Alaska Business Junior Achievement Hall of Fame Laureate: Jim Campbell.

• Author: Friedenauer, Margaret

Perhaps a news article from 1994 said it best when a reporter called Jim Campbell "as sure-footed as a cat on a fence rail" when it came to business. Eleven years later, as he enjoys his retirement years, Campbell is being honored for his footing as an inductee of the Alaska Business Junior Achievement Hall of Fame.

Campbell's resume and business accomplishments are not isolated in one particular industry or expertise. Rather, his track record shows it's his management style that has contributed to his success in the turnaround of at least two major Alaska businesses.

Campbell began his interests in business by pursing a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Colin of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. He first came to Alaska when he served with the U.S. Army Alaska Headquarters at Fort Richardson. He returned to Washington after an honorable discharge to complete his degree and, after graduation in 1957, managed a retail building material yard in Washington for Boise Cascade Corp.

THE BEGINNINGS AT SBS

He returned to Alaska in 1959 to work with Spenard Builder's Supply, a move that would become a 26-year career marked by expansion and growth.

Campbell began in a junior management position at Spenard Builders Supply when the company had half a dozen employees and one store. Thirty-five years later, when Campbell left in 1985, SBS was the largest building-supply business in the state with 12 stores.

His success, according to coworkers, was due in large part to his management style and communications with employees.

"He gave you a lot of latitude; he assumed you were going to do an excellent job, and if you didn't, there was some constructive criticism," said Jim Fredrick in 1994, who worked with Campbell at Spenard's. "He certainly didn't direct by intimidation, but you knew that you were responsible for your actions."

Campbell's penchant for politics also began during his years at SBS. He took his first role in government in the late 1960s, serving on the Anchorage City Council and Anchorage Borough Assembly through 1976.

Campbell took the helm at Alaska Commercial Co. as president after his unsuccessful run for governor in 1990.

Again, he turned the business around and began turning profits. In less than two years, the business was sold to a Canadian chain, again illustrating Campbell's innate common sense in management.

"It's not any...