The 2020 Corporate 100

he Corporate 100 rankings are an annual tradition at Alaska Business that spans nearly three decades. There are a handful of companies that appeared on our inaugural Corporate 100 in 1993 and appear again on the list today including Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, First National Bank Alaska, GCI, Lynden, NANA, Providence, and Usibelli Coal Mine to name a few of the companies that have been keeping Alaskans employed and feeding the economy, year after year, decade after decade.

Because the 100 companies in this directory employ workers in Alaska’s staple industries, it is not an overstatement to say that without them, the state’s economy would suffer deeply. Economists are once again predicting that the state is emerging (some say has emerged) from its years-long recession in 2020 and, if it does, it will be in large part thanks to the companies and employees on this list.

The State Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported in January that Alaska added about 1,600 jobs in 2019 after losing more than 11,000 jobs during the recession of the past three years. The state has forecast that trend would continue in 2020, but at a slower rate of 0.3 percent (compared to 0.4 percent the prior year) or about 1,100 new jobs. However, that forecast is largely dependent on what is expected to be another record year for tourism, particularly for cruise line visitors. The effects of COVID-19 (aka the coronavirus) on tourism remain to be seen but, given that the cruise ship season sets sail this month, we’ll likely see a hint of what’s to come as Alaska’s port towns start welcoming the season’s first ships.

For now, we continue with our celebration of Alaska’s top 100 companies ranked by employee numbers. Each has worked diligently to create an environment that appeals to job seekers and inspires workers to stay with them even in a highly transient state like Alaska. Congratulations to the 2020 Corporate 100.

Kathryn Mackenzie
Managing Editor, Alaska Business