Kivalina Landfill

JA Biz Camp 2022

Creative uses of industrial storage space

s Alaska continues climbing out from the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s economy remains among the nation’s lowest performing, yet other indicators suggest potential for growth and recovery in 2023 and beyond.

While nearly half of other states have rebounded, Alaska is still reaching for pre-pandemic job levels, according to the October 2022 Alaska Economic Trends report published by the Alaska State Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Furthermore, a study published in November 2022 by the Alaska Center for Economic Development at UAA made a case that, for the last seven years, Alaska’s economy ranked “at or near the bottom” in key economic health measures compared to its national counterparts.

ansomware is the top cybersecurity threat to businesses today—and it is expanding at an alarming rate. In 2020, Alaska reported a record number of complaints about ransomware and other cybercrimes to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). On a per-person basis, Alaska recently ranked as one of the country’s least secure states, according to Todd Clark, president of DenaliTEK and Cybersecure Alaska. “Per capita, Alaska had more cybercrimes reported in both 2018 and 2019 than any other state in America,” he says. “Alaska was 4th least secure in both 2020 and 2021.”

“Alaska is home to many military bases, energy companies, and government agencies,” says David W. Monroe, a cybersecurity consultant with Computer Task Group (CTG), which provides digital transformation solutions. “These industries and organizations have always been prime targets for ransomware attacks. Recently, news agencies in Alaska have been reporting on an increase in attacks on educational institutions as well.”

023 is particularly special for Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary. Fifty years ago in 1973, C. H. Rosenthal, Joseph P. Wiley, Dave Stein, and Les Pace established an organization to teach financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship to Alaska’s youth, helping them acquire the skills they needed to succeed in a changing economy.

The initial endeavor was called “Stop ‘Em from Droppin,” a partnership with the then-Anchorage Borough School District, business community, and S.A.V.E. aimed at allowing students, “through ownership of their own companies, to develop a realization of honesty and dependability in the world of work” and to “instill in young people a sense of responsibility for the successful functioning of American business and government during their lifetime.”

he Alaska Business Hall of Fame honors Alaskans who have made ongoing, significant contributions to the Alaska business community. They have established strong relationships within that community, donated their time and expertise to nonprofit and charitable causes, and built up the Alaska economy through their dedication, innovation, and leadership. The path that each laureate takes is highly varied, but they all start with a first job.

Below, we get to know the 2023 Alaska Business Hall of Fame laureates a little better, starting with their origin stories. To learn more about the laureates, the induction ceremony is being held January 19. Visit Alaska.ja.org for more details.

ach year, JA of Alaska recognizes an educator and a volunteer who have gone above and beyond to support the program and Alaska’s students as they learn critical financial information and skills. According to JA of Alaska Executive Director Flora Teo, “Volunteers are the backbone of JA. We have a lot of talented, amazing leaders in our business community, and it is truly special when you see volunteers walk into a classroom and see the excitement on kids’ faces.”

While JA volunteers are critical for the program, it’s educators who work every day to make sure Alaska’s students are prepared for the future. “Alaska has amazing educators who rally for our students every day,” Teo says.

Junior Achievement

n July 2022 Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska launched its first Biz Camp with the goal to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit among young people in Alaska.

Campers were divided by grade level and spent the week developing their business plans while learning about leadership and teamwork through physical fitness with the support of their camp counselors.

Thanks to support from the Alaska Community Foundation and Cook Inlet Region, Inc., students walked away with a business plan ready to put into action, and four students went home with seed money for their idea.

As JA board member Ryan Cropper often says, “Big businesses start as small businesses.”

If you think your student would benefit from Biz Camp—and you’re right—registration for that and three other new programs is now open at Alaska.ja.org.

hile working for the Alaska Department of Corrections, Rick Mallars and Tom Karpow were given the opportunity to create a probation/parole orientation video that could spread a consistent message across corresponding state offices. After spending a month creating the project, the duo discussed how much fun it would be to make videos for a living. Thirteen years later, they’re doing just that—and much more.

“We made the video, which was well-received, and that gave us the idea to start a video production company,” says Mallars, president and CEO of Upper One Studios. “I walked into my supervisor’s office and asked him if they would have hired me if I had my own company and had come in at a reasonable price, and he said yes. So I put in my two-weeks’ notice.”

