where did you grow up? Allen: I was born in Kodiak in 1967; however, our family moved to Sitka when I was less than a year old. My parents, Bob and Betty Allen, funded the move through our family’s first entrepreneurial venture—recovering and selling communication cable that had been buried in the ground and laid along the seabed during WWII. My dad came up with an efficient means of pulling the cable so that the copper and lead could be recovered in paying quantities. AB: What were your parents like and what was your family life and upbringing like? Allen: Dad had a way of making even the most tedious and disagreeable chores seem like fun—to the point that us siblings, who generally got along well with each other, would sometimes end up fighting over the privilege of completing whatever task was at hand. The working part was almost like play. We loved being around the shipyard and we all participated in the family business. Here's a story to illustrate how much we liked to be at the shipyard: One time my sister, Kipper, had an accident where she got her hair caught in a planer. She was able to
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JUNIOR ACHIE VEMENT SPECIAL SEC TION Dave Allen Junior Achievement of Alaska
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"One thing we’re proud of is our signature design—a catamaran with four waterjets and four engines. This setup had never been done anywhere in the world, and some waterjet engineers even doubted the design. It ended up being very efficient and stable and became a standard throughout the world. We’re also proud of building one of the largest whale watching and sightseeing operations in the country." Dave Allen
40 | January 2021
get the machine stopped but not before it separated her scalp. She ended up with three stitches. Well, I was really young and started yelling “I told you! Now we won’t be able to go to the shop anymore! You ruined everything!” And I was right—at least for a bit. For what ended up being less than three days my Mom didn’t allow us to go anywhere near the shipyard. But after that short amount of time, she couldn’t take the begging anymore, and she let us go with dad to put a boat in the water. Me and my siblings would sit on the boat’s dashboard as dad steered the boat, competing with each other for the privilege of working the hand operated windshield wiper. Dad was great at keeping work and play the same. We never had any regrets of missing out on other things in life. Helping out with the family business was our life and we loved it. In my teens I was seriously involved in high school athletics, but I devoted every spare hour, especially on weekends, to helping in the shop. Dad was innovative and punctual. He always said, “Nobody waits for Allen Marine.” We were always on time for our tours and lightering services. My Mom is Alaska Native of the Tlingit tribe. Some of her early memories are of experiences aboard her Dad’s small troller fishing vessel. Like Dad, hard work is part of who she is. When she was growing up, she says her Dad (my Grandpa) would say, “Don’t wait around—no one is going to give you money—you got to go work.” And she did from a young age. When she was just sixteen, she began working at a remote cannery in Hawk Inlet on Admiralty Island, where she had spent her summers since infancy.
AB: What opportunities led to the early success of your business? Allen: In the summer of 1970, the same year we began the Silver Bay Tour, a new kind of tour ship arrived in Sitka Sound. The arrival of larger cruise ships heralded the beginning of a new era for tourism in Sitka and Southeast Alaska. In 1971 we were invited to ferry passengers from the cruise ship at anchor (there was no dock in town big enough to accommodate the ship) to shore and back.
For the first three years, almost all business with the ships involved lightering (ferrying) passengers. Halfway through the fourth season, dad finally got a Princess Cruise shore director to commit to a Silver Bay tour. Though we were promised twenty-six guests on our first tour, the shore director arrived with just two guests—a husband and wife. The director offered to cancel the tour, but Dad said that we would take them. They sat in the wheelhouse talking with Dad and enjoying the scenery of the Bay and Southeast Alaska. About ten days later, Dad got another call from the same shore director: "I have forty-nine people for you." This time forty-nine people showed up. The director told Dad that those first two cruisers were known aboard the cruise ship as not being satisfied with anything about their cruise. Other passengers were even avoiding them because they were complaining about how miserable they had been. But when those two passengers got back to the cruise ship after our tour they spent the remainder of the cruise talking about the wonderful trip they took up Silver Bay with the Allens. That true Alaskan hospitality and family ambiance and attention to safety caught on and we developed good relationships with the excursion directors aboard the ships. Over the coming decades we were able to expand operations to Juneau and Ketchikan. Nearly all of the vessels in our fleet were built by us in our Sitka shipyard.
AB: Do you believe there is value in educating young people about free enterprise? If so, why? Allen: Yes, we strongly believe in the value of educating young people about free enterprise. This can help prepare them to be successful in their endeavors throughout life—regardless of the specific path they choose. AB: What can schools and parents do to ensure that young people don’t encounter financial pitfalls? Allen: When I was in high school, we had a class called “Single’s Living.” In that class we learned how to manage money, balance checkbooks, basics of banking, and practical
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AB: What can the business community offer to young people? Allen: It is important to be actively involved with the local school district. We enjoy hosting class field trips to our shipyard, where students learn about business operations and the various positions we offer—from welding and plumbing to accounting and marketing. We also participate in mock job interviews for the upperclassmen of Sitka High to help them be better prepared for interviews with their future employers. We’re thrilled by the positive feedback we always receive from both the teachers and students after these events. We have also done in-class visits to tech and vocational courses, where we’ve taught about shipbuilding and design, engineering, and mechanical work. AB: Did you have a role model growing up? Do you think young people benefit from role models? Allen: For all the reasons listed in previous questions, my Mom and Dad were my role models. Their hard work and determination are inspiring. Role models can be both good and bad, and it’s critical that young people have role models that will uplift and encourage. It’s on all of us as parents, business leaders, coaches, et cetera to exhibit positive traits for our young people to emulate—because they will. AB: What can we do to prepare young people to succeed in a global economy? Allen: We need to teach our young people to work hard and not give up—resiliency. I also believe it is important to teach real-world skills in the classroom—the basics that will help students transition from educational settings to the workplace.
waterjets and four engines. This setup had never been done anywhere in the world, and some waterjet engineers even doubted the design. It ended up being very efficient and stable and became a standard throughout the world. We’re also proud of building one of the largest whale watching and sightseeing operations in the country.
AB: What do you hope for your own future and/or the future of Alaska? Allen: The negative effects of the current pandemic have been
AB: What do you want your legacy to be? Allen: Our mission has always been to immerse each guest in a personable level of service we’ve come to call True Alaskan Hospitality. Even though we coined that term just a few years ago, it has really been our mantra from those first tours. We expect every employee to treat each passenger as a special guest.
Making a
difference Congratulations to President and CEO Rex A. Rock Sr. on his induction into the Alaska Business Hall of Fame. ASRC knows first-hand the impact President Rock has had toward furthering the success of Alaska businesses and elevating the educational landscape for the state’s youth. Thank you for your continued commitment to Junior Achievement programs and the next generation of Alaska business leaders.
AB: So far, what accomplishments are you most proud of? Allen: One thing we’re proud of is our signature design—a catamaran with four www.akbizmag.com
unfathomable. Our greatest hope is that stabilization can occur.
asrc.com
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“real-world” skills. These kinds of courses can be of significant benefit to prepare students for their eventual careers and for life in general.
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Bagoy’s
Finding Ways to Flourish By Tasha Anderson
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here are just a handful of organizations that have a hundredyear history of serving Alaskans: among them are First National Bank Alaska, established in 1922; the Sisters of Providence, which started its mission here in 1902; and the Historic Anchorage Hotel, built in 1916. And working right alongside the banks, hospitals, and hotels is a florist—Bagoy’s—founded by John and Marie Bagoy in 1922. Today it remains a family business, now run by Chanda and Randy Mines. The pair took over ownership and operations from Chanda’s parents in 1991. “My parents were looking to sell the business and retire, and I was at a point where I could come over and help them package it up, and I fell in love with it,” Chanda says. She wasn’t always as keen on it, particularly when she was young. “Did I like the business? No,” she laughs. “It was my parents’ company. As girls we kind of raised ourselves a lot of times because they were so busy with so much work… We did get pulled in and worked for them for holidays. I think my dad fired me at least a dozen times for different reasons, and so it was something I didn’t really look back at wanting to do.” 42 | January 2021
“Having opportunity in private enterprise— you get to write your own ticket. We don’t have to sit around and wait for a raise from the boss; we can work as hard as we want and the benefits are there. If we want to work harder, there’s more to get.” Randy Mines, Owner, Bagoy’s
As an adult, she had both a better understanding of how demanding a floral business can be and a deeper appreciation of how it can affect the lives around her. A florist shop has a lot of up-front challenges, she says: it’s retail, it depends on sourcing and working with highly creative people, it requires close interactions with customers who are often going through profoundly emotional experiences, and it uses a highly perishable product. “You learn in college, or in life, that those are all difficult things [to manage for a business] and they’re all in one package.” But eventually, a new perspective began to sprout. “I saw it as an adult with different eyes, I saw how beautiful it was.” “I saw a lot of opportunity to grow it, even though it was an established business, and it was one of those feelgood businesses where the public really embraces it and everyone feels like it’s theirs: it belongs to them, it’s their Bagoy’s.” Now, after three decades, her favorite part of owning a flower boutique is making people happy, a sentiment Randy shares. “Just knowing we’re able to touch people’s
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Chanda and Randy Mines Junior Achievement of Alaska
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“In business you have to be problem solvers. There’s risk and there’s reward, and kids need to understand that. I don’t think they get that anywhere except from business mentors in Junior Achievement who tell them, ‘I fell on my face, and this is how I got back up.’” Chanda Mines, Owner, Bagoy’s
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hearts, whether it’s for appreciation or sympathy or whatever it may be, is rewarding,” he says. Randy was also exposed to the realities of business at a young age, though through a slightly different route. He grew up in the Midwest and spent considerable time working for his uncles on their farms. “ The biggest part of my background is learning how to work hard ever y day,” he says. “ When you’ve got a job to do, it’s got to be finished… you just have to go until the job gets done. “It’s helped me in this business,” he continues. “Everyone thinks it’s a beautiful, fun, ‘Boy, it must be great to work here!’ kind of business—it’s more demanding than anything I’ve ever done in my life, physically or mentally. And that’s also a big part of the reward.”
