ver-evolving regulations, escalating costs, and other challenges can make it difficult for businesses to provide health insurance benefits for their employees. The situation is having an adverse effect on their bottom line, leading some employers to forgo offering insurance or to at least consider the possibility of dropping the benefit.

A primary factor impacting the cost of health insurance is the high cost of medical care. Alaska has some of the most exorbitant healthcare costs in the country—and world—and employers cover the bulk of that burden. In Alaska, the cost of many medical procedures is twice as high as in the Lower 48 on average, according to Jeff Roe, CEO of Premera, which operates in both Washington and Alaska.

“While the consumer price index is about 6 percent higher here, payments to doctors and hospitals in Alaska are 76 percent higher than nationwide averages, and, after accounting for cost of living, are increasing twice as fast as inflation,” Roe said in his July 2018 speech at the 3-Year Outlook Luncheon of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation.

t’s ironic that “on paper” the idea of electronic health records (EHRs), which provide an easy way for physicians, hospital systems, and patients to keep track of a person’s medical history, makes a lot of sense. In practice, however, the process of creating a database where these records are safely and efficiently available to everyone who should have access (and protected from those who should not) has not been without its share of problems.

The good news is that while there have been some difficulties, the majority of health providers in Alaska are moving toward a system that will enable more complete medical information to get into the hands of care providers more quickly while making it easier and more convenient for patients to see test results, pick up prescriptions, and travel around the state without having to carry their medical information with them.

“While we went live with our first EHRs in 1998 and still use the same vendor for our main facility, it doesn’t look anything like it did twenty years ago,” says Kirsten Kincaid, RN, manager of clinical applications at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. “We’ve gone through many upgrades to improve functionality.”

he Last Frontier’s massive, transient population of military personnel, its rural geography, and its depth and breadth of artisan products makes it a prime location for the development of e-commerce businesses.

“Alaska and Alaska products—particularly quality artisanal products—have cache. This also holds true for cloud funding, tourism, and across other e-commerce platforms,” says Juliet Shepherd, who is currently looking at the scalability of businesses in the Interior as part of her job as the project manager of technology-led development and cold weather testing for the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation (FEDC). “Everyone and their mother wants to engage with Alaska businesses. Alaska is very high profile right now—and particularly accessible for someone wanting to engage in e-commerce.”

The Enterprise Guide to Global Ecommerce anticipates about a 246 percent increase in worldwide e-commerce sales, from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.5 trillion in 2021. Among the mammoths growing the e-commerce market are familiar names such as Amazon, eBay, Groupon, Etsy, and Shopify. But even on the podium of largest e-commerce platforms one finds a few lesser known names: Jingdong, a Chinese company with more than a quarter billion users, and Alibaba Group, which operates in more than 200 countries.

he prices for fuel and food surprise many first time visitors to rural Alaska towns. In Fort Yukon, on the upper Yukon River 135 miles northeast of Fairbanks, a gallon of heating oil cost $6.35 this fall. A dozen eggs at Fort Yukon’s Alaska Commercial Company store cost $5.99.

But these prices seem less remarkable in light of all the work, fuel, and logistics it takes to transport these goods to remote Alaska towns and villages.

This time of year, the barges have finished their season traveling the Yukon River. Barge business Ruby Marine, the only major barge company on the Upper Yukon, serves Fort Yukon with three barge deliveries each summer in June, July, and August. By October, even if it’s been warm and the river is far from freezing, it’s not practical to operate large barges.

onstruction financing is extremely important to Spinell Homes. As Alaska’s largest home builder, the company has erected 3,200 homes through­out Southcentral Alaska since 1987. “Almost every house we build is financed through our favorite local bank, Northrim Bank, and the exceptions are built for people with either their own cash or are larger projects where the owners have their own financing,” says Andre Spinelli, vice president of design and development. “We also obtain loans for the development of subdivisions and commercial projects as well.”

Recently, Spinell Homes completed the thirteen-lot Woodhaven Preserve subdivision near O’Malley Road and Huffman Road and the 79^th Street GarageTown facility at the corner of 79^th and Petersburg. Both Anchorage projects were financed through Northrim by Spinell Homes or the subsidiary 79^th Street GarageTown—although Woodhaven Preserve was done with minimal financing due to cash on hand at the time of development. Spinell Homes also just closed on a land purchase and development loan that was used to buy the land and build the roads of Phase 9 of The Terraces Subdivision. The company anticipated beginning construction in August.

he Last Frontier is far more than a raw resource extraction point for North Slope crude oil, according to a manager of one of the three Alaska in-state oil refineries.

“Much of Alaska’s crude oil remains in state and is refined into commercial and residential product used across the state,” says Cameron Hunt, who is the vice president of and manages the Andeavor
Kenai Refinery. “The remaining crude oil can be shipped elsewhere, such as refineries and other sources along the West Coast of the United States and around the world.”

“It’s kind of awesome that it’s taking off so well,” Nordlum says. “We’re tattooing people every day.

While the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) provides power to just more than 4 percent of Alaska’s population, its service map stretches over a remarkably large portion of the state—from as far northeast as Kivalina to as far southeast as Yakutat. So how does a small electric co-op, employing less than 160 full-time and part-time employees throughout the state, manage to thrive as the largest of its type in the nation? Part of the explanation can be found in the cooperative spirit that characterizes rural Alaska.

AVEC was first incorporated in 1967 and officially began operations in 1968. The first three member villages were Hooper Bay, Nulato, and Old Harbor.

