At a Glance

What book is currently on your nightstand?

I’ve been writing these law review articles every couple of years, so my latest one I’ve been working on is an article about proxy challenges in ANCSA corporate elections. So I’ve been doing an awful lot of reading, but it’s not books. It’s cases and other legal material to try to get that done.

What charity or cause are you passionate about?

Akeela, which does substance abuse treatment and prevention. Just hearing the stories of our clients… has kept me on that board for twenty-one years now.

What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?

[He laughs] Well, usually my stop is not first at home, it’s usually at the hockey rink. My kids play hockey, and I do help coach with U8 [kids under age 8].

What vacation spot is on your bucket list?

There’s one thing I really would like to do at some point, and that’s go to Argentina and hunt doves… There’s millions of these birds, and you do a lot of shooting down there, so it’s right up my alley.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?

I’d love to have a big mountain lion. That would be an ideal pet to go hunting with. Like, you’re in the woods and you have a real nice camp dog; you can’t beat a mountain lion, can you? [he laughs]

Aaron Schutt teaching kids hockey

At a Glance

What book is currently on your nightstand?

I’ve been writing these law review articles every couple of years, so my latest one I’ve been working on is an article about proxy challenges in ANCSA corporate elections. So I’ve been doing an awful lot of reading, but it’s not books. It’s cases and other legal material to try to get that done.

What charity or cause are you passionate about?

Akeela, which does substance abuse treatment and prevention. Just hearing the stories of our clients… has kept me on that board for twenty-one years now.

What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?

[He laughs] Well, usually my stop is not first at home, it’s usually at the hockey rink. My kids play hockey, and I do help coach with U8 [kids under age 8].

What vacation spot is on your bucket list?

There’s one thing I really would like to do at some point, and that’s go to Argentina and hunt doves… There’s millions of these birds, and you do a lot of shooting down there, so it’s right up my alley.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?

I’d love to have a big mountain lion. That would be an ideal pet to go hunting with. Like, you’re in the woods and you have a real nice camp dog; you can’t beat a mountain lion, can you? [he laughs]

Image © Kerry Tasker

Off the Cuff

Aaron Schutt
O

ne way or another, Aaron Schutt would’ve been flying across Alaska, from village to village. He didn’t follow one childhood dream to become a bush pilot, but he still gets around (or did, before COVID-19) as President and CEO of Doyon, Limited. He considers the best part of his job to be visiting the Interior hometowns of the regional Native corporation’s 20,000 shareholders and understanding their current needs and their histories.

“Wherever they live now,” he says, “they’re from somewhere.”

Schutt, a Koyukon Athabascan enrolled in the Native Village of Tanana, grew up in Tok, graduating high school with just eighteen classmates. He earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and then pivoted to Stanford Law School, becoming a lawyer like his twin brother Ethan (himself an executive vice president at Bristol Bay Native Corporation and a Permanent Fund trustee).

AB: What is your favorite way to exercise?
Schutt: Gotta be late-night, beer league hockey.

AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Schutt: [he laughs] I’ve bungee jumped, I’ve skydived, I’ve done all the… people think they’re crazy, but it doesn’t seem to bother me too much.

AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Schutt: Taco King. [he laughs] I mean, there’s the fancy restaurants, and we’ve got some really good ones… but my local lunch spot is the Taco King on Huffman. I’m happy every day I eat there.

AB: Is there anything you’re superstitious about?
Schutt: All kinds of things! [he laughs] Half the time when I’m watching my team, whatever sport it is on TV, I feel like they do worse than when I’m not. So I really struggle with that one. Should I watch or should I not?

AB: Have you ever had a supernatural experience?
Schutt: People see sasquatch and all this stuff out in the woods, and I’ve spent an awful lot of time in the woods… I’ve never seen anything! So I’m waiting for it to happen.

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?
Schutt: We went to the Eagles a couple years ago [in Las Vegas]… wouldn’t mind going back.

AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Schutt: Once in a while, I pay way too much to watch an NHL game somewhere.

AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?
Schutt: My worst is I’m a procrastinator. Like, serious procrastinator. Maybe that’s the best, too. Makes me efficient. Last minute.

Aaron Schutt in a hockey rink