The Benefits of Early Exposure Chanda and Randy value the oppor tunities they had as youth to par ticipate in business endeavors, leading both of them to volunteer with Junior Achievement of Alaska, teaching classes for the organization to provide young Alaskans with better information on the value of business and entrepreneurship and the options they can pursue. “Having opportunity in private enterprise—you get to write your own ticket,” Randy says, “We don’t have to sit around and wait for a raise from the boss; we can work as hard as we want and the benefits are there. If we want to work harder, there’s more to get.” “Understanding how a business operates and how a community operates… that’s almost mandatory in my opinion,” Chanda says, adding that such information was once taught in public school and seems to have fallen to the wayside. Building that foundation in young people is important because running a business can trip up even experienced adults. Before taking over Bagoy’s, Randy worked at PepsiCo and Chanda was employed at a local nonprofit, though before that she also worked for PepsiCo (which is where the
couple met). Despite their specific experience in retail and in Alaska markets, “The biggest hurdle for us was probably the first five years in business,” Randy says. While some aspects of their experience worked in their favor, not everything translated. “It’s a totally different animal when you can put merchandise on the shelf and let it sit for three or four months before it sells versus putting flowers in a cooler,” he says. “It took us a while because flowers were dying faster than we wanted them to, I was not ordering the right amounts, not ordering the right types, thinking we had more money than we did… We didn’t get in trouble, but it was pretty thin for the first few years.” For tunately, through trial and error the fledgling owners were able to sor t out inventor y and cash flow issues, eventually shif ting their focus to long term evolution and grow th. “In business you have to be problem solvers,” Chanda says. “There’s risk and there’s reward, and kids need to understand that. “I don’t think they get that anywhere except from business mentors in Junior Achievement who tell them, ‘I fell on my face, and this is how I got back up.’” Another benefit of educating people at a young age is that they can develop, over time, a more grounded understanding of business and rely on that when confronted with choices that don’t have obvious answers. Sometimes trusting a gut instinct is the only way to make a decision. Randy and Chanda have a poignant example: “I’ll tell you one of our most brilliant moments, and it was entirely by chance,” Chanda says. “Our main store since the ‘80s has been the Dimond location, but we’ve had different branch locations. We’d rent and then we’d get bumped because the building would sell or whatever happened. So we had a lease in midtown, and it was a profitable floral shop and doing very well, and we kind of had to look into the future and wonder what to do about it: do we keep it, because when you have two stores it’s double the workload and
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says. “We poured hours and hours and hours of time into building the website and adding things to it that aren’t typically on the site, just knowing people wouldn’t be able to wander through the store; we didn’t want the gift side to fail. It was a whole new direction, but it’s working.” For Chanda and Randy, being part of the Bagoy’s legacy is one of their proudest accomplishments. “We kept it going,” Randy says. “We were handed the baton by [Chanda’s] father and he said, ‘It’s all yours now—don’t screw it
up. It’ll take care of you if you take care of it.’” “We put people before money,” Chanda adds. “If someone’s not happy with a service or product, they’re not stuck, they’re going to get taken care of… It’s not, ‘If you don’t like it, you can return it,’ it goes deeper than that. We will do everything possible to heal that relationship, whether they use us again or not, because we feel that the best way to be good business people is to put our hearts into it.”
“We kept it going. We were handed the baton by [Chanda’s] father and he said, ‘It’s all yours now—don’t screw it up. It’ll take care of you if you take care of it.’” Randy Mines, Owner, Bagoy’s
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expense. The lease was ending, so we said goodbye to that location, and not long after—COVID happened,” she says. “It feels like, ‘Oh my gosh, brilliant!’ when it was nothing to do with that.” Whether their decision to let go of a lease was indeed a stroke of good luck or simply solid intuition, it was followed by a national pandemic that challenged every business— including Bagoy’s. Spring is generally a boom season for florists, but this year Easter celebrations were smaller, many graduations were cancelled or conducted online, and events like proms were out of the question. “It was a little rough, but we got to May and things were really turning around and Mother’s Day was really good,” Randy says. While Bagoy’s was thriving, several other florists in Anchorage were not as fortunate, and Randy says by the end of May roughly 25 percent of Anchorage’s flower shops had closed their doors. “All of their customers are still in the marketplace, and I think that boosted all of the [remaining] floral businesses, including ours.” Early in the pandemic, Chanda and Randy also took a long look at changes they could make to secure the business’s viability. “When we saw what was coming, we knew we really had to enhance our website,” Chanda
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Tastee Freez
Setting the Example for How Small Business Can Make a Big Impact By Tasha Anderson
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n July 15, 1994 Rich Owens started a conversation with Mike Cluff about buying the Tastee Freez that Cluff owned in Anchorage on the corner of Jewel Lake and Raspberry. The deal was done in two weeks. July 15 was a Friday, and by the following Monday, Cluff and Owens had agreed on a price and were figuring out a timeline. “I’ d been in the restaurant, hotel, and tourism business here long enough to know that, come the end of September, things get pretty quiet, so I wanted to have a couple good months,” Owens laughs. “So I said, ‘How about August 1?’” Former Governor Sean Parnell, who was at the time a practicing attorney, wrote up the contract for the deal—after expressing his concern about the timeline. The next step was financing, secured through First National Bank Alaska, which also questioned the two week turnaround. “ Well, the attorney can get it done. Is that a problem?” Owens asked the bank. It turned out it wasn’t. At 9 a.m. on August 1, 1994, Owens and Cluf f closed the sale and Cluf f handed him the keys.
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“To have three generations of the same family work for me at one time or another has been really rewarding, because if you didn’t treat them right, they wouldn’t send their kids or grandkids to you. I think that’s what my parents would be most proud about.” Rich Owens, Owner, Tastee Freez
It’s a fantastic illustration of the reason why Owens was drawn to owning his own business. “When you work for a large corporation, the pros are it’s got benefits, it’s a steady paycheck, there’s lots of room to expand and grow, but you can’t really make your own decisions in how you share your time, talent, and treasure, basically.” Owens’ interest in buying the Anchorage Tastee Freez was grounded in his dedication to making sure his business would be able to provide jobs to young people and support his community, which he’s done now for nearly thirty years.
Treating People Right He attributes his communityforward attitude to his upbringing. “There are three boys in my family— I’m the middle—but all three of us are basically the same as far as community service and philanthropy, our view of how we treat people, and how we share what we have. Which is kind of neat, because my parents never really sat us down and talked to us about it, we just observed the way they led their lives—philanthropy, community service, and treating people right, that was something
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Rich Owens Junior Achievement of Alaska
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“Schools make very little time for [financial literacy]. There used to be more: a class on common sense finance like saving accounts, how to balance a checkbook, retirement, what Social Security really is. It’s meant to be like 40 percent of your retirement, not all of it, and most of these kids that I’m working with now, if you ask them what Social Security is for, they think it’s so that when they get done working they’re just getting paid to retire and sit at home.” Rich Owens, Owner, Tastee Freez
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that they did every day. It wasn’t the exception, it was the rule.” Owens grew up in Montana working in the drug store his parents operated together for forty years; his father was the pharmacist, and his mother managed operations and hiring. In addition to their children, Owens’ parents routinely hired other high schoolers, providing an example of engaging young people in the workplace that Owens has followed ever since. In high school and college, Owens ran a catering business: “I was employing high school kids… so I made a deal with the HomeEc teacher at the high school, Mrs. Nason, that if these kids were working for me (and they were getting paid) they were learning quantity food prep, how to set tables for banquets, how to do food service on a buffet line—so those kids were also getting high school credit.” After college, the catering was a side business; at the same time Owens was also working for an agricultural industrial supplier and was responsible for hiring for the yard, and he routinely selected youth and young adults for positions loading vehicles or stocking shelves. “From the time I was in high school, I’ve been hiring high school kids and college kids,” Owens says, and having a business in which he could make opportunities for young people to work was a significant motivator in his move to purchase Tastee Freez. He sees these opportunities as especially important since basic financial concepts often aren’t taught in schools. “Schools make very little time for [financial literacy]. There used to be more: a class on common sense finance like saving accounts, how to balance a checkbook, retirement, what Social Security really is. It’s meant to be like 40 percent of your retirement, not all of it, and most of these kids that I’m working with now, if you ask them what Social Security is for, they think it’s so that when they get done working they’re just getting paid to retire and sit at home.” Beyond making opportunities for young people, Owens looks for ways to build his entire community. “There’s so many good things that happen in the
community that need support, and it’s not always monetary,” he says. As an example, Tastee Freez was instrumental in turning what was a “mud hole,” according to Owens, into a municipal Adopt-a-Park on the corner of Jewel Lake and Raspberry. Years ago he worked with several associates to purchase a youth camp in Wasilla so it could remain open. And for thirty years Owens has been on the board of Wish Upon the North Star, a nonprofit that grants wishes to children much like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, though on a smaller, local scale. H e s ays h e like s to “ lea d f ro m th e si d e lin e s .” “You can have a positive effect on a lot of different organizations just donating meals and banana split parties,” he says. “We’re a small business and so we can’t do the things that big corporations do because we don’t have the assets and we don’t have the personnel, but we can do lots of small things that get people headed in the right direction.” Owens focuses on reaching out to the community, and he’s quick to point out that the community supports him and his business in return. “What’s kept Tastee Freez going through the coronavirus is the people in town, our neighbors, and our normal customers who have been very good in helping make sure that we have enough business coming in the door… when you take care of people on a regular basis, when you need help they’re going to do what they can to give assistance.” And this isn’t the first time. In 2011, when the 176th Wing of the Alaska Air National Guard moved from then-Kulis Air National Guard Base at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, it was a huge blow for Tastee Freez. “The guard base was 15 to 20 percent of our business. They were there on a Friday and they were gone on Monday,” Owens recalls. “That’s where you hope you’ve treated people right and they’re going to come and support you, and that’s what we’ve seen,” he says. His customers also suppor t each other. Some may remember about ten years ago when someone stole
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and writing checks or donating $50 bills. And the guy got caught—his friend turned him in,” Owens laughs. “There are things like that that reinforce how you think about people; there’s a lot more good people out there than there are bad people,” he says. For Owens, how he’s been able to help others is his greatest accomplishment. He estimates that he’s provided jobs to more than 600 young adults while he’s owned Tastee Freez. “[Having] that impact on a large number of young people is
probably the most important thing to me,” he says. Over the years, as his employees have grown up and started their own families, many have remained in the area and their children or grandchildren have also worked at the restaurant. “To have three generations of the same family work for me at one time or another has been really rewarding, because if you didn’t treat them right, they wouldn’t send their kids or grandkids to you,” he says. “I think that’s what my parents would be most proud about.”
“You can have a positive effect on a lot of different organizations just donating meals and banana split parties. We’re a small business and so we can’t do the things that big corporations do because we don’t have the assets and we don’t have the personnel, but we can do lots of small things that get people headed in the right direction.” Rich Owens, Owner, Tastee Freez
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a donation jar set out on the Tastee Freez counter that was collecting funds to suppor t National Guard Family programs. Owens guesses it had a few hundred dollars in it at the time. Word spread quickly. Channel 2 aired a story about the theft that night, hours after it took place, and ran the news again the next day, when it was picked up by Anchorage Daily News. “Our customers were so upset that within two days there was a couple grand in the donation jar,” Owens says. “People were coming in
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JA Q&A with Rex A. Rock Sr. Providing for My People
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ex A. Rock Sr.—president and CEO of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC)—knew from a young age that he wanted to support and build his community and has taken on many roles in his personal and professional lives to that end. Below, Rock shares a few of his experiences in the business community and some insights on how we can prepare the youth of today for the world they’ll work in.
