he Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act established Alaska Native-owned corporations charged with making a profit and then using those profits for the benefits of their shareholders and communities. Over the last five decades, the regional corporations have all found exceptional levels of success, generating thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue, the profits of which are used for shareholder dividends, Elder programs, education and scholarships, job programs, community projects, and much more. Below are highlights of the activities of each of the twelve in late 2023 and 2024.

In January, Ahtna announced that the trustees of the Ahtna Hwt’aene Trust decided to issue quarterly distributions in 2024 of $875 each to Ahtna’s Elders, those original shareholders who are 62 years of age or older. This pencils out to $3,500 in total distributions to Elders for the year, which is $500 more than last year, according to Ahtna President Michelle Anderson. “We want our Elders to know they are appreciated,” she states.

In addition to its Elders, Ahtna continues its investment in its shareholders through the Helping Our People Excel, or HOPE, program. According to Anderson, “Sometimes just a little bit of extra help makes all the difference in finding and advancing careers.” The Ahtna Shareholder Internship, National Park Service Intern Program, Walter Charley Memorial Scholarship, Ahtna Vocational Scholarship Program, and Career Assistance Program are all aspects of HOPE, designed to support shareholder employment opportunities with Ahtna or elsewhere and creating opportunities for shareholders to gain work experience.

Ahtna Netiye’, which manages the corporation’s subsidiaries and provides them with “strategic direction and corporate structure,” was listed in Engineering News-Record magazine’s “2023 Top 200 Environmental Firms” for the third consecutive year. Ahtna CEO Roy Tansy Jr., who leads Ahtna Netiye’, states, “The demand for environmental consulting services is on the rise globally, and we are proud to be recognized as a leader in the field.”

Aleut hit a major milestone in FY2024, earning more than $380 million in revenue, an increase of more than $100 million from the year previous and the largest earnings in the corporation’s history. According to the company, “This remarkable feat reflects Aleut’s hard work, innovation, and dedication to our shareholders throughout the enterprise.”

Expansion and growth in the company’s subsidiaries account for much of the additional revenue: Aleut Federal saw a new president in 2024 as well as a revenue increase of 27 percent in FY2024 “largely fueled by the company’s strategic focus on sustainable development, particularly within the rapidly expanding technology sector,” and Strata-G Solutions more than doubled its revenue and operating income from the fiscal year previous. Aleut Patrick Mechanical, Aleut Ventures, and Aleut Real Estate are also all expanding their services and adding to the company’s growth.

Aleut has partnered with McKinley Alaska Growth Capital to launch the Aleut Shareholder Marketplace, a business plan competition exclusively available to Aleut shareholders or descendants, and the corporation is upgrading and enhancing its shareholder portal to improve accessibility, user experience, and the overall efficiency of shareholder interactions with the corporation. The company is also launching a new logo and branding. “Our new look continues to honor our heritage while embracing a future of growth and innovation,” the corporation states.

Aleut shareholders Melanie Hoblet and her son (left) and Gregory Fratis Sr. (right), with Unangax̂ Dancers at the 2023 Aleut Annual Meeting (center).

Ash Adams / Aleut Corporation / Ash Adams

According to the company, “In 2023, ASRC achieved record-breaking amounts in revenue and earnings, acquisitions, dividends, and shareholder growth.”

The corporation’s gross revenue climbed to $5.5 billion, and for the first time in its history it reported more than $400 million in EBITDA. With operations in all fifty states and more than 16,000 employees, ASRC is not only a major Alaska company but is also being recognized on a national stage, ranking 137 on Forbes’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies.

ASRC “closed on six strategic and growth-oriented acquisitions” in 2023, including the largest acquisition in its history: subsidiary ASRC Federal acquired the logistics and supply chain management division of Science Applications International Corporation.

As the company continues to grow, so does its impact on its over 14,000 Iñupiaq shareholders. In 2023 ASRC distributed a $115 per share dividend, the largest combined dividend in the corporation’s history.

The corporation shared its impact goes beyond its shareholders: “ASRC provides necessary economic support to Alaska Native communities throughout the state,” the corporation states. Through the ANCSA revenue sharing provisions, ASRC’s aggregate 7(i) and 7(j) payments to the other Alaska Native corporations surpassed $1.7 billion, though it has “utilized less than 2 percent of our lands for natural resources, including the Alpine field near Nuiqsut.”

