LEADERSHIP ANCHORAGE
“I Always Knew I Wanted To Come Back”
Jason Metrokin in Togiak. PHOTO BY KALA GILLAN
Jason Metrokin, LA alumnus and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, reflects on education, diverse thinking, and his path to leadership By Kevin Patnik
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our years ago, Jason Metrokin said something that has resonated like an echo. “Bristol Bay is one of the few intact ecosystems in the world. It’s a sprawling watershed overflowing with salmon and abundant with berries, moose, and birds. The views from here are magical, vast, and transcendent. There are few things I love more than going out to the edge of town—to any village or town in Bristol Bay—and looking across the tundra, a river, or the forest. Here, I can stand back and reflect upon the beautiful region that supports our people, our culture, and our economy.” Metrokin was fresh out of college when he first visited Bristol Bay. He was working for the National Bank of Alaska and made a trek to Dillingham and Togiak. Jason’s father had been raised in Naknek before his family moved to Kodiak Island. Still, “I knew I had roots, maybe not directly in these communities, but certainly I had roots in this region. I felt at home.”
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A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M S U M M E R 2020
Metrokin’s father was in the National Guard and had travelled to nearly every village in the state, numerous times. This was a bridge for Metrokin. “I was an urban, Native kid who grew up in Anchorage. Yet people in Dillingham and Togiak knew my name because of my father. And here I finally had this opportunity to explore rural Alaska, village by village, and even though I wasn’t from there, I was accepted because people knew my family.” “One of the things I love most about Alaska— about rural Alaska—is that if you’re open and honest and show that you are trustworthy, it doesn’t matter where you’re from. You become part of a family.” Taking Flight
Metrokin grew up in Midtown, a modest, low-income neighborhood in West Anchorage, before his family moved to the south end of the city. One of the things he appreciates most about his hometown