Alaska Business: How did you get your start? Rex A. Rock Sr.: Interestingly, even as a very young man I knew I wanted to serve my community at some capacity. I remember being in grade school and telling my friends that what I wanted to do when I grew up is be the president and CEO of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. Later in life I had a relative, John C. Oktollik Sr., who thankfully saw my potential as a leader in my hometown of Tikiġaq and collected the necessary signatures for me to run for a seat on the ASRC board of directors. I was a bit reluctant to do it (because I would have to run against other family members), but they gave their consent and convinced me to run. I’m very grateful they did. When I started on the ASRC board in the early ‘90s (1993), I was one of the youngest members and had to quickly learn about a large corporate structure and way of business. It was very intimidating at the time, but I learned so much from the other board members at the time— people like Joe Upicksoun, Eddie Hopson, and even Jacob Anaġi Adams Sr. and Oliver Leavitt. 50 | January 2021
AB: Where did you grow up? Rock: I was born in North Pole, but grew up in the Iñupiaq community of Tikiġaq, or Point Hope, the longest inhabited community in North America. I still live in my community today and have raised my four kids here. AB: What were your parents like, and what was your family life and upbringing like? Rock: I was raised by my grandparents, Allen and Frances Rock. My grandfather (who I always considered to be my father) passed away when I was around 11 years old, and I spent a considerable amount of time helping my grandmother at the family lodge/coffee shop, which she operated in town. I grew up understanding the importance of Iñupiat values—helping others, working hard, and having respect for our elders. Whaling is a part of our culture and the center of our community. I grew up with so much respect for whaling captains and those that provided for our people, and I’m proud to have been able to continue the legacy by eventually becoming a whaling captain myself and providing for the members of my village. I’ve served in many capacities in my hometown, to include whaling captain and head coach for the Tikiġaq High School boys’ varsity basketball team—which I held for more than twenty years. During that time, we were fortunate enough to win four state championships. In 2015, I was honored by being inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.
AB: What opportunities led to the early success of your business? Rock: ASRC signed oil and gas exploration leases with several industry leaders in the ‘70s and ‘80s, which provided the start-up capital for many of our subsidiaries. We created Eskimos, Inc. and Tundra Tours, which eventually built the Top of the World Hotel. Our goal in creating these businesses was to provide jobs and services to our Iñupiat shareholders. The strength of ASRC is the longterm vision of our board of directors and our commitment to finding the best people. Now, nearly fifty years after incorporation, ASRC has grown into the largest locally-owned and -operated company in Alaska (a title we’ve held for twenty-six consecutive years), and that success has not been by accident. It’s been a team effort the entire time. AB: Do you believe there is value in educating young people about free enterprise? If so, why? Rock: Certainly yes—I think it’s important to instill the values of hard work, of preparing for success and of taking responsibility for yourself. We are not entitled to anything; we create our own opportunities and this generation has to understand that. As I’ve said to others—the best experience for learning to run a major corporation is to start by running your village store. You’ll learn a lot about customer service, tending to the books, and solving problems. I found it invaluable! AB: What can schools and parents do to ensure that young people don’t encounter financial pitfalls? Rock: I strongly believe basic
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economics should be taught to students at a young age—things like balancing a checkbook, paying bills, and prioritizing spending.
AB: What can the business community offer to young people? Rock: The corporate community should be involved in the schools to explain what opportunities are out there—and to explain what roadmap they would follow to get there. ASRC can play a role in that, and this education should start at a very young age. In my region, a robust oil and gas industry is vital to our future. Taxes from this industry provide infrastructure, our local government, and even services like search and rescue. We have to better explain this to the next generation. I don’t think anyone wants to go back to a time before when we had no running water, flush toilets, or reliable heat. It will take a viable oil and gas industry in order for us to protect our future. AB: Did you have a role model growing up? Do you think young people benefit from role models? Rock: Certainly my grandparents Allen and Frances Rock were my role models growing up. I learned that it’s never about me, it’s about my community, and I’ve tried my best to always remember that. I also learned so much from my fellow board members and former North Slope leaders. Dr. Jake Adams Sr. was also one of my role models: I saw what he did for his people and I hope I can continue that legacy. Young people today also need role models, those who can show them a path to success if they work hard and keep their eye on their goals. AB: What can we do to prepare young people to succeed in a global economy? Rock: Again, education is the key. That’s why ASRC set up the Arctic Education Foundation, as a way to create the next generation of Iñupiat leaders. AB: What accomplishments are you most proud of? Rock: Through coaching, I’ve had the www.akbizmag.com
Rex A. Rock Sr. Junior Achievement of Alaska
opportunity to teach my players some life lessons, and I’m humbled when I hear back from a player who is doing well and I know I somehow made a difference in their life. In the workplace, the benefits ASRC provides make a real, significant difference in our communities—and these benefits are our highest priority.
AB: What do you hope for your own future and/or the future of Alaska? Rock: For Alaska’s future, I’d like to see our economy be able to stabilize. I’m encouraged by the news that we’ll see resumed development in our region later this year. We still have enormous potential here, but it will take leaders Alaska Business
who can make the tough decisions, sometimes unpopular long-term decisions, to turn that potential into reality. Also, of course, I also pray that we can all come out of this COVID-19 pandemic as safely and as quickly as possible.
AB: What do you want your legacy to be? Rock: I’ve never really thought about my “legacy,” but I do hope to be remembered as someone who always wanted to provide for his people, now and long into the future. I work with that goal in mind—creating opportunities for the Iñupiaq community—every day. January 2021 | 51
A Inspire is a one-of-a-kind virtual career exploration event for middle and high school students in Alaska. This unique opportunity for hundreds of local businesses from across the state shows students what a day in the life of someone with their job looks like, how students can get that job, and what students need to do for the duration of their school career to be successful in that job. JA Inspire also features universities, apprenticeship programs, trade schools, and internships so once students are “inspired” they can gather the information they need on how to achieve their goals.
Virtual JA Inspire Meet your future Employee of the Month Contributed by Junior Achievement of Alaska
What Can You Do in a Virtual Career Fair? • Educate your future workforce about careers and your company through videos, brochures, and presentations. • Excite students about your company story by delivering a live webinar and hosting a Q&A. • Measure performance with detailed statistics e.g. visits, applications, etc. • Display current or upcoming job opportunities with detailed descriptions. • Chat with participants from across the state to answer questions about careers and your company, all without leaving your home or office.
Why Virtual JA Inspire?
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JA helps students realize that the education they are getting today will help them achieve a bright future tomorrow. JA’s unique, volunteer-delivered programs show students all the possibilities that lay before them. They realize they can choose from many different paths: college, a specific trade, start their own business, the possibilities are endless. Through your participation as an organization or as an individual, the following statistics can begin to change in your community:
20% 49%
of US students will not complete high school on time and earn a diploma. of US employers recognize that talent shortages impact their ability to serve clients and customers.
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of Americans say that they have at some point in their lives felt their financial situation was out of control. of millennials wish they had greater access to entrepreneurial education programs. Not all students receive career mentorship at home. And in some cases, career exploration happens too late in a child’s school career and, by the time they’ve decided on a career path, class choices can cause their career goals to be unrealistic. JA Inspire offers middle school students the opportunity to learn about careers from caring mentors in time to plan their high school coursework. For high school students, JA Inspire will be a virtual hiring event to show students the vast array of jobs available and how to get and keep those jobs.
What’s New for 2021? JA Inspire is going 100 percent virtual! With the help of an online event platform, JA Inspire is going digital in 2021. Our online platform will allow companies to design their virtual
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booth, hand out digital flyers, and allow for tons of videos to deliver critical information to students. This new platform also allows us to open the event to more students than ever before since space limitations are no longer a concern. With that said, we aim to have 3,000 middle school students participate and we will also open the event, on the second day, to all of our 11th and 12th grade students (another 3,000 students). Additionally, we will offer an evening session to local adults looking for jobs.
Sign Up Information Sponsorship opportunities and booth rentals are available, and you get three events for the price of one! Early bird discounts are available for those who sign up by January 20, 2021. Triple your business’ exposure with Virtual JA Inspire: you can not only inspire your future workforce but hire them as well! Please visit www.juniorachievement. org/web/ja-alaska/ja-inspire for more event information and to register or email Flora Teo at fteo@ja-alaska.org.
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Unspoken Symptoms Businesses prioritize mental health as COVID-19 crisis continues By Vanessa Orr
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lmost one in four American adults will experience a diagnosable behavioral health condition this year, ranging from anxiety and depression to posttraumatic stress disorder to alcohol and opioid misuse. Prior to the pandemic, 39 percent of Americans were suffering from mental health distress, with 31 percent of people experiencing negative mental health conditions also suffering from an addiction. With the onset of COVID-19, the situation is only expected to get worse. These conditions affect every aspect of a person’s life, and business owners, managers, and human resource departments must prepare for how they might also affect the workplace. “Many employers find it difficult to deal with mental health conditions; they don’t know how to talk about it or how to provide accommodations for these employees. Human resources decision makers are not always confident in how to recognize or deal with these problems,” said Dan Jolivet, workplace possibilities practice consultant at The Standard, during a recent webinar titled "The Future of Behavioral Health in the Workplace" hosted by the Alaska SHRM State Council. “Making things even more difficult, workers often hide these issues due to stigma, shame, or fear.”
What’s Happening in the Workplace In addition to taking a toll on productivity, mental health issues carry financial implications as well. 54 | January 2021
Jolivet estimates that about half of a person’s work week is “eaten up” by mental health issues, meaning that these people are not as productive as they could be. “People also tend to develop cooccurrent conditions,” he explained, giving the example of employees who, after developing physical disorders, have a high rate of developing mental health and substance abuse conditions as well. “This requires additional treatment and time and results in a much lower chance of that employee returning to work.” Since the pandemic began, things have gotten even rougher for businesses and their employees. Helplines around the country have reported a 50 percent increase in calls, and prescriptions for anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and sleep medications increased 21 percent between February and March of 2020. Jolivet adds that that alcohol sales increased 500 percent from April 2019 to April 2020, and one-third of American workers have reported drinking during work hours when working remotely. Reports of PTSD have increased among healthcare workers, those who have had COVID-19, and the general population. For this reason, it is imperative that employers take the lead in recognizing mental health issues in the workplace and provide resources to help. “Understanding what behavioral health challenges are and aren’t, and really destigmatizing the challenges that go with them, is important,” says
Mike Abbott, CEO of Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. “Like physical health issues, behavioral health issues can be addressed in a manner that allows people to be productive, positive teammates on the job. Many employers are now coming around to this thinking, putting programmatic supports in place for these employees.” This is especially important as the COVID-19 crisis compounds employees’ daily stressors. “Under COVID, we are seeing an increase in employee stress and symptoms consistent with depression and anxiety,” says Veronica Howard, associate professor of psychology at UAA, who specializes in understanding organizations and employee support. “Employees working remotely may be less comfortable with their work because they’re having to do things in an entirely different way. They are separated from their colleagues and using new tools, and there’s a lot of uncertainly that comes with this,” she adds. “It’s hard enough to be productive in a global pandemic, but now employees could also be feeling stress and guilt from not being as productive as before.” For a high-functioning employee, it can be extremely difficult to adjust to certain tasks that can take longer than usual, she adds. “If a person is only getting 50 to 60 percent of their work done compared to before the pandemic, it can be a blow to their perception of themselves as a worker and of
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how much they contribute to the organization,” Howard says. “Essential employees, who come face-to-face with clients, have an entirely different set of concerns, including the stress of going to work knowing that it’s not as safe as before and working with clients who may not be at their best. We’ve all seen the example of retail workers verbally abused by consumers who were asked to put on a mask; that type of interaction affects employees directly.”
