2019 Junior Achievement Hall of Fame: Laureate John Binkley.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: BINKLEY

John Binkley has had long and varied involvement in different businesses in the Last Frontier. Of all his accomplishments, he says he's most proud of the tug and barge business, Northwest Navigation, that he started in 1977 and operated with his wife until the late-1980s, when he sold it to Crowley Maritime. "We started it together as a young married couple on the lower Yukon River, in a part of Alaska where we weren't known and our family wasn't known. It was a transformational experience to get away from what was comfortable for us and start something new," Binkley says.

Binkley saw examples and learned lessons about business at home from a young age. And his family has a rich history in Alaska: his grandparents moved to Alaska during the gold rush to operate riverboats, and the family has been making positive contributions to the business community since.

"I grew up in a small family business and learned a lot of these values as a child growing up. [We had] conversations around the kitchen table: talking about business, talking about civic affairs, what was going on in the community, how the banking system works, getting a loan as a family, building boats, operating our business. And our parents were very inclusive for my siblings and I growing up, so we were immersed in business," he says.

He and his wife have continued the tradition. "My wife and I have not only been married for forty-one years, we've been business partners for forty-one years," Binkley explains. They have passed on the family passion for business and entrepreneurship to their own four children, who are now active in the Alaska community and, among other ventures, own the Anchorage Daily News.

Binkley believes that free enterprise is the foundation of how this state and country thrive. "It's important that young people understand how our economic system works. Hopefully that inspires them to participate and compete in our global economy." To that end, he avidly supports Junior Achievement of Alaska's mission to educate youth about business and free enterprise so they can enter the workforce prepared for success.

But the onus isn't just on Junior Achievement or similar organizations; it takes a community to build a community, and business leaders and owners have a responsibility to provide opportunities to Alaska's young people.

Binkley takes responsibility to one's community seriously, something that factored heavily in his decision to dedicate many years of his life...