Jason Metrokin will serve Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) as President and Chief Executive Officer effective today, January 16, 2009.

Mr. Metrokin replaces President/CEO Hjalmar Olson, who announced his retirement from BBNC on November 5, 2008 after sixteen years of service. Metrokin was the Director of Shareholder and Corporate Relations of BBNC as well as a director of the Board.

The appointment of Mr. Metrokin, age 36, marks the first time an Alaska Native Regional Corporation has employed a CEO that is was born after the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act enrollment date.  Metrokin is a descendant of an original shareholder and inherited his stock.  He joined BBNC in 2005 from the First Alaskans Institute where he served as Vice President of Development and an earlier career with National Bank of Alaska which later became Wells Fargo. His leadership experience is marked by his role as a founding member of the Alaska Native Professional Association, graduation from BBNC’s Training Without Walls, a management training program and service on several corporate and nonprofit governing boards.

Morgan Howard Productions was pleased to play a small part in the success of the 2008 Sealaska Information Fair held in Juneau, Alaska on November 25th.  Please view photos here.

Jason Fujioka works with a Sealaska Shareholder.  Fujioka is the Director of Diversity Sales and Marketing in the Office of Diversity Solutions.
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During the Presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to establish a White House staff position dedicated to Indian affairs.  So, there has been some speculation in Indian Country about who will fill that position.  Today, the Anchorage Daily news talks about a couple viable candidates. 

ON THE MOVE? . . . Did everyone but Ear know that local Native American rights lawyer Heather Kendall Miller was a Harvard Law School classmate of Barack Obama? They both graduated in 1991.

Ear ran across this factoid when trying to check out rumors that Heather is one of two Alaskans on the president-elect’s short list for appointment as special Native American affairs liaison, a job he promised during the campaign to create. The other rumored Alaska contender is Jackie Johnson from Juneau, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in D.C.

 Jaqueline Johnson Pata is Tlingit from Southeast Alaska.  She’s a director on the Sealaska Board.  Heather Kendall-Miller is Athasbaskan and a shareholder of Bristol Bay Native Corp.

Sealaska Environmental Services (SES) along with two other contractors have each being awarded a firm fixed price, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity environmental multiple award contract for environmental remediation services on Navy and Marine Corps installations.  The maximum dollar value for all three contracts combined is $50,000,000.

SES is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sealaska Corporation founded in 2003.  SES is in the SBA 8(a) program  and headed by Sealaska shareholder Derik Frederikson.

For the full, unbelieveably dense Dept. of Defense press release, click here.

In response to the essays entitled, “Alaska 101 for presidential candidates” and “An Alaska Native speaks out on Palin, Oil, and Alaska” by Evon Peter. 

I would agree that much of the original Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) had “assimilation devices” built in.  However, the 1991 amendments and more than one hundred amendments since have addressed many of these concerns.  Currently, there are bills in the House and Senate that continue to amend ANCSA.

Through 7(i) sharing, the native corporation I belong to receives funds that keeps our corporation’s doors open and allows us to employ shareholders.  Of course, the bulk of this money comes from oil and mining through successful ventures of NANA, Arctic Slope and others.

In the recent “Alaska Business Monthly” list of top 49 Alaskan-owned companies, two-thirds are Alaska Native.  Eight out of the top ten Alaska businesses are Native Corporations.  Economic strength provides Alaska Native Corporations the ability to make significant positive changes for their tribal shareholders and their respective communities.  They are major stakeholders in Alaska and relevant players in today’s world.  This is not all bad news.