What Employers Can Do According to Jolivet, there are a number of things that employers can do to protect themselves and their employees. These include reviewing human resource policies and substance abuse and drug testing policies; establishing coordination between vendors, such as employee assistance programs, pharmacy benefits managers, health insurance providers, and workers’ compensation programs; training managers to identify and help people with behavioral health issues;
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“I think that COVID really highlighted something that we need to understand as a community; it really benefits everyone to prioritize people’s mental health. Many businesses and organizations are shifting in this direction right now, which has the potential to change the way we deliver care.” Renee Rafferty, Regional Director of Behavioral Health, Providence Health & Services
establishing anti-stigma campaigns, such as makeitok.org; providing evidence-based resilience training to employees; and communicating what resources are available. “One of the most important things that employers should be prepared to do, if they have not done it already, is to really evaluate what their goals are and adjust their expectations,” says Howard.
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“As challenging as this pandemic has been, it has also provided good opportunities for businesses to consider what their central mission is and to find innovative ways to meet it.” She gives the example of restaurants providing takeout services and takeand-bake options and veterinarians offering car side service instead of inoffice visits.
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“Understanding what behavioral health challenges are and aren’t, and really destigmatizing the challenges that go with them, is important. Like physical health issues, behavioral health issues can be addressed in a manner that allows people to be productive, positive teammates on the job. Many employers are now coming around to this thinking, putting programmatic supports in place for these employees.” Mike Abbott, CEO Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
“This situation is giving us the freedom to do things in different ways, and we need to consider if the way we’ve always done things is still the best way to do them,” she continues. “For example, some employees really prefer working remotely; they feel better about their work/life balance.” 56 | January 2021
She also suggests that employers strive to understand employees on an individual level. “It may be great for a few employees to work remotely while another handful are feeling incredibly disconnected because they are not getting the responsiveness they need from peers to perform the central functions of their jobs,” she says. “Employers need to focus on providing individualized support to help each employee thrive.” While most employer health plans cover behavioral health as well as physical health, it’s important for employers to make sure that their staff is aware of its options, including the growing use of telehealth services during the pandemic. “Many providers in Alaska that we have heard from are reporting no reduction in demand for their services, even as some folks are generally reluctant to interact in clinical settings with providers,” says Abbott. “This is one of the reasons why telehealth or distance delivery has increased dramatically for behavioral health services in recent months. “In many cases, Alaska is on the forefront in the nation in delivering these services through technology and other remote mechanisms which were, in large part, developed to address services in rural Alaska or places where there were not provider networks,” he adds. “Certainly, this approach is the least disruptive to patients and can be significantly less expensive, and if they can access these services through their employer-provided plan, employees are more likely to seek support and treatment when needed.”
Putting Programs into Practice Letting employees know that there are resources available can be the first step in making sure they have access to help. Steven J. Patin, chief human resources officer for the University of Alaska system (UA), for example, sent a letter to UA colleagues advising them of their mental health options, ranging from short-term counseling to virtual care to face-to-face therapy through the UA Choice plan. “While there’s been a slight uptick in people asking for help, it’s not as
much as I would have expected,” says Patin, adding that he believes that people are leaning on colleagues and other support networks like family and friends to adjust to increasing stressors. “When the pandemic first started, we considered that we might need to contract out for extra resources, such as more resident counselors, but so far it hasn’t overtaxed our system. “Our staff and faculty are doing a superb job of adapting and continuing to accomplish our mission of teaching, research, and service,” he says. “I talk to employees all the time about the pressures of teaching class via a distance learning modality while at the same time helping their children do distance learning at home. They are doing their best to deal with it.” The university’s Employee Assistance Program, through Deer Oaks, allows for short-term counseling with trained professionals at no cost to the employee; more intensive or clinical services and virtual therapy are available through TalkSpace, an online service with licensed clinicians using private messaging or live video, with costs largely covered through employee health insurance. More in-depth, faceto-face therapy with licensed clinicians is also available through UA’s Premera health plan. The UAA Psychological Services Center also offers services to the community and is a useful resource for those who may not have organizationprovided health insurance and mental health coverage. “We’ve encouraged our staff to have conversations with their supervisors about their work environments,” says Patin. “If an employee is working to balance telework and distance learning with their own kids at home, there’s no reason why UA, as an employer, can’t help with a solution. They may be able to have a more flexible work environment which includes starting the day earlier or having extended lunch periods or working a four/ten schedule versus a five/eight schedule.” As employees learn to adjust to changes spawned by the pandemic, front line workers, such as the physicians and staff at Providence Alaska Medical Center, face their own set of formidable challenges.
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“Even prior to the pandemic, healthcare workers were experiencing more stress and burnout as the result of struggling with increased burdens in terms of documentation, electronic medical records, and excessive workload,” says Renee Rafferty, regional director of behavioral health at Providence Health & Ser vices. “Now we’re seeing caregivers experiencing even more stress, which is why we are focused as a system on providing mental health suppor t and shifting our organizational culture to prioritize mental health and wellness. “I think that before most employers as a whole understood the importance of employee mental health and were moving to make changes, but now they’re moving faster,” she adds. “Everyone can see the incredible impact of the pandemic and the stresses associated with it.” Healthcare professionals are in the unenviable position of having to deal not only with their roles at work but with helping others deal with the disease.
“Healthcare providers are experiencing distress watching people they love fall ill with the disease—not just in their personal lives but at work as well,” says Rafferty. “They are dealing with an increase in cases, a decrease in workforce, and are worried about resources as cases continue to surge. “Another stressor is knowing that patients can’t have their families visit to provide them with the support they need,” she adds. “Our mission is to care for people and ensure they get compassion and support when having medical challenges, and to not be able to provide this, other than by digital means, is very challenging.” Providence has a caregiver support line and a crisis debriefing team that provide immediate support when employees are in distress, and there are also peer support teams within the medical center offering help to those having difficulties. In 2021, the Providence St. Joseph System telehealth program will launch a concierge telehealth caregiver support line to provide immediate intervention and coping strategies to workers who are struggling.
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“We’ve been conducting town halls, where our executive team talks about the importance of mental health and wellness, and have cascaded leader training explaining how to care for our caregivers,” says Rafferty. “Senior management, and other departments like our spiritual care team, are making sure that people feel recognized for their work and feel valued. Employees are also provided with information on what they need to do to remain physically well at this time—asking for support, using PPE, getting exercise, and eating right.” Healthcare workers are also encouraged to take a four-hour mental health first-aid class that provides training on how to talk to and comfort their peers. “I think that COVID really highlighted something that we need to understand as a community; it really benefits everyone to prioritize people’s mental health,” says Rafferty. “Many businesses and organizations are shifting in this direction right now, which has the potential to change the way we deliver care.”
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OIL & GAS
Every Last Drop Developing methods to extend an oil field’s life By Julie Stricker
58 | January 2021
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n June 20, 1977, first oil from the massive Prudhoe Bay oil field flowed into TAPS. It was the first trickle of the 24 billion barrels of conventional oil estimated to be in the oil field, of which 9.6 billion barrels was thought to be technically recoverable. Four decades later, more than 12 billion barrels of oil have been produced at Prudhoe Bay alone, with billions more produced from satellite fields and other areas on the North Slope. That increase in technically recoverable oil (from 40 to 60 percent) is due to several factors, including improved drilling technology, better mapping, and the use of production enhancements such as water and natural gas injection. That still leaves a lot of oil in the ground at Prudhoe Bay, not to mention other areas of the North Slope—some of it in deposits of heavy, viscous oil and shale oil that are more difficult to extract and process, according to the Resource Development Council (RDC). But oil companies on the North Slope are actively looking for and implementing new ways to bring that oil to market. Scott Montgomery, a professor at The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, writes: “Oil companies have ways of being nimble in hard times, such as selling assets, adjusting production levels, and seeking mergers. Now rapid innovations in drilling, seismic imaging, and data processing allow well-run companies to cut costs in multiple areas.”
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“We’ve been able to significantly turn around production in Cook Inlet and the North Slope by investing and offering a fresh look at old assets. In the not-so-distant past, Alaskans were faced with the prospect of having to import LNG. Since then, we have invested more than a billion dollars to ensure Southcentral Alaska has a reliable supply of energy.” Dave Wilkins Senior Vice President Hilcorp Alaska
New Dogs, Old Tricks Texas-based Hilcorp is the newest player in Prudhoe Bay after completing its $5.6 billion acquisition of BP Exploration’s Alaska assets on July 1, 2020. Hilcorp Alaska splits Prudhoe Bay ownership three ways with ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. One of the questions raised when Hilcorp’s bid for BP Exploration’s assets became public was whether the privately-owned company would be able to increase production in the aging oil field. So far, its track record in Alaska has proven promising. Hilcorp has had operations in Alaska since 2011, when it took over the Cook Inlet natural gas and oil operations from Chevron and later Marathon Oil. The company is known for its lean and efficient operations model, which quickly became apparent in Cook Inlet. Instead of looking for new sources of natural gas, Hilcorp reworked the decades-old offshore oil platforms, focusing on boosting the supply of natural gas that powers much of Southcentral Alaska’s infrastructure. In 2018, Hilcorp undertook a $90 million upgrade of its oil and gas delivery system in Cook Inlet, installing a pipeline to transfer the oil from wells on the west side of the inlet to the Marathon refinery in Nikiski instead of using tankers. Not only is the pipeline expected to reduce the risk of oil and 60 | January 2021
gas leaks, it also reduces tanker traffic in Cook Inlet’s notoriously rough and gritty waters. In addition, it removes the need for the Drift River oil terminal, which sits within 20 miles of Mount Redoubt, an active volcano whose eruptions have disrupted oil operations twice. Rich Novcaski, operations manager for Hilcorp subsidiary Harvest Alaska, says the change would cut the cost of transporting the oil by a third and extend the life of the Cook Inlet oil field by twenty years. In 2014, after taking a 50 percent stake in operations at Milne Point on the North Slope, as well as interests in three other fields, Hilcorp increased production by 35 percent. The increase wasn’t due to any new finds or technology; Hilcorp simply built a new pad and drilled more wells, a total of sixty-one over five years including twenty-four in 2019 alone, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. As a bonus, Milne Point’s underlying structure is similar to that of Prudhoe Bay, which is where Hilcorp is focused next. Dave Wilkins, senior vice president of Hilcorp Alaska, says the company’s focus on existing infrastructure is deliberate. “We’ve been able to significantly turn around production in Cook Inlet and the North Slope by investing and offering a fresh look at old assets,”
Wilkins says. “In the not-so-distant past, Alaskans were faced with the prospect of having to import LNG. Since then, we have invested more than a billion dollars to ensure Southcentral Alaska has a reliable supply of energy. “Our business model has enabled us to increase production across the state, including Cook Inlet and the North Slope; serve the local Alaska energy market; and extend the life of fields. “Given the low oil price environment, we are focused on improving the efficiency and run time of the existing wells and facilities at Prudhoe Bay,” Wilkins continues. “We’re optimistic about Prudhoe Bay production as we continue to learn more about the field.”