Today, as AVEC celebrates its 50th anniversary, that membership has bloomed into fifty-eight villages consisting of a combined population of more than 33,000. As geographically, economically, and culturally diverse as this base is, the common thread tying them together is a close-knit sense of community.

laska is a rugged place. Its landscape is rugged, its people are rugged, and it takes rugged tools to get the job—whatever job that may be—done. It comes as no surprise, then, that the state’s roads are dominated by large pickups, four-wheel drive SUVs, and hill-traversing Jeeps. Alaska terrain calls for vehicles built with power and maneuverability.

Enter Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, which prides itself as “Ram Truck Territory and Alaska’s Jeep Headquarters.” As recently as 2014, the State of Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles records contained more registrations of Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram vehicles than any other automobile brand (compared to ownership of brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, or Toyota). According to Anchorage Chrysler President and General Manager Corey Meyers, there are very few states in a similar situation, perhaps only one other.

his marks the fifth consecutive year of profitability for Koniag, a record of success that Senior Director of Shareholder Services Stacey Simmons attributes to the effort of Koniag’s Board of Directors and leadership team to work together to make informed decisions, weighing industry data and research with the input and opinions from the regional corporation’s shareholders.

“Koniag does a phenomenal job communicating with our shareholders, but we are always looking to do more,” Simmons says, an endeavor that she facilities through her role on a daily basis.

ur number one priority is product support to the equipment that we sell and rent,” says Construction Machinery Industrial (CMI) President and CEO Ken Gerondale.

“Product support includes providing parts; it also includes the service, whether it’s the service for warranty or longer-­term maintenance; and then product support can also include having a large enough inventory of equipment in the state of Alaska to provide rental equipment or standby equipment in case a piece of equipment goes down.”

Ultimately CMI strives to be available with the right tools, the right people, and the right parts, anytime and anywhere in the state. On the company’s website there are phone numbers and email addresses listed for employees at each of CMI’s four branches, along with this simple reassurance: “Branch numbers answered 24/7.”

etting people to work together as a team can be a challenge, especially if those people have different learning styles or don’t process information the same way. Trying to find a way to teach employees how to respect each other’s differences while maximizing each team member’s individual strengths isn’t a game—but maybe it should be.

What many business owners have learned—and what team-building companies promote—is that learning should be fun. “When employees feel that something is an obligation, like a lecture or listening to a keynote speaker, they tend to zone out,” says Todd Rice, director of THEY improv. “But when something is more interactive, they open themselves up to it; they have fun, they are engaged, and their brains are working at peak efficiency.

f about 7,600 contaminated sites in Alaska, some 70 percent have been cleaned up with 2,300 remaining that require additional remediation.

The bulk of those sites, about 73 percent, are contaminated by petroleum, the most common toxic matter in land-based spills statewide, according to Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials and remediation specialists.

“We are in a much better place [with regard to land-based spills] than we were back in March 1989,” says Graham Wood, program manager of the DEC’s Prevention Preparedness and Response Program, which was launched following the Valdez oil spill in 1989.

here is an array of degrees training workers for Alaska’s business community. From business administration to human resources, each individual is an important piece of the whole.

Paula Bradison is the owner and managing director of staffing agency Alaska Executive Search. She obtained her associate’s degree in small business administration from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and is a fourth generation Alaskan business owner.

While the company recruits some potential employees from the Lower 48, the majority of individuals who use Alaska Executive Search’s services are from Alaska, ranging from Bethel to Nome to Kotzebue.

ves Thompson has served as Executive Director at the Alaska Trucking Association (ATA) for the past twelve years. Prior to joining ATA, Thompson served as chief and director of the State of Alaska Division of Measurement Standards. This year he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Conference on Weights and Measures.

he world’s biggest and oldest Oktoberfest runs for more than two weeks every year from late September to early October in Munich. Taking place annually since 1810, this beer festival and fair sees more than 6 million attendees.

Communities around the world have since initiated their own fall festivals that pay homage to Oktoberfest and celebrate food, fun, community, and (naturally) beer. As Alaska’s local brewing industry has sky-rocketed in the last few years, there’s never a short supply of new, local, and unique brewed options for Alaskans to sample and love throughout the fall across the state.

he world’s biggest and oldest Oktoberfest runs for more than two weeks every year from late September to early October in Munich. Taking place annually since 1810, this beer festival and fair sees more than 6 million attendees.

Communities around the world have since initiated their own fall festivals that pay homage to Oktoberfest and celebrate food, fun, community, and (naturally) beer. As Alaska’s local brewing industry has sky-rocketed in the last few years, there’s never a short supply of new, local, and unique brewed options for Alaskans to sample and love throughout the fall across the state.

HB267—Allows local governments to confirm that hunting and fishing activities subject to taxes within their jurisdictions are being accurately reported.

HB135—Gives Alaska school districts more time and flexibility to provide the local match required under the School Construction Grant Program, loosening the existing three-year deadline; it can now be extended by the Commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development to a maximum of seven years.

HB212— Expands Alaska’s rural school construction fund so that major maintenance projects at existing schools can qualify for money, instead of funding only the construction of new schools.

Gandbhir has practiced law in Alaska for twenty-four years, after law school at Northeastern and an internship with Alaska Legal Services.
Matthews has practiced law in Alaska for thirty-two years, after graduating from Lewis & Clark Law.
Garton has practiced law in Alaska for more than seventeen years. She graduated from Lewis & Clark Law before moving to Alaska to clerk for Chief Justice Warren Matthews.

The Bethel District Court also welcomes Will Montgomery to the bench.

Montgomery graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 2010.