Bering Straits Native Corp. has promoted Gail Schubert to chief executive.

Schubert has been executive vice president and general counsel of the Nome-based regional Native corporation since 2003, the company said. She has been a board member since 1992.

Schubert is succeeding Tim Towarak, who has led the company since 2000 and who announced the promotion "as part of our transitional leadership change as I prepare to retire as an officer within the next few years.

"She has excellent judgment and leadership skills," Towarak said.

During Towarak's tenure, Bering Straits annual revenue has ballooned to $162 million from $9 million and the company branched heavily into federal contracting. The company, in a joint venture with Neeser Construction Inc. of Anchorage, recently won a contract to build a Norton Sound Regional Hospital in Nome.

Before joining Bering Strait, Schubert was a lawyer in Anchorage for 10 years. Before that, she worked at Wall Street firms and had a stint with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bering Straits said.

She is originally from Unalakleet. She has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and a master's in business and a law degree from Cornell University.

She is on the board of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alaska Native Justice Center and Alaska Retirement Management Board, Bering Straits said.

Bering Straits has about 6,300 shareholders and includes the villages of Brevig Mission, Council, Diomede, Golovin, King Island, Koyuk, Mary's Igloo, Nome, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, Solomon, St. Michael, Stebbins, Teller, Unalakleet, Wales and White Mountain.