In addition to his lengthy academic and professional merits, Fagerstrom brings with him a personal heritage deeply rooted in the corporation. Not only was his late uncle a past corporation president, his father was one of Sitnasuak’s original 1973 incorporators following the enactment of ANCSA and served as the corporation’s president from 2011 to 2015.

“I’m really blessed in a way,” Fagerstrom says of his full circle journey. “It’s getting back to my roots and serving the people I grew up with. And being a shareholder, I feel very intrinsically motivated to do well.”

While his welcome into the corporation and the onset of the pandemic are of course not related, bringing in a leader so well-versed in healthcare administration is a particular asset these days. And when it comes to the logistics and business affairs associated with the field, Fagerstrom has always had affinity for them.

“I was always enamored by healthcare and wanting to get involved somehow. I knew I didn’t want to become a doctor or clinician, but I was very interested in the mechanics and finances and how health systems stay afloat and are funded. So I was able to get some scholarships to further my education and get more involved on the business end of things, and one thing led to another.”

One thing certainly did lead to another, but not exactly as planned. For anyone entering a new position, let alone one overseeing an entire corporation with subsidiaries as far away as Puerto Rico, the onboarding process comes with a learning curve to comfortably adjust to a new business environment. When a pandemic dramatically changes the way a company runs, that learning curve is accelerated.

“You have to be a quick study,” Fagerstrom says of his first few weeks. “There was not a whole lot of orientation. Luckily, I had been on the [Sitnasuak] board previously, so I had a good understanding of our capabilities and the businesses that we are in. So definitely, it was a deep dive, and you’re not talking about doing visionary work and planning—you’re getting right into the details to understand what impact this pandemic will have on your business.”

Despite the immediate demands placed on him, Fagerstrom’s leadership has been lauded by the corporation for more than his capabilities in the world of healthcare; his business savvy has contributed to the corporation’s financial stability and growth amid uncertain times.

Sitnasuak’s holdings span a variety of industries that include fuel service in Northwest Alaska; financial and title services in Southcentral Alaska and Fairbanks; residential and commercial real estate businesses in Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, and Nome; and tactical apparel manufacturing in Puerto Rico.

Closest to home, Bonanza Fuel provides fuel storage and transports energy products including heating oil, diesel, gasoline, and propane in Nome and the surrounding road-accessible area as far as Teller. According to the company, Bonanza recently expanded its bulk fuel terminal at the Port of Nome to a capacity of 5.9 million gallons, allowing marine vessels to receive and deliver fuel during ice-free summer months. In fact, Fagerstrom says the company is looking into more infrastructure investments at the port in the future that include logistics and basic support to help create a deeper draft and allow for more traffic up and down the port’s corridor, which could result in more economic opportunities for Sitnasuak shareholders and the community at large. At the same time, those conversations continue to emphasize a key corporate value: environmental stewardship. Fagerstrom notes that Sitnasuak projects, in Nome and beyond, are developed only after the environmental and ecological health of the community and region have been carefully considered.

“I think the key thing is partnering. There are a lot of entities in Nome and we definitely have to be aligned as far as our approach to duplicating efforts,” he adds.

The Bonanza brand name also extends into retail operations through Bonanza Express, a Nome-based gas/diesel station and convenience store. According to Sitnasuak, Bonanza Express is especially known for providing freshly brewed coffee—a downright necessity in a subarctic community. Nome Outfitters, which Sitnasuak acquired through Bonanza Fuel in 2019, of specializes in subarctic necessities ranging from hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor recreation products to kitchen appliances, televisions, and cellphones (all of which can be delivered throughout the community free of charge).

Sitnasuak’s Southcentral holdings include financial and title services, in addition to a real estate portfolio. The umbrella subsidiary, Sitnasuak Financial Services, comprises the Fidelity Title Agency of Alaska (which also has a branch in Fairbanks) and Mat-Su Title Agency.