Mapping Resources & Going Long Oil companies are using technologies, such as improved mapping using 3D and 4D seismic surveys, as well as LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to get a better picture of the reservoirs and the layers of rock surrounding them. That, coupled with vastly improved computers and data-processing technology, opens a window into just exactly where companies need to direct their drilling operations for best results, which can make even smaller pockets of oil recoverable. One technological advancement that holds great promise is in the ability of new drilling rigs to extend their horizontal reach for miles out from existing pads. In 2019, ConocoPhillips broke an Alaska record for longest rotary drill with its Doyon Rig 25 at its CD5 field, which is part of Alpine. Rig 25 reached a depth of 14,370 feet, then turned horizontally in the reservoir and drilled another 18,098 feet, according to ConocoPhillips. That’s six miles of drilling, or 32,468 feet. A few months later, Rig 25 went even further at CD5: 33,768 feet. “When we drilled the first horizontal well in Prudhoe Bay roughly thirty years ago, it almost felt like Christopher Columbus sailing off the edge of the earth,” Drilling Manager Chip Alvord said a few months after ConocoPhillips broke the record in 2019. “We just keep pushing the
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envelope. I didn’t think we’d ever be drilling wells like this.” CD5 is west of the Colville River Delta, but by using lateral drilling technology, ConocoPhillips is able to reach additional resources in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska without further surface infrastructure development. And while initial production was estimated to be about 16,000 barrels of oil per day, at the end of 2019 the field was averaging 37,000. ConocoPhillips is expecting more drilling records to fall once operations, sidelined in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, get fully underway. One reason is that the company expects to deploy its new extendedreach drill rig, Doyon 26, aka “The Beast.” The rig had just been transported to the Fiord West oil field in the spring when the pandemic shut operations down. It is capable of drilling 40,000 feet horizontally, and its extended-reach technology can access underground areas more than 7 miles from its surface location, or about 154 square miles. ConocoPhillips says Doyon 26 will allow it to reach areas previously thought to be economically, and physically, out of reach. The Beast can also be mobilized at other ConocoPhillips leases.
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Going In Oil companies have long used various methods of reinjecting water and other materials into oil wells to keep the pressure up and to increase production. One of these methods is fracking, which involves injecting fluid into underground rock formations at high pressure. The high-pressure fluid fractures the rock layers, allowing oil and natural gas inside dense rocks to flow into a wellbore and be extracted. It is a method that has been used for decades in Alaska, both in Cook Inlet and on the North Slope, on a small scale, but in the past couple of years the method has been embraced on a larger scale on the North Slope, according to Montgomery. Reinjecting natural gas into the wells is another method used to increase production. Although plans for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope have been talked about since the ‘70s, as of now Prudhoe Bay’s estimated 25 www.akbizmag.com
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January 2021 | 61
ConocoPhillips plans to resume drilling at the CD5 drill site, part of the Alpine Field. ConocoPhillips | Judy Patrick
trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves are stranded up north. Seven billion cubic feet per day of natural gas is processed at a facility at Prudhoe and then reinjected into the reservoir to increase production, according to ConocoPhillips. Hilcorp Alaska is looking at another method to enhance oil recovery. It has partnered with UAF, Missouri University of Science and Technology, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and the University of New Mexico to see whether a technique called polymer flood technology could be used to enhance the recovery of heavy oil on the North Slope. The project is backed by $7 million from the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). For instance, the Ugnu heavy oil deposit beneath Prudhoe Bay is estimated to hold 20 billion barrels of oil, according to the RDC. At this time, about 10 percent of those reserves are considered recoverable. 62 | January 2021
The five-year project is being tested on unconventional heavy oil deposits at the Schrader Bluff formation. The process involves adding polymers—repeating chains of materials—that increase the viscosity of injected water in a well and force oil into the production stream. The process is used overseas but so far not in the United States. Polymer injection tests started on August 28, 2018, using a custommade polymer blending and pumping unit. The test is expected to continue through 2022. According to NETL, early results have been promising. Operators are monitoring similar tests at Milne Point, and Eni Energy has started its own polymer injectivity tests. Hilcorp is also planning polymer floods at three other well pads. Studies suggest polymer flooding could increase heavy oil recovery by 50 percent, adding tens of billions of barrels of oil to US reserves, according to NETL.
Expect more advances in the coming years. Oil companies in Alaska are always looking for new ways to improve production and efficiency. ConocoPhillips, for example, frequently asks its employees for new ideas, and in 2019, twenty-nine Alaska-based projects were moved up the pipeline. According to ConocoPhillips, one of its exploration wells, CD4-595, used an “optimized four-string design to drill the highest angle long-reach well” on the North Slope. Hilcorp, after less than a decade in Alaska, has become one of the largest oil and gas producers in the state. Wilkins says it’s all thanks to Hilcorp’s workers. “We credit Hilcorp’s success to our culture of empowering employees to think like owners and our focus on enhancing legacy conventional assets, such as Prudhoe Bay,” Wilkins says. “We’re excited about our future in Alaska and look forward to continuing to safely and responsibly develop Alaska’s natural resources.”
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Understanding Ice Roads An ‘elegant’ solution to an ongoing accessibility problem By Amy Newman
64 | January 2021
ith only a fraction of its roads paved and many parts of the state disconnected from the road system altogether, much of Alaska is only accessible by air or sea—options that are both costly and weather-dependent. For companies that extract and deliver Alaska’s natural resources to market, access to the state’s most remote areas is a necessity, and as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. There are continuing statewide efforts to create infrastructure to get people and things where they need to be. Part of that innovation involves using ice roads, which give companies the ability to transport equipment across large swaths of otherwise impassable terrain. “An ice road is exactly what it sounds like—a road made from ice,” says Melissa Head, North Slope team manager with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “It’s a very elegant solution to a problem.” At its core, building an ice road isn’t much different from packing snow in a driveway or building a backyard ice rink, explains Jeff Miller, vice president of operations for Cruz Construction. “If you can imagine in your driveway, if you don’t plow the snow right at the start you can pack it down,” he says. “But once you get a lot of snow that doesn’t work, so now that means I can’t drive a tire vehicle on it. But if you add
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some water to that with your hose, it would freeze pretty solid. That's what starts you being able to put extra weight on it.” The logistics of building an ice road are, of course, more complex and time-consuming than hosing down the driveway to create a slick surface. It requires careful calibration of snow and frost depth, ambient temperature, available water sources, and topography of the area where the road will be built. But the result is a system of transportation that provides access to Alaska's most remote regions with minimal impact on the surrounding landscape.
“If you’re drilling, whether it’s for a mining or exploration project, it’s pretty deep; the deeper you go, the bigger the rig you have to have. The bigger rig has more weight and requires more to transport it; you’re not going to get out to where traditionally our oil and gas is unless you have an ice road.” Jeff Miller, Vice President of Operations, Cruz Construction
An Elegant Solution The History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers may be responsible for adding ice roads to the lexicon of residents of the Lower 48, but the slick roads have been a mainstay of Alaska transport from long before the popular series hit the airwaves. “For thousands of years, [Alaskans] have been traveling over snow and ice; it’s just a way of life,” Head says. “That translated into how the oil companies
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“In Alaska, you can have different forms of what you can or cannot do with snow. You can do a trail or a snow road, you can do a modified ice road, and then you can do a full-fledged ice road. It all really comes down to what [equipment] you’re going to have on it, the volume of traffic, and how long you’ll need it.”
Construction and Maintenance Ice road construction requires a minimum snow depth of 6 inches, with the top 12 inches of tundra frozen to at least 23 F°— with an optimal ambient temperature of -20 F°, says Jeff Osborne, project lead for ice roads at ConocoPhillips. This typically occurs sometime in November, with construction planned for December through February. Prep work for ice road construction, however, begins several months before the required conditions set
in. In October or November crews monitor snowfall to determine when it reaches the appropriate depth and then share that information with the DNR, Osborne says. Pre-packing the snow as it accumulates is an important prep-step prior to beginning work. “The main reason for pre-packing the snow is one, you’re creating a base, and two, you’re decreasing the insulation value of the snow, so heat from the ground can be released more readily,” Head explains. “Whereas if you have light, fluffy snow on top of the tundra, that insulates the ground, and it takes longer to freeze.” Depending on the ice road's location, pre-planning can sometimes begin an entire season or more before construction is scheduled to take place. “When we have a stream crossing, we’ll go out there in summer,” Osborne says. “It’s usually a couple of summers of efforts. We’ll survey, we’ll get the symbiosis of the stream, we’ll survey the flood banks, making sure we understand all the details and the natural flow of that stream. Then when we come in the wintertime, we’ll build up the ice once the natural ice starts to grow.” Roads are built in segments, with crews and equipment placed strategically at different points along the path, Osborne says. With potential weather delays factored in, he estimates it takes three days to build one mile of road.
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going to have on it, the volume of traffic, and how long you’ll need it.” Ice roads that traverse lakes or run through municipalities generally have lighter traffic, both in terms of the weight of items moving across the ice as well as the number of users, so the roads don’t need to be built up as much as those constructed for industrial use, Head says. The oil and gas industry and other entities performing exploration or drilling work require thicker, more well-maintained ice roads specifically because the work they do requires larger, heavier equipment. “If you’re drilling, whether it’s for a mining or exploration project, it’s pretty deep; the deeper you go, the bigger the rig you have to have,” Miller says. “The bigger rig has more weight and requires more to transport it; you’re not going to get out to where traditionally our oil and gas is unless you have an ice road.”
