Dog Man by Dav Pilkey. Kids’ comic books. I read to my son every night.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Local youth sports. I coach two hockey teams, and soccer in summertime.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Get a glass of wine and decompress for a little bit before making dinner for the kids.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
I would like to play golf in various locations… I’d love to go to Ireland and play there.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
It’d probably be a wolf. I don’t think I can deal with a bear at the house.
Dog Man by Dav Pilkey. Kids’ comic books. I read to my son every night.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Local youth sports. I coach two hockey teams, and soccer in summertime.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Get a glass of wine and decompress for a little bit before making dinner for the kids.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
I would like to play golf in various locations… I’d love to go to Ireland and play there.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
It’d probably be a wolf. I don’t think I can deal with a bear at the house.
Off the Cuff
ovement defines his life and career, yet Josh Norum is part of a century-old fixture. Sourdough Express has stayed put in Fairbanks since the Klondike Gold Rush, and his family has owned the transport company since 1923, from his great-grandmother Schlotfeldt’s father-in-law through two generations of Gregorys on Norum’s mom’s side.
“I’m definitely very proud of our family’s legacy with our company,” he says. “We’ve transferred ownership through five generations, and I’m the fifth.”
In January 2022, Norum became company president, but that wasn’t always the plan. “I had aspirations to run a large business, but one of my own creation,” he recalls.
He started Fairbanks Lawn King in high school, but by college he returned to Sourdough to work as a mover. “I got my CDL at 18 and drove trucks for a little while. I went through dispatching and mid-level managing. I’ve seen every aspect of the business,” he says.
Whether he’s shuttling among the company’s Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Kenai locations, roaming across wild hunting grounds, snowmachining up the Iron Dog trail, or traveling the globe, Norum is constantly on the move.
Josh Norum: I snowmachine a lot in the wintertime. In the summertime, we go boating to our cabin. In the fall, we hunt a lot.
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Norum: Getting better at golf.
AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Norum: I raced Iron Dog for four years… I also raced an Iron Man [triathlon] during that time… That was, physically, extremely challenging.
AB: What are you superstitious about?
Norum: Our joke when we were racing was that we weren’t superstitious, we were just little-stitious. We would always do stuff the same way.
AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Norum: Fiori D’Italia in Anchorage… In Fairbanks, I enjoy The Pump House.
AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?
Norum: Chris Stapleton.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Norum: We are fairly bougie hunters… We have a very well set-up boat and camp.
AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?
Norum: I believe I’m very good at connecting the dots between people, making sure collaboration is happening. My worst attribute is I’m very obsessive about stuff, over-analyzing and obsessing about details. It’s stressful.