Echoing the historic 1989 shareholder vote which made ASRC the first ANC to open enrollment to descendants of original shareholders, in June 2025 shareholders will decide whether to authorize additional Class C and Class D shares ensuring future descendants are eligible to enroll in ASRC.

ASRC has more than 14,000 shareholders, to whom in 2023 it issued the largest combined dividend in its history: $115 per share.

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation

BSNC is working to capture the wisdom of its Elders in their own words through the Heritage Preservation Project, collecting Elders’ thoughts and stories in writing or recorded video. The project “seeks to preserve and share our Elders’ invaluable knowledge,” the corporation states. It is also working to engage young shareholders and descendants through its My Bering Straits activity book, which encourages children “to embrace the vibrant music and dance of Alaska Native culture and teaches them the basics of plants and wildlife in our region.”

Other community investments include a $250,000 donation to the Nome Community Center’s HomePlate Apartment project, which “serves as a key step on the path towards permanent housing for some of Nome’s most vulnerable individuals,” and $20,000 to Iḷisaqativut, a “community-led grassroots collective dedicated to the revitalization of the Iñupiaq language.”

On the business side, in late 2023 the BSNC board approved a $2 million investment in Graphite One for the Graphic Creek project, which has potential to create stable, well-paying jobs in the region. The corporation recently established three new holding companies: BSNC Government Services, BSNC Commercial Services, and BSNC Regional Services. “These holding companies, each focusing on a specific sector, will allow for more specialized management and growth strategies that best fit a certain sector,” the company states. During the last fiscal year, BSNC saw more than 20 percent growth, increasing its gross revenue to nearly $800 million.

BBNC launched and completed several community projects in 2023. The Mobile Department of Motor Vehicles program provides residents of Bristol Bay with convenient access to drivers’ licenses and REAL IDs without burdensome travel. BBNC continued its successful Youth Culture Camp (grades 9-12) and launched a Young Adult Culture Camp (ages 18-26) in response to young shareholders expressing a desire to explore their identity as shareholders and Alaska Natives. Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the corporation’s Bristol Bay Native Place Names Project, which collects and preserves the Native names and stories; the project resulted in two Indigenous place names being approved, Nanvarpak (Large Lake) and Tl’useł Vena (Pants Lake), which will now appear on state and federal maps.

In April, BBNC’s board voted to double the corporation’s Elder distribution from $125 to $250 per quarter in response to shareholder concerns. BBNC is also working to better engage with shareholders and descendants through Mug Up with BBNC, a podcast launched in 2023 that features BBNC shareholders, employees, community leaders, and others devoted to BBNC’s mission of “Enriching our Native way of life.”

BBNC is also investing in its employees and was recognized as one of the 2023 Best Workplaces by Alaska Journal of Commerce and Peak 2 Peak Events, which “reflects BBNC’s strong leadership, employee growth opportunities, and a commitment to a positive work/life balance,” the company states.

BBNC continues its support of Youth Culture Camps (left), shareholder and descendant training opportunities (center), and a summer hockey camp in partnership with the Seattle Kraken and Anchorage Hockey Academy (right).

Bristol Bay Native Corporation

Calista hit a revenue milestone for 2023, seeing 23 percent growth over 2022 to $969 million in gross revenue. “Calista’s increased revenue was driven by operational growth in both federal contracting and construction business lines,” says Calista President and CEO Andrew Guy.

Calista Brice is the corporation’s holding line focused on construction, environmental, and technical solutions. Its nineteen subsidiary companies include two companies launched in 2023: Brice Integrated, an engineering firm focused on end-to-end solutions for environmental projects, and Brice Pacific, a construction firm specializing in federal projects.

Calista’s holding line that specializes in government contracting, Yulista, acquired DSoft Technology, a Colorado-based firm specializing in technology, engineering, and analysis services to defense and civil clients. According to Yulista, this acquisition “significantly broadens the holding line’s information and technology capabilities.”