66 | January 2021
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A good portion of that work involves smoothing irregularities in the tundra and creating a level surface. Crews use snow and ice chips to fill uneven spots and create a level building surface. “Ice roads are constructed as fill; we don’t cut the tundra anywhere,” Osborne says. “We only take snow and ice chips from grounded areas, so only after the lake has frozen down to the mud line, typically around the circumference of the lake.” Once filled, crews water the snowand ice-packed corridor, letting it freeze in between applications until it reaches a minimum thickness of six inches. The road's width varies depending on its intended use. “Ice roads are 35 feet wide typically, but we’ll build them wider for certain applications,” Osborne says. “A gravel haul we might build a little wider, so the large gravel haul trucks have enough space to pass. A pipeline corridor might be a little wider, sometimes as much as 65 or 70 feet on one side of the pipeline. It just depends on the application.” Watering generally continues through
April to maintain the road’s thickness and to repair other deteriorations that occur through normal wear and tear, particularly effects from the sun as the season progresses, Miller says. Any accumulation of snow also must be removed from the roads. “There’s more maintenance required as you get later in the season from the effects that you can feel from the sun,” Miller explains. “But if you have a big windstorm, you can’t have that snow piled up on the road. It’s like driving up here through Turnagain Arm; it’s a lot of the same equipment—snowplows and rollers.” Although the materials and building conditions needed to build an ice road are unique, the equipment is more or less the same as that used to build asphalt or gravel roads, albeit with some modifications to suit the terrain. “It’s similar equipment to gravel road construction—loaders, graders, those are the typical equipment that you see in a gravel road installation,” Osborne says. “We have a couple of specific trucks that we found work
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well on the North Slope. Articulated dump trucks, then [what] we refer to as 150-barrel water trucks, water tanks that are putting water down as well. And then additionally we utilize modified asphalt trimmers and reclaimers that we specially set up to trim the ice off lakes.”
Environmentally Sound Constructing ice roads to reach Alaska’s otherwise inaccessible locations serves multiple purposes. The primary, and most important, is to provide a means of transporting large equipment and other materials that would be too expensive, or too unsafe, to move by other methods. But there are other benefits as well, chief among them is good environmental stewardship. “It costs a lot more, probably over the life of the field, but the environmental benefits are great, and we’re committed to that,” says Natalie Lowman, communications director for ConocoPhillips Alaska. While that commitment is more widespread now, it’s a different
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Locations: Anchorage I Fairbanks I Las Vegas I Los Angeles 888-876-0125 I www.cei-alaska.com I #centralenvironmentalinc www.akbizmag.com
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January 2021 | 67
Cruz Construction
“Today, environmental stipulations and best practices have changed. Globally, there’s a significantly greater perception by people everywhere that we’ve got to take care of the earth. But I think in the beginning, if you go back 20-plus years, some of this was born between stakeholders, agencies, resident, local entities, and the [oil and gas] companies… working together to find solutions to protect the environment but yet provide safe access to resources and development.” Jeff Osborne, Project Lead for Ice Roads, ConocoPhillips
perspective than even just a quartercentury ago. “Today, environmental stipulations and best practices have changed,” Osborne says. “Globally, there’s a significantly greater perception by people everywhere that we’ve got to take care of the earth. But I think in the beginning, if you go back twenty-plus 68 | January 2021
years, some of this was born between stakeholders, agencies, residents, local entities, and the [oil and gas] companies… working together to find solutions to protect the environment but yet provide safe access to resources and development.” Working closely with the DNR and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game,
crews closely monitor the volume of water removed from lakes to eliminate potential damage to the animal habitat and to make sure the lake is replenished during spring break-up, Osborne says. Crews are also required to maintain constant communication with the DNR and share information they collect during the pre-planning stages. “The companies need to come to us for each new step in the ice road construction process,” Head explains. “They have to tell us what vehicles they’re using and how many trips they’ll make, and we might suggest different vehicles to use. We ask them to take snow data for us so that we have a better idea of what the snow conditions look like in a given area.” To further decrease the potential for adverse environmental effects, ice roads must be built in different locations every season (with a very few exceptions). Any damage sustained is typically minimal and quickly disappears. “The vast majority of ice roads are constructed well and don’t cause unacceptable levels of tundra damage for longer than a year,” Head says. “Typically [any damage] goes away after a couple of years.” This pervasive commitment to protecting the environment is a point of pride for Alaska’s construction crews. “It’s a good feeling that we’re doing the right thing with the environment and yet still helping to find resources and bring them to the market,” Osborne says.
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T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
T
ruckers in Alaska joke that the only thing here not delivered by truck is a baby. With only one road connecting Alaska to the Lower 48, most goods—with the notable exception of seafood—end up coming across the docks. And one segment of the transportation industry that is crucial to getting those items from port to door is drayage—a logistical service focused on trucking goods a short distance to retail companies or consolidators.
At the Port The Port of Alaska handles the lion’s share of goods arriving in the state. Each year, 3.5 million to 4 million tons of cargo move through the port. “Half of that cargo stays in the Anchorage area and the other half gets delivered to destinations outside of Anchorage along the road and rail system within the state,” Port of Alaska Director Stephen Ribuffo says. Not all that tonnage relies on drayage services, as pipelinedelivered refined petroleum and cement moved by train car are handled differently. Goods moved through drayage services include most items Alaskans expect to see in retail stores, as well as construction materials and other essentials.
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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
Without efficient and reliable drayage services, supplies for shops like these in old town Talkeetna would sit at port. mixmotive | istock
“Without efficient and reliable drayage companies, these important supplies would be stuck at port and not make their way to the grocery stores, construction sites, and other businesses and consumers who rely on them,” says Eric Badger, president of Alaska West Express, part of the Lynden family of companies. As a landlord port, the Port of Alaska is not directly involved in negotiations between shippers, companies removing freight, and companies providing drayage or other transportation solutions. It does lease out property to companies wishing to do business in the area, creating a revenue stream by charging for use of the dock. “We do not run the dock operations,” Ribuffo says. “People that choose to use the dock run those operations all the way from the stevedoring and longshore work to the arrangements for containers and other cargo to get picked up and delivered to final destinations.” Though many companies provide drayage services, there are two that handle the bulk of the shipments coming in on Matson and Tote ships: United Freight & Transport and Weaver Brothers. Both are unionized companies www.akbizmag.com
that employ Teamsters Local 959 for accessing the port.
“If you got it from somewhere and you bought it from somewhere, a truck brought it to you. And that's the bottom line.” Frank Monfrey, General Manager United Freight & Transport
Stocking the Shelves Of all the goods that end up in stores through drayage, perhaps the most important day-to-day products for Alaskans are groceries. “Meat, milk, and produce [are] the three things that you have the highest priority on once the ship arrives in Anchorage,” Weaver Brothers Vice President Jimmy Doyle says. Alaska Business
“Produce has a real specific shelf life. It’s not like a box of cereal. Produce is only good for, you know, maybe a week at the longest.” Most produce in Alaska has a noticeably shorter shelf life than fruit and vegetables in the Lower 48 since produce here spends a significant amount of time traveling after being harvested, Doyle says. “The customers that ordered it, they want to put that on the shelf right away before it gets to where it's unusable,” Doyle says. Weaver Brothers oversees distributing groceries throughout portions of the state on behalf of Safeway, Doyle explains. When weather causes delays, drayage companies often need to shift gears to working at night or putting in overtime to make sure products arrive at their final destination as quickly as possible. “Weather delays can have a large impact, especially with marine vessels. When a storm delays a ship or barge, the schedule tightens for everyone, and it becomes especially important that drayage companies work efficiently to clear out the backlog of freight once it arrives,” January 2021 | 71
Transportation companies must keep a steady supply of qualified drivers at the ready to meet increased summer demand for goods. miracky | iStock
Badger says. “Some customers have time-sensitive or perishable items that have increased urgency. Whenever weather delays do occur, we take care to coordinate with our customers to ensure freight is prioritized… so everyone gets their freight when they need it.” Doyle points out that, unlike in the Lower 48, companies in Alaska don’t have large warehouses to store goods. “If you were down in the states, there might be a central distribution warehouse close by where the freight is only a couple hours away,” Doyle says. In Alaska, the nearest distribution site is four days away by ship in Seattle. “The two largest carriers of course are Matson and Tote, and we've been working with both those carriers since the ‘80s,” Doyle says. “We work on behalf of those two carriers to deliver freight all over town, whether it be Spenard Builders Supply or Costco or Walmart.” Matson and Tote Maritime ships arrive on Sundays and Tuesdays. “Ever y store that you go to in Anchorage is probably getting freight delivered across the port here from either one of those two carriers for the most part,” Doyle says, noting that Weaver Brothers provides the same ser vices for goods that arrive in Kenai or in Fairbanks via the Alaska Railroad. “Alaska West Express provides most of the drayage for the Alaska Marine Lines barges arriving or departing from Central Alaska,” Badger says. 72 | January 2021
“Much of the cargo is being unloaded from the barges and delivered to locations throughout Alaska, but cargo is also being taken to the barges for transportation to Dutch Harbor, Naknek, Bethel, Nome, and other locations throughout Western Alaska. Another Lynden company handles most of the drayage at the origin point in Seattle, bringing cargo to the barges destined for Alaska.”
Seasonal Struggles The demand for goods in Alaska—like so much else in the state—is seasonal. “Predominantly, it's retail type trade so you're very, very busy in the summer months,” United Freight & Transport General Manager Frank Monfrey says. “And you're very busy at this time of the year now, with Thanksgiving and Christmas.” From February to March, drayage operations are reduced to stay in balance with the seasonal slowdown in retail and construction, Monfrey explains. “One of the biggest challenges is balancing the number of trucks and drivers with the fluctuating freight demand in Alaska,” Badger says. “Volumes typically increase during the summer as projects and tourism are underway, and it’s important to maintain our workforce of professional drivers to be able to meet those demands as needs change.” Monfrey creates that balance by running a “very, very lean crew.”
