Native Corporations

CIRI board votes to oust two of its dissident members

On the cusp of its annual meeting, Cook Inlet Region Inc.'s board majority on Thursday voted to eject two of the board's key dissenters.

Chugach Alaska names Herndon new CEO

Ed Herndon has become the new chief executive of Chugach Alaska Corp., one of the largest Native corporations in the state.

Economy bites Alaska Native corporations

Cook Inlet Region Inc. was stung big-time in 2008, thanks to the nation's biggest stock market blowup since the Great Depression. But CIRI wasn't the only Native firm with the stock market blues.

Native corporation contracts get a close look in US Senate

A senator from Missouri is launching a new investigation into the billions of contracting dollars awarded to Alaska Native corporations by the federal government in recent years.

Wood bison plan runs into conflict

What do California condors in Arizona, whooping cranes in Florida, black-footed ferrets in South Dakota, gray wolves in Montana and wood bison in Alaska have in common?

Wood bison: Giant blast from the past

Gravel mining, clearing eventually will provide more industrial land

A 162-acre site in Birchwood will be mined for its gravel over the next three years as the site is prepared for future use as an industrial park, according to Eklutna Inc., the Anchorage Native corporation that is the largest private landowner in the city.

INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

2 stores nearly ready in Tikahtnu Commons

Two new major stores should open in the next six weeks at the Tikahtnu Commons in East Anchorage, according to Cook Inlet Region Inc., the Anchorage company developing the giant mall.

Beaver Creek 8th most endangered, group says

An Interior Alaska waterway has made a conservation group's annual list of America's top 10 most endangered rivers.

New Springhill Suites is nearing completion

It may not seem like the best time to be in the hotel-building business, but NANA Development Corp. officials say that their new University Lake Springhill Suites Marriot Hotel, now nearing completion in Midtown Anchorage, should be sheltered from the worst of the nation's recession troubles.

New Bristol Bay chief executive hailed as 'next generation'

For the first time, a "second-generation" Alaska Native shareholder is taking the helm of a regional Native corporation.

13th Regional Corp. lays out its difficulties

The directors of a struggling Alaska Native corporation this week announced their plans to bring the company back from financial disaster. The 13th Regional Corp., based in a Seattle suburb, has about 5,500 Native shareholders.

PDF: Press release for shareholders

TIM BRADNER

Some Native corporations planning for future

Alaska Native corporations, our large private landowners, frequently take the lead in natural resource and economic development. We see these corporations hustling for minerals and oil exploration on their land and sometimes land owned by others. We see them taking the leading innovative development projects too.

Resource exploration OK'd near fish habitat

Despite vigorous opposition, federal officials plan to open roughly 1 million acres near some of Alaska's richest salmon streams to mineral exploration and oil and gas leasing.

Native 13th Regional Corp. future murky at best

Debbie Kellogg wondered last month whether the Native-owned corporation she's belonged to for more than 30 years had disappeared into a black hole. A bad sign: Its phone lines were disconnected. Public records indicated the company had gone "inactive."

Stevens, Young defend contracts for Native corporations

For the past two years, some members of Congress have scrutinized and tried to limit the controversial federal contracting advantages that spurred the recent rapid growth of many Alaska Native corporations.

Bristol Bay Native Corp. tops $1.3 billion in revenue

Bristol Bay Native Corp. generated more than $1 billion in revenue for the second year in a row this year. The Anchorage-based company posted revenue of $1.3 billion, up 29 percent, as its Pacific Northwest fuel sales and government contracting businesses showed strong sales growth for its fiscal year, which ended March 31.

Sealaska offers credit protection to shareholders

Sealaska Corp. arranged credit protection service for its shareholders after company data was stolen from one of its employees.

Yukon Flats villages opposed to drilling

A complex land trade that would hasten oil and gas exploration inside the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge continues to draw protest from villages, despite a promise of jobs and revenue from the region's big Native corporation, Doyon Ltd.

Both sides claim victory
in CIRI verdict

A jury verdict finalized today has found Anchorage businessman John Ellsworth guilty of fraud against his former business partners and penalized him $7.8 million, but the jury also decided Ellsworth's accusers owe him $12 million for his lost business.

Doyon wins 50-year base utilities contract

Under a nearly $4 billion contract, Doyon Utilities will take ownership of 12 water, sewer, heat and electricity systems at Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks and Fort Greely in Delta Junction. The contract goes through February 2058.

Native revenues dominate

Alaska's Native corporations are casting a long shadow over Alaska's big business scene.