Through its subsidiaries, Calista is connecting with student shareholders and descendants interested in apprenticeships, internships, and jobs. In 2023, Brice Civil hosted its first STEM, Construction & Survey Career Camp, which nine high school students from the Calista region attended. Calista and its subsidiaries have hosted 28 interns in 2023, and since 2010 has provided internship opportunities for 212 shareholders from forty-one of its villages.

Calista also continues to support its more than 37,000 shareholders through dividends, distributing $16.3 million to them in 2023, nearly $2 million more than 2022 and $11 million more than a decade ago. Calista’s nonprofit arm, Calista Education and Culture, has provided more than $6.4 million in scholarships to shareholders and descendants since 1994.

Chugach is optimistically anticipating the passage of the Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2024, which would grant the corporation ownership of 65,000 acres of “culturally significant and economically viable” lands, and it would transfer nearly 240,000 subsurface acres to the federal government, reducing split estate conflicts in Prince William Sound. Chugach Chairman Sheri Buretta says, “Introducing this bill represents a meaningful, long-awaited step towards healing the Chugach region following the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill… Resolving the existing split-estate conflicts will empower Chugach to exercise self-determination for its people as intended by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.”

Buretta and Interim President and COO Peter Anderson, who stepped into the role of interim president when Josie Hickel retired earlier this year, have welcomed new CEO Jonathan Darlrymple to the corporation. Darlrymple says of the shake-up in leadership, “Welcoming a mix of new and long-standing leaders to the Chugach team has brought both continuity and change. New leaders bring fresh perspectives and ideas, while also benefiting from and respecting the wisdom and lessons gained from predecessors.”

The company is also looking at a potential shakeup at the shareholder level as its board considers Open Enrollment for the descendants of Chugach shareholders; if the board decides to move forward, a resolution will be placed before shareholders in 2025 to expand shareholder eligibility to descendants, which the corporation says would “strengthen our cultural heritage and ensure long-term prosperity through a larger and more active shareholder base.”

On January 1 CIRI welcomed Swami Iyer as its CEO and Sarah Lukin as its president, “marking an unprecedented bifurcation of the president and CEO role, which historically has been combined since CIRI was incorporated in 1972,” the corporation states. In other leadership news, CIRI’s largest subsidiary, The North Wind Group, also welcomed a new CEO, Rich Driggs, in November 2023.

Also in 2023 CIRI was proud to support the 30th anniversary of the Alaska Native Justice Center, which “promotes justice through culturally based advocacy, prevention, and intervention services to restore dignity, respect, and humanity to all Alaska Native people.”

Earlier this year, CIRI launched the “Yah” (“grow” in Dena’ina) program, an executive mentorship for CIRI shareholders and descendants to build executive level skills “to prepare for future executive leadership needs throughout CIRI’s ecosystem.”

In spring 2024, CIRI partnered with the Alaska Native Heritage Center as the lead sponsor of Indigenous traveling exhibit Nakenaghch’ Sutdu’a, meaning “Our Traditional Legacy, Stories of Our History” in Dena’ina.

“The exhibit marks an exciting new chapter in cultural preservation and sharing Dena’ina culture and history with our people,” says Lukin. “We are thankful for the many brilliant working hands and minds that helped bring the exhibit to life.”

Doyon started 2024 with a bang, in January granting Discovery Alaska, an Australia-based mining company, a lease on the 2-million-ounce Vinasale gold project, which Doyon owns 16 miles south of McGrath. According to Doyon Communications Manager Cheyenna Kuplack, “This venture not only signifies economic development but also reflects Discovery Alaska and Doyon’s commitment to supporting the Alaska Native community.” Discovery Alaska’s exploration will focus on “reconfirming the gold deposit and exploring the project’s upside potential,” and as part of the agreement Discovery Alaska is making “substantial contributions” to educational programs for Doyon’s shareholders.

In May, Na-Dena`, a joint venture between Doyon and Huna Totem Corporation, celebrated the opening of Port Klawock, a development that Kuplack says will “revolutionize the cruise ship industry on Prince of Wales Island.” It’s modeled after Huna Totem’s successful Icy Strait Point and is the first port capable of hosting large cruise ships on the west side of the island.