“Maybe sometimes I'm a little slow, but on the other hand I'm never leaving people at home. And that's a big deal. You know, everybody needs a paycheck so I try to keep them all working,” Monfrey says. Even with some drivers retiring and with an ongoing pandemic, United Freight & Transport has managed to retain its thirty-eight trucks and drivers. However, declining retail sales in Alaska continue to have an impact on the drayage sector. The retail industry in the state has faced years of contraction: retail employment was down 2,500 jobs in June compared to last year, a 6.8 percent loss, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Nordstrom in Anchorage closed in 2019 and Pier 1 permanently closed all three of its locations in Alaska in 2020. National sellers exiting the state is part of a steadily declining trend in the retail sector. “We certainly feel that,” Monfrey says, referring to businesses being shuttered. “It’s had an impact, no question about it—not just this year with this pandemic issue—but it's had an impact over the last five years.” Because drayage companies provide services to consolidators, such as Span Alaska and American Fast Freight, they feel the loss even when smaller businesses that wouldn’t be able to take an entire trailer of goods go out of business. And it’s a ripple effect because consolidators, which
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can provide smaller amounts of goods to retail stores, are also receiving fewer deliveries. Because consumer goods, such as groceries, make up the bulk of the items being distributed throughout the state, Alaska’s population plays a prominent role in the sector’s expansion or contraction. Alaska is experiencing the longest stretch of net out-migration since statehood. Starting in 2012, more people were leaving the state than coming to it. However, there was still growth in the population due to there being enough new births to offset deaths and outward migration. That changed in 2017. The state’s population is now shrinking. And a shrinking population means less demand for retail goods and construction materials. Anchorage’s population peaked in 2013 at 301,000. By the end of 2023, the population will sink to 286,000, according to Bill Popp, president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. Alaska’s population will determine the
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“One of the biggest challenges is balancing the number of trucks and drivers with the fluctuating freight demand in Alaska. Volumes typically increase during the summer as projects and tourism are underway, and it’s important to maintain our workforce of professional drivers to be able to meet those demands as needs change.” Eric Badger, President, Alaska West Express
amount of work available in the sector, confirms Doyle. “If people live here, then they're going to those stores to get things they need, that's a huge driver,” Doyle says, also pointing toward work on the North Slope and work on military bases as drivers for business. “They all positively or negatively impact our work based on which direction they
Alaska Business
go,” Doyle says. However Alaska’s other industries impact the future of transportation, drayage is an essential service to Alaskans. Without truckers, store shelves would be empty. “If you got it from somewhere and you bought it from somewhere, a truck brought it to you,” Monfrey says. “And that's the bottom line.”
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INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS Matson | Food Bank Alaska Matson has committed $5 million in cash and in-kind shipping services to food bank networks supporting families in need in Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam. Already a longtime financial supporter in those communities, Matson will provide the food banks with ocean shipping of food supplies at no cost for all of 2021, 2022, and 2023. The new commitment follows Matson’s support earlier this year for Food Bank of Alaska, as well as other Alaska community food security programs, including the Port Users Food Drive; Children’s Lunchbox; Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence; and The Salvation Army. matson.com | foodbankofalaska.org
UAA The 2021 Business Plan Competition, sponsored by UAA’s College of Business and Public Policy, has expanded eligibility to include members of the community in addition to UAA students. Four finalists will be selected to present their start-up ideas at the “Perfect Pitch” final competition on March 26, 2021. A panel of twelve judges will select Grand Prize ($6,000) and Second Prize ($3,000) winners. Audience members will select a People’s Choice ($1,500) winner. Entries are due February 8, 2021. uaa.alaska.edu
Alaska DPS The Department of Public Safety (DPS) was awarded the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence—Inventory, Tracking, and Reporting grant in November from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to begin the
process of implementing a program to track sexual assault kit (SAK) testing. The grant provides $998,791 to the state over the next three years and will go toward the cost of software as well as two positions to manage the tracking program. The rollout of the SAK tracking software is expected to occur before the end of 2021. This system will also be a statewide mechanism for survivors to check the status of their kit at any time as well as provide them with notification when testing is complete. dps.alaska.gov
Moda Moda is offering increased health coverage to more communities throughout Alaska in 2021. In addition to its Moda Health Small and Large Group and Medicare Supplement plans currently offered statewide by Moda Health Plan, Moda Assurance Company will provide individual health plans in key new markets. “With this market expansion of our Individual plans into more areas of the state, Alaskans now have a choice of coverage that provides high-quality benefits designed specifically for them,” says Jason Gootee, VP of Strategic Market Development at Moda. modahealth.com
Rustic Goat | Chugach Electric Association An electric vehicle (EV) charger is now available at the Rustic Goat restaurant in West Anchorage, installed by the Municipality of Anchorage, which leases the parking area to the restaurant. The charger is the fourth and final charging
facility funded in part by Chugach Electric Association as part of an EV charging research program. Chugach launched an incentive program last year to help the utility learn more about the use of publicly available EV chargers. The Chugach program reimburses up to $7,500 in upfront costs for each of the chargers in exchange for three years of charging data. To date, charging stations have been installed at Alyeska Resort, the South Anchorage Mall, and the Dimond Center. The charger in the parking lot near Rustic Goat, across Turnagain Street just east of the restaurant, is the latest in the research program. rusticgoatak.com | chugachelectric.com
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Nearly 1 million tons of cargo passed through Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) in the third quarter of 2020, a 25 percent increase in cargo tonnage compared to the same quarter of the previous year. “The pandemic has caused a significant shift in the air traffic mix. Nominal amounts of passenger aircraft are flying, displacing the cargo they once carried in their bellies. It has created considerable demand for freighter space to carry that cargo,” says ANC Airport Director Jim Szczesniak. The future looks bright for ANC, with more than $500 million of private cargo development and expansion projects on the horizon. Alaska Cargo & Cold Storage, 6A Aviation, FedEx, and UPS have all put forward plans for development or expansion at the world’s sixth busiest cargo airport. dot.state.ak.us/anc
ECONOMIC INDIC ATOR S ANS Crude Oil Production 507,499 barrels -1% change from previous month
ANS West Coast Crude Oil Prices $47.31 per barrel 24% change from previous month
Statewide Employment 353,649 Labor Force 5.9% Unemployment
11/29/2020 Source: Alaska Department of Natural Resources
11/30/2020 Source: Alaska Department of Natural Resources
10/1/20. Adjusted seasonally. Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
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RIGHT MOVES Tlingit & Haida The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has hired Mary Johnson as the Tribal Family & Youth Services (TFYS) Director and Gail Cheney as the Senior Director of Organizational Development. It also announced the promotion of Alison Schoonover to Manager of its Sacred Grounds Café. As the TFYS director, Johnson provides direct oversight of all department staff and the planning, development, and Johnson implementation of the Tribe’s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), elderly services, and wellness programs and activities. Johnson received a bachelor’s in social work and a master’s in community psychology from UAF. She previously served as the program manager of Tanana Chiefs Conference’s Child Protection Program. She also worked as a behavioral health clinician and became a licensed professional counselor before returning to work in child welfare. In Cheney’s new position as senior director of organizational development, she supports Tlingit & Haida’s leadership and management Cheney team to develop strategies that foster organizational change and promote innovation and growth, enhance effectiveness, and uphold the mission and vision of the tribe. Cheney holds a bachelor’s in urban studies and planning from MIT as well as a master’s in business administration and management. She also holds a PhD in leadership and organizational change from Antioch University Seattle. Cheney has eighteen
years of professional experience with Alaska Native regional and village corporations and in fields including consulting, academia, nonprofit, and environmental. Schoonover joined the Sacred Grounds team in 2017 as a barista with six years of experience in the café community. As the Sacred Schoonover Grounds Café manager, Schoonover oversees hiring and training new baristas, works directly with staff to expand the Sacred Grounds Café brand, and develops and executes sales and profit plans.
Vitus Energy Vitus Energy announced several new hires and promotions. Charlotte Long was hired as Inventory Manager. Long has more than twenty-five years of experience in logistics and inventory management, Long with twelve years in the Alaska fuel industry. Long came to Vitus Energy from JB Gottstein where she was the sales representative and handled logistics for the bypass system. Long has bachelors’ in business management and global logistics management from UAA. James Ochoa has been promoted to Asset Manager. In his new position, Ochoa is responsible for procurement, logistics, and management Ochoa of the company’s assets, as well as general asset compliance. Ochoa began his career in the oil and gas industry in 2014 and joined the Vitus Energy team 2016 as an operations support specialist
responsible for organizing, coordinating, and administering support for marine operations. He provided ground support and logistics for multiple projects and operations across the state. Douglas Peoples was hired as Facilities Manager. Peoples comes to Vitus Energy with more than twentyfive years of experience Peoples in facilities management. Prior to Vitus Energy, Peoples worked for Liquor Stores North where he managed more than twenty facilities and oversaw the renovation of five stores where he was responsible for directing crews of subcontractors and the direct hire of maintenance workers. Cliff Brown joins Vitus Energy as Senior Retail Manager. Brown has more than twenty years of high-level management experience. He Brown possesses strong planning, organizational development, office technology, and general management qualifications. Prior to Vitus Energy, Brown was a regional field trainer and recruiter and a district manager for Holiday Station stores, where he supported management in the development and implementation of personnel policies and procedures. Brown has a doctorate of business administration from Northcentral University, a master’s in business management, and a bachelor’s in management from National American University. Brady Borum joins Vitus Energy as Senior Shoreside Manager for Central Alaska. Borum came to Alaska in 2005 with the US Air Force. Before joining Vitus Energy he was the director of fuel
RIGHT MOVES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NORTHERN AIR CARGO
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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
marketing and operation for the road system in Alaska where he was responsible for handling issues related to supply, logistics, trucking, Borum business development, and marketing while working with a spectrum of customers from across the state.
UA Foundation Dr. Tod A. Burnett is the new President of the University of Alaska Foundation and Chief Development Officer of Burnett the University of Alaska. Burnett was previously the executive vice chancellor for advancement at Brandman University and has extensive experience in higher education philanthropy and nonprofit leadership. In addition to his advancement position at Brandman, Burnett served as the university’s interim dean for the school of education and as adjunct faculty. He earned a bachelor’s in political science from University of California, Riverside, a master’s in management/finance from University of Southern California, and a doctorate in education and psychology from Pepperdine University.
Carson Law Italia A. Carson opened North Pole's first law office. More than half of her twentyyear legal career has been spent as a federal government Carson contracts attorney for the US Army and US Air Force. Carson's civil practice focuses on counseling small business contractors on the full range of federal procurement matters such as proposal preparation, contract interpretation, bid protests, disputes and claims, and suspension and debarment.
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Carson received her juris doctor from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and holds a master of laws with a certificate in contract and fiscal law.
Trihydro Corporation Trihydro Corporation has named Kurt Tuggle as its new President and CEO. Tuggle started his career with Trihydro in 1992 after completing Tuggle a civil/environmental engineering degree from the University of Wyoming. For the last twenty-eight years, Tuggle has served in roles of increasing levels of responsibility and has been a key member of Trihydro’s leadership team for the last decade, most recently as chief operations officer. As a member of the leadership team, Tuggle helped advance the company’s culture of excellence by building strong teams, developing employee focused programs, and driving operational efficiencies.
