he University of Alaska (UA) is in the midst of tumultuous times marked by leadership changes, state funding cuts, enrollment declines, and rising costs—not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the system’s existing financial problems.

UA’s board of regents has been faced with some tough decisions, including accepting the resignation of UA President Jim Johnsen in June. “The decision regarding a change in leadership was mutual and was made after considerable reflection,” said Board Chair Sheri Buretta in a press release. In mid-July, UA named Pat Pitney as the system’s interim president. Pitney previously worked with UA for 23 years before leaving to serve as the state budget director during then-Governor Bill Walker’s administration. She will lead the university system for the next year or until the board appoints a new president.

However challenging these many recent developments have been for the UA System, it tackles them as they arise with an eye toward the future.

wning a building requires a big investment in time and money. Someone has to collect rent, fill vacant spaces, handle maintenance issues, and generally just try to keep the tenants happy—and that’s just the beginning.

“A landlord might not be skilled, trained, or have enough time in order to properly manage a component of the property, such as accounting, prepping for taxes, knowing which vendor to call, managing reserves, maintaining records, or acting as a master negotiator,” explains Kassandra Taggart, the president and broker-in-charge of Real Property Management Last Frontier. “They also need to be available 24/7 in case of emergency and be able to keep up with today’s fast-paced technology environment.”

ith the development of COVID-19, a disease that thrives in and spreads easily through indoor areas, it has become increasingly important for workplaces to provide their workers with good air quality.

Nortech Environmental & Engineering and EHS-Alaska Inc. are just two Alaska businesses working hand-in-hand with their clients to make sure indoor spaces are clean, fresh, and—most importantly—safe for employees to breathe for eight (or more) hours a day.

laska seafood takes many different paths to market, but one of the most common paths involves removing fish heads and guts, freezing the fish, and shipping it out of state.

Headed and gutted fish is the single largest category of seafood product produced by Alaska’s fish processors, outstripping more value-added products like fillets, canned fish, and prepared seafood products. Much of the headed and gutted fish is ultimately bound for US markets—but it first travels across the Pacific for secondary processing done mostly in China.

t takes a lot to keep Alaska’s remote worksites running smoothly. Whether it’s transporting goods and materials, maintaining operating equipment, or managing camp quarters, support service companies play an integral role in keeping the mining, oil and gas, and other critical industries open for business.

Perhaps the most vital of these services? Food. Catering camps provide the fuel for a workforce that spends 12-hour days hundreds of miles from home, weeks at a time. Good, hearty food–and lots of it–is what keeps them going.

n a state infamous for long, brutal winters and a short building season, it’s the fortunate construction teams who are able to keep busy year-round. From residential projects in Anchorage to remote camps on the North Slope, companies that create modular buildings are some of the fortunate few with the ability to keep at it rain or shine.

“It’s very common for us to be busy building in February; when others lay off all their staff, we’re just kind of plodding along,” Summit Logistics President Michael Repasky says.

Summit Logistics, based out of Fairbanks, has been involved with modular construction since the company was founded in 1982. The business mostly focuses on commercial and industrial spaces rather than retail or residential buildings.

n addition to often prohibitive costs, one of the biggest obstacles to natural resource exploration in Alaska is remoteness. There are no roads on which to transport supplies; the nearest body of water might be miles away, making it nearly impossible to barge in equipment. In many cases, planes and helicopters are the only transport options—and even then, there are any number of obstacles standing in the way of a smooth ride in and out of an exploration site.

“If a helicopter company gets a call, it means they can’t use anything else,” says Ely Woods, general manager of ROTAK Helicopter Services, based out of Anchorage. “We can fit into smaller sites and we have vertical takeoff and landing capabilities—airplanes can’t go where helicopters can.”

iven the combustible composition of the materials extracted and processed in Alaska’s oil and gas industry, robust fire prevention and mitigation systems that go beyond state and federal code are the rule rather than the exception.

“In the oil and gas industry, you have a lot more hazards or potential hazards that are present because of the nature of the processes that are being performed than a typical commercial setting,” explains Richard Harvey, a fire protection engineer with Coffman Engineers.

“If an owner/operator has a facility that they want to operate at low risk, they will implement a lot more protection requirements to help protect their asset and reduce the risk to that asset.”

“We are extremely excited about today’s outcome,” says Dave Pflieger, Ravn’s president and CEO. “While it is truly unfortunate that we can’t restart our RavnAir Connect Part 135 airline, we are hopeful that the Alaska-based buyers of those assets will hire many of our former employees; and we are thrilled to hear that the FLOAT shuttle team intends to rehire as many of our remaining employees as possible and quickly resume flights to the many vital communities Ravn serves throughout our great state.”

RavnAir announced plans to file for bankruptcy after seeing a 90 percent drop in bookings and revenue due to COVID-19.
flyravn.com

an Hall is president of Knik Construction, part of the Lynden family of companies. Hall has been with Knik for twenty-five years. “I was hired on as a grunt, and I think I’m still doing the same job today,” he jokes. Hall says he enjoys working in the construction industry: “Every day is a new challenge… it’s fun working through the challenges that roll in the office. And the people I get to work with and be a part of are a big part of what makes us successful.”