In 2023, Doyon released its inaugural environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report, which reflects Doyon’s “continued commitment to our shareholders and partners, Alaska’s communities, the environment, and the public by reporting on ESG metrics to formally plan and improve.” Doyon took action toward this commitment by announcing the installation of two 100 kW wind turbines on the Doyon Drilling pad in Deadhorse, which will “provide supplemental power to Doyon Drilling’s warehouse and offset its electricity usage,” Kuplack says.

In 2023 Koniag joined seventeen of its region’s tribes, nonprofit organizations, and village corporations to sign the Kodiak Region Unity Protocols, which describes the group’s collective ideals for partnerships and affirms its commitment to working collaboratively.

The corporation is also partnering with the Kodiak Island Housing Authority to identify housing solutions and put those into action, “ensuring that our shareholders and descendants will always have thriving, economically sound communities they can call home in our region,” the corporation states. Koniag is also focused on its shareholders and descendants by offering career-development opportunities, such as a partnership with US Fish and Wildlife Service to advance a collaboration between the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and in-region communities resulting in Youth Environmental Technician Interns, or YETI, a program to inspire youth to pursue resource management careers.

As Koniag says, “The better we do, the more good we can do,” and ongoing financial success has allowed increased annual shareholder dividends, provided additional support to Elders, and implemented the Good Grade Incentive Program, which offers prizes to middle and high school students who excel in their studies.

In Anchorage, Koniag moved into new office space in the JL Tower. The new space, known as Suugemta (“Our People’s Place”) Suite, houses staff from Koniag, Koniag Educational Foundation, Koniag Government Services, and Kodiak Area Native Association. According to Koniag, “This one-stop shop offers a wealth of services for our Alutiiq people who live in or visit Alaska’s largest city.”

Koniag was one of seventeen groups to sign the Kodiak Region Unity Protocols (center); it continues to help shareholders with educational opportunities, such as through captain training (right); and Koniag works to preserve its culture and traditions (left).

Koniag

According to the corporation, “NANA ended the 2023 fiscal year with gross revenue of $2.5 billion, driven by record performance from federal subsidiary Akima and continued growth from NANA North.”

In 2023 NANA reorganized its Alaska-based businesses under NANA North, a wholly owned subsidiary that offers engineering and project management, construction, support services, and transportation. Akima acquired Pinnacle Solutions, a provider of training and sustainment products for defense customers, and “this strategic acquisition enhances Akima’s aviation and training capabilities in the defense market,” according to NANA.

Also in 2023 NANA founded public benefit company Atautchikun, which serves as the corporation’s grant-making arm. NANA and Atautchikun are already making strides in supporting shareholders, using a $65.2 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to bring faster, more reliable internet to NANA communities.

Also in its region, NANA’s Village Economic Investments has funded 112 projects worth more than $23 million to benefit its shareholders and villages since it launched in 2009. From 2023 and into 2024, NANA initiated twenty-five community projects in eight of its eleven villages, ranging from solar battery projects to community centers and capital equipment investments.

In late 2023, NANA shareholders voted to approve the creation of a permanent fund that will use net proceeds from Red Dog Mine to generate earnings for future shareholder dividends, “a historic vote that creates stability and a strong base for NANA’s financial future,” the company states.

After serving nine years as president and CEO of Sealaska, Anthony Mallott retired at the end of 2023. Since then, Sealaska Executive Chair Joe Nelson has been serving as interim president. The Sealaska leadership team expanded in March with Desiree Jackson, chosen to serve as Vice President of Administration and Outreach, and again in May, when Derik Frederiksen was brought in as Vice President of Regional Business Development.

Frederiksen served in many roles at Sealaska over the years, including as an intern while he pursued a degree in forestry. He is one among many: since Sealaska began its internship program, it has provided 346 interns the opportunity to gain work experience. Sealaska also invested $8.6 million in scholarships from 2014 to 2024 and has distributed $373 million in dividends in that same period. In the spring of 2024, it issued a distribution totaling $19.2 million to shareholders.

Nelson states, “We are proud of the stability and diversity reflected across Sealaska’s businesses and investments.” He continues, “This makes possible both distributions and an ever-growing variety of programs and benefits for our shareholders. Sealaska’s shareholders are at the center of all we do, and our focus on both people and planet is a path forward that will continue to strengthen this commitment.”