Acquired several years ago, Fagerstrom cites positive activity in the corporation’s financial and title businesses: “We’ve grown the financial services. Luckily in the last year, in terms of some blessings that come out of the pandemic, interest rates are at very low levels. Right now it’s creating a lot of refinancing, and so businesses in our financial sector in terms of title and escrow services have been improving. So those are doing well in the short term and we hope that will continue.”

Around the same time that Sitnasuak ventured into the financial services realm, it also expanded into tactical apparel with the addition of SNC Technical Services (SNCTS). The wholly-owned subsidiary is one of the largest American producers of uniforms and related tactical gear for the US Department of Defense.

“We’ve been slowly building and investing organically within the business and have been able to provide a great track record of performance to the federal government,” says Fagerstrom. “And so we have a great track record and provide a great, quality product, and we’re building on that integrity and performance. We’re improving our sales on a year-to-year basis, and it’s been a very successful model.”

Fagerstrom says SNCTS has added new products recently such as duffle bags, military uniforms, and chemical protective clothing. The organization has also expanded into law enforcement products. He also points to a commercial line of SNCTS products the company has developed and grown in order to build upon the goal of diversifying.

Another point of pride for Fagerstrom and SNCTS is the Puerto Rico operation’s ability to adapt to the immediate demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). He explains that SNCTS was able to quickly reconfigure its plants and operations to produce PPE while also ensuring the safety of its own employees in the workplace.

“We’re very, very nimble, so we took advantage of that.”

The ability to adjust to a changing business environment is a positive result of effective strategy, a pursuit ingrained in Sitnasuak’s philosophy.

Fagerstrom explains that the corporation doesn’t seek to grow just for the sake of growing. Sitnasuak’s leadership carefully analyzes the financial potential of a prospective acquisition, while also monitoring the performance of all its holdings. “We have plans to diversify into different sectors, but we do know that we need to do our due diligence and be smart,” says Fagerstrom. So far, the corporation has garnered its best successes by investing in established businesses (versus looking to the startup arena as a means of growth). “Our businesses are strong and we want to build upon them and make them more efficient and effective. We have to grow either horizontally or vertically—we’ll do so in an incremental fashion.”

For example, Sitnasuak is considering vertically integrating SNCTS’ Puerto Rico operations to positively impact supply chain logistics. Other business lines include the aforementioned Port of Nome prospect, a location in which Sitnasuak is already a stakeholder through Bonanza Fuels and land ownership.

Leadership styles factor heavily into how a strategy is formed. Fagerstrom’s own approach can be distilled down to two important themes: communication and elevation.

“I’m all about team management, working together, and having a solid team on the same page,” he says. “It’s instilling in all of our leadership and staff that ‘line of sight’ so you know what you’re doing and what impact that has on our people. I like to make people more conscious of what they do and what their role is and to highlight that so someone has that intrinsic motivation to succeed.”

It’s important to remember that one distinguishing aspect of ANCSA corporations is that their business culture is directly informed by the Indigenous cultural identity of their shareholders. Accordingly, Sitnasuak’s mission statements and company values transcend anything to do with the conventional bottom line. The traditional values and ethical beliefs of the Iñupiaq, Yup’ik, and St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik cultures of the Bering Strait are the very foundation upon which Sitnasuak bases its corporate culture. So what does that entail, specifically? One look at the corporation’s list of cultural values confirms the same ones Fagerstrom has mentioned in Sitnasuak’s business practices: cooperation, patience, responsibility, and open communication are just a few.

And as Alaska Native culture drives the business decisions of a Native corporation, the success of that corporation in turn helps further the culture. The most common result of the equation is in the form of shareholder dividends, but Sitnasuak also leverages benefits like educational scholarships to shareholders and cultural maintenance projects in the Nome region.

It’s something that Fagerstrom looks forward to continuing as he helps steer Sitnasuak through the pandemic and into the future. “It’s exciting just to be part of—working and actually seeing the results of our decisions, from a business sense, be profitable, and where that profit goes and how that benefits our shareholders and contributes back to our community… It’s very powerful.”