Alaska native impacts.

• Author: Harrington, Susan
• Position: FROM THE EDITOR - Corporations growth in Alaska - Editorial

Alaska Native Corporations continue to grow, as is evidenced in our annual Alaska Native Business special section. Figures reported by the regional corporations this year indicate these twelve companies owned by 119,092 shareholders had 2014 gross revenues of more than $8.6 billion, an increase of $138 million over 2013 gross revenues. Employees reported this year were 16,936 in Alaska--46,193 worldwide including those Alaska employees, an increase of 1,224 employees in Alaska--2,462 worldwide. Those jobs are spread across Alaska, the United States, and many countries of the world. And these are just the figures for the ANCSA regional corporations.

Additionally