R&M Vanessa CrandellBeck recently joined R&M Consultants as an Environmental Geologist in the firm’s Earth Sciences Crandell-Beck Department. In this role, Crandell-Beck supports contaminated site and geotechnical investigation work, including subsurface investigation and site characterization, chemical sampling, material site assessment, geologic mapping, engineering geology, aerial photo interpretation, planning, budgeting, executing environmental and geotechnical site investigations, technical report writing, and data analysis for a variety of Alaska infrastructure projects. She holds bachelors' in geology and oceanography, both from Humboldt State University, as well as a master’s in geology from the
Alaska Business
University of Texas of the Permian Basin. R&M also expanded its service offerings in Fairbanks to include environmental services with the addition of Erica Betts. Betts joins R&M Betts as an environmental specialist focused on NEPA compliance in its Earth Sciences Department. She is responsible for environmental compliance tasks and other related office and field-based environmental services. Betts has six years of experience as an environmental specialist in Alaska, as well as an additional six years of environmental research and field experience. She holds a bachelor’s in biology with a specialization in ecology, evolution, and population biology from Purdue University and master’s in city/ regional planning and civil engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
PND Engineers Cameron Klatt has joined PND Engineers’ geotechnical team. Klatt earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Montana Klatt State University and a master’s in geotechnical engineering from the University of Washington. He interned with HDL Engineering and Kiewit Bridge and Marine. Michael Ulmgren brings experience as a research professional at UAA, where he conducted wave and storm surge modeling, Ulmgren shoreline change modeling, and sediment transport studies. Before UAA, Ulmgren was a civil associate at Michael Baker International, where he performed hydraulic and hydrology modeling and analysis, stream stability, and scour analysis.
January 2021 | 77
ALASKA TRENDS
H
ow Alaska approaches PK-12 education is outlined in Alaska Statute 14.03.015: “It is the policy of this state that the purpose of education is to help ensure that all students will succeed in their education and work, shape worthwhile and satisfying lives for themselves, exemplify the best values of society, and be effective in improving the character and quality of the world about them.” Providing Alaskan students access to quality educational opportunities is an ongoing challenge, and the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s (DEED) role in achieving that goal is to provide leadership support, resources, and information. For Alaska Trends this month, we selected data from DEED to provide a big picture view of youth education in the Last Frontier. For more data and information on the state’s education efforts, visit education.alaska.gov.
Alaska has
17.76
54
is the average student/teacher ratio across the state.
school districts
496
81.7
schools and
is the highest student/teacher ratio and is in the Galena City School District.
132,577
students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
7.25 10
districts have one school.
is the lowest student/teacher ratio and is in the Aleutian Region School District.
STATEWIDE ENROLLMENT AND TEACHERS EMPLOYED 000051 VS THE AVERAGE TEACHING SALARY '18/'19 had the highest enrollment with 133,381 students.
000021
'14/'15 had the lowest enrollment with 128,239 students.
00009 '19/'20 had the highest average teacher salary.
00006
'10/'11 had the lowest average teacher salary.
'10/'11 had the most teachers with 8,468.
00003 Student Enrollment
'19/'20 had the fewest teachers with 7,622.
Number of Teachers Average teacher's salary
'10/'11 '11/'12 '12/'13 '13/'14 '14/'15 '15/'16 '16/'17 '17/'18 '18/'19 '19/'20
0
1102/0102 2102/1102 3102/2102 4102/3102 5102/4102 6102/5102 7102/6102 8102/7102 9102/8102 0202/9102
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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
2019-2020 STATEWIDE STUDENT BODY BY DISTRICT DISTRICT
STUDENT BODY BY PERCENTAGE
Anchorage Mat-Su Borough Fairbanks North Star Borough Kenai Peninsula Borough Galena City Juneau Borough Lower Kuskokwim
10,255
Kodiak Island Ketchikan Gateway Borough
students were enrolled in the 5th grade, the largest K-12 cohort.
North Slope Borough Northwest Arctic Borough Lower Yukon
9,265
Yukon-Koyukuk Bering Strait
students were enrolled in the 11th grade, the smallest K-12 group.
Nenana City Sitka Borough Denali Borough
3,988
Delta/Greely Valdez City
students were enrolled in pre-kindergarten for the 2019-2020 school year.
Nome Public Southwest Region Craig City Chugach Petersburg Borough Copper River
2019-2020 STATEWIDE ENROLLMENT BY GRADE
Yupit Dillingham City Mount Edgecumbe Alaska Gateway Unalaska City Kuspuk Lake and Peninsula Borough Cordova City Iditarod Area Kashunamiut Schools Annette Island Wrangell City Haines Borough Aleutians East Borough Yukon Flats Saint Mary’s Southeast Island Chatham Skagway Klawock CIty Hoonah City Bristol Bay Borough
Pelican City
11th (9,265) 12th (9,606)
www.akbizmag.com
Alaska Business
KG (10,054)
10 0
9th (9,790) 10th (9,390)
90
Aleutian Region 80
7th (10,033) 8th (9,785)
70
Tanana
60
5th (10,255) 6th (10,238)
50
Pribilof
40
3rd (10,042) 4th (10,143)
30
Yakutat City
20
1st (9,945) 2nd (10,043)
10
PK (3,988)
Kake City
0
Hydaburg City
January 2021 | 79
AT A GLANCE What book is currently on your nightstand? Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle; The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; and Becoming a Leader: Nine Elements of Leadership Mastery by Al Bolea and Leanne Atwater. What movie do you recommend to everyone you know? I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan. What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work? Typically, it would be getting one or two of the dogs and either going for a walk or going for a cross-country ski if the skiing is really good... Right now, coming in and not turning on any media, picking up a book, and maybe pouring a nice glass of red wine. [Editor’s note: Bell, who lives in Juneau, was working in Anchorage at the time of the interview.] If you couldn’t live in Alaska, what’s your dream locale? I had the opportunity to travel in Patagonia a year and a half ago and hike, and I would love to go back… [or] Iceland: the natural beauty, the people, the connection to the culture. Images ©Kenny Knapp
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be? So, we're not talking about my husband? [She laughs.] A large cat, something like a panther or a leopard.
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OFF THE CUFF
S
Susan Bell
usan Bell is the Director of McKinley
Research (formerly McDowell Group),
which has provided quality research to Alaskans for more than forty years. “We're working in data, we're answering questions, we're finding solutions—but what's exciting is when we're helping clients make a decision about an investment or a decision or a program that helps them go forward,” Bell says of what she enjoys most about her work. She currently lives in Juneau with her husband, Bob Koenitzer. Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time? Susan Bell: I really love to be outdoors, and having spent more than thirty years in Southeast, I'm pretty all-weather. So if it's a nice day and I can get out and hike, I enjoy doing that; if the weather gods are favorable and it's snowy, I crosscountry or downhill ski. AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn? Bell: This sounds so mundane, but I know I use a fraction of what Excel is capable of, a fraction of all these tools we use… I've been dying to take a little time to sort of sharpen my own skills and use the tools that are at my fingertips more effectively. AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Bell: In my twenties, when I was working in Denali, a lot of people were coming down to Girdwood to learn to parachute. [It] was incredibly reckless to sort of pile in a car with a group of people to come down, to do a training, to climb out on the strut of a plane, and to jump... It was exhilarating, it was liberating, it was really fun. I've only ever done it that one time… and I certainly didn't tell my parents until well after when I handed them a photo. AB: What’s your go-to comfort food? Bell: Anything with sausage… maybe it's a venison sausage, maybe it's moose sausages. I start with that and see what else is around. But yeah, I think sausage can fix a lot of moods [she laughs]. www.akbizmag.com
AB: Other than your current career, if you were a kid today, what would your dream job be? Bell: I always thought that I'd be at some point an English literature teacher, and I may still… I truly love reading and writing and—especially for a kid from Nome—how reading opened up the world at a time before we had computers, and internet, and everything at our fingertips. AB: What’s your favorite way to exercise? Bell: It's easiest for me to get motivated to go outdoors. If it's a hike, if it's a ski—just moving outdoors and letting my mind detach. AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert? Bell: Tom Petty. AB: What’s your greatest extravagance? Bell: My husband and I, we buy art and we don't ask each other: there is just sort of an allowance in our household— especially if we know the artist, many of which are Alaskan— and a support and a recognition that it's a good decision. We've got masks, and sculptures, and some other pieces. AB: What are you superstitious about? Bell: I just try not to invite any bad karma in by doing silly things. So, you know, railroad tracks, cracks, thirteenth floors [she laughs]. It just seems like good practice just to heed the folklore. Why bring in trouble we just don't need on top of everything else, right? AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute? Bell: I think I help build connections: connections between people, connections between perspectives. I really enjoy that, just sort of connecting things that are disparate. I think my worst attribute is I interrupt.
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ADVERTISERS INDEX Advanced Supply Chain International............... 61 ascillc.com
Construction Machinery Industrial (CMI).............2 cmiak.com
NCB......................................................................17 ncb.coop
Airport Equipment Rentals................................. 83 airportequipmentrentals.com
Delta Constructors..............................................15 deltaconstructors.net
Nenana Heating Services Inc............................. 33 nenanahaetingservices.net
Alaska529...............................................................7 Alaska529Plan.com
Doyon Limited.....................................................17 doyon.com
New Horizons Telecom Inc............................... 23 nhtiusa.com
Alaska Pacific University (APU).......................... 45 alaskapacific.edu
Equipment Source Inc. (ESI).............................. 63 esialaska.com
North Star Behavioral Health............................. 55 northstarbehavioral.com
Altman Rogers & Co........................................... 33 altrogco.com
First National Bank Alaska (FNBA).........................5 fnbalaska.com
Northern Air Cargo.......................................76, 77 nac.aero
American Heart Assoc....................................... 53 www.heart.org
Fountainhead Hotels.......................................... 25 fountainheadhotels.com
Oxford Assaying & Refining Inc......................... 29 oxfordmetal.com
Arctic Information Technology............................3 arcticit.com
Jim Meinel CPA PC............................................. 29 meinelcpa.com
Pacific Pile & Marine............................................75 pacificpile.com
Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (ASRC)................. 41 asrc.com
Junior Achievement of Alaska............................31 juniorachievement.org/web/ja-alaska/
Parker Smith & Feek........................................... 35 psfinc.com
Avis Rent-A-Car.................................................. 73 avisalaska.com
Leonardo DRS..................................................... 19 LeonardoDRS.com
Span Alaska Transportation LLC........................ 13 spanalaska.com
Carlile Transportation Systems............................ 9 carlile.biz
Lynden Inc.......................................................... 84 lynden.com
Stellar Designs Inc.............................................. 61 stellar-designs.com
Central Environmental Inc. (CEI)....................... 67 cei-alaska.com
Material Flow & Conveyor Systems, Inc............ 65 akflow.com
The Odom Corp................................................. 49 odomcorp.com
Conrad-Houston Insurance Agency................ 82 chialaska.com
Medical Park Family Care Inc..............................57 mpfcak.com
UA Local 375 Plumbers & Pipefitters................. 69 ualocal375.org
Alaska Business Publishing Company
BUILDING ON TRUST New Publisher. Same Great Mission. Alaska Business Publishing Company is the new publisher of The Alaska Contractor magazine.
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Christine Merki
Janis Plume
Charles Bell
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82 | January 2021
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