Mallars cashed out his retirement and bought three cameras, audio equipment, and an editing program. He also came up with the name for the company, which refers to Alaska being the “Upper One state” above the Lower 48.

ach year, approximately 2,000 students statewide take part in Native Youth Olympics (NYO) junior and senior games, athletic contests based on skills crucial to Alaska Natives people’s traditional way of life. More than just a display of athletic prowess, the events focus on promoting healthy lifestyles, positive self-esteem, leadership skills, and good sportsmanship through friendly athletic competition.

Now in its 51st year, Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) has been hosting the games since 1986, and NYO remains an active program within its Youth Empowerment Services Department.

“Our CITC staff, along with volunteers, provide all of the logistical and event planning support, fundraising, and marketing and promotion for the event and related activities each year,” says Tim Blum, senior marketing and communications specialist for CITC. “It’s a huge effort.”

Delta Backhaul, aided by local laborers, tidied up the 6.7-acre site, closing the majority of the old landfill through consolidation, compaction, and cover and developing a more manageable 1-acre site. All the better for Kivalina’s eventual relocation, whenever that massive effort takes place.

ood communication is critical for any business or industry. This is especially true when developing natural resources in Alaska, where nothing is more indicative of a project’s success or failure than the quality of communication with stakeholders.

It’s not an easy task. The list of development projects that enjoyed early success or showed incredible promise only to be relegated to the dustbin of Alaska history is long. Of course, economics ultimately determines if projects move forward. But in many cases, the frequency and tone of communications plays an outsized role, ultimately impacting the economics.

So, what are some best practices, especially at a time when Alaska is poised to benefit from several new, large-scale development projects?

ome exacting economists shy away from using the word “unique” to describe Alaska’s particularities, but local knowledge clearly helps to answer the types of questions that specialized consultants tackle every day. Behind the scenes, they provide answers—or, at least, very educated guesses—to big questions: How are key industries like mining, fishing, and oil and gas development expected to grow, shift, or decline? How can rural communities arrive at consensus on heated topics, and then turn those agreements into action? What would be the economic impact on the state if, say, the Alaska LNG pipeline project moved forward?

Through a combination of field work, data collection, and number crunching, local firms such as Northern Economics, McKinley Research Group, and Agnew::Beck Consulting have been transforming confusion into clarity for decades. “Maybe it’s not that Alaska’s necessarily unique by an economic definition, but we believe that we have a context here that has to be understood to help the kind of clients we really want to help,” says Katie Berry, McKinley’s Director of Economics and Research. “Our work is largely focused on helping Alaskan industries, communities, and people drive themselves forward and make the next set of decisions for their businesses and organizations.”

hough placer mines had been in the Middle Kuskokwim area for decades, the official discovery of the Donlin Gold deposit in the late ‘80s led to one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world. Expected to take three to four years to construct, the mine aims to produce 1.1 million ounces of gold each year over its twenty-seven-year lifespan. The deposit is five times the average size of its peer mines, according to NOVAGOLD, one of the partners on the project.

Donlin Gold has been conducting environmental studies and developing engineering plans for the site for more than twenty years. In 1996, landowners Calista Corporation and The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) came to an agreement that gave a company called Placer Dome mining rights at Donlin Creek. Placer Dome was eventually purchased by Barrick Gold Corporation, and Donlin Gold is now owned in equal parts by Barrick Gold Corporation and NOVAGOLD Resources, both based in Canada.

ecently, I was reflecting on one of my favorite mentors. She was a rockstar consultant with a brilliant mind and excellent communication skills. She was consistently thrown into challenging and high-conflict situations because of her track record for figuring out the core issue and her ability to bring frustrated people back to the table to resolve it. If you needed something done, throw Jane* at it. She was the ultimate fixer.

She taught me a skill early in my career that I’ve never forgotten: she was an expert at classifying the urgent from the non-urgent.

I remember in my early twenties, rushing down a long hallway to gain her attention. I was so focused on getting her advice that I often would track her down and take the few minutes she had between meetings to walk hallways with her. In this particular moment, she stopped. Paused. Took a breath. And then stated something to me very gently and very calmly: “This is not urgent. We are not curing cancer. No one is dying in this moment. Remember that. Now, what exactly do you need?”

n a weekly basis, the co-founders of Alaskan Brewing Company tromp into the muskeg on Douglas Island with their dog, Tango, to hone the retriever’s trailing skills. A SEADOGS volunteer hides in the brush, and Tango sniffs them out. The exercise keeps Geoff and Marcy Larson and their pooch ready for when Alaska State Troopers call for help to locate a missing person.

“It’s sometimes a very traumatic period for a small community,” Geoff says, “but it’s amazing to see how small communities pull together.”