kiers on Anchorage’s cross-country trails might unknowingly cross paths with a telecommunications pioneer. Sandra Blinstrubas has been President of Microcom since the mid-‘80s, when the oil price crash ended her career as a state contractor and she met Chuck Schumann, who founded the company in 1984. At that time, hundreds of villages lacked local phone service, long-distance calling was an ordeal, and network TV was recorded in Seattle and the tapes were flown north for delayed broadcast. Microcom brought satellite links to the Last Frontier—and linked Blinstrubas and Schumann as a married couple. Their son now also works at Microcom, managing its broadband business.

Some grad school friends invited Blinstrubas, originally from Connecticut, to move to Alaska. “Apparently I was looking for adventure,” she says. Her master’s degree in environmental science from Yale hardly prepared her for the technology industry (but, she says, “I was lucky enough to learn along the way”), so she manages administration and operation of the company.

In summer, she and her husband sail their boat, See Forever (named for a ski trail in Telluride, Colorado), on Resurrection Bay every weekend. In winter, she skis at the couple’s cabin in Talkeetna or on Anchorage’s urban trails.

Alaska Business: What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Sandra Blinstrubas: It’s my time to be creative. I like to cook, so I begin immersing myself in the kitchen and coming up with a meal that hopefully everybody will like.

AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Blinstrubas: Besides moving to Alaska by myself, I’d have to say a night dive I did one year in Kona, a long time ago. Definitely didn’t expect myself to have a panic attack. I felt claustrophobic, but I was able to accomplish the dive. Once I was able to get below water, I was fine… I’m not sure I’ll do that again.

AB: What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Blinstrubas: I want to go to South Africa, but I know the dilemmas with travel today. Tuscany would be another one.

AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Blinstrubas: The boat is extravagant, I’d have to say. But it would probably be travel. I like to spend time exploring. I think it’s a luxury… In 2018, we went to Tanzania and did an African safari through the Serengeti. To me, that was the ultimate extravagance. It was amazing, and I’d love to go back.

AB: What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Blinstrubas: One of our favorites is [Alaska] Seeds of Change, which really focuses on youth empowerment. And one of our flagship charities was the [Downtown Soup Kitchen] Hope Center, and occasionally we send several volunteers for the day to work at the Hope Center and serve lunch to 400 people that need lunch… We also like to support the Alaska Sealife Center.

AB: Is there anything you’re superstitious about?
Blinstrubas: We don’t like to count our chickens before they’re hatched. We’re usually not mentioning if something is going to be successful; we don’t like to talk about it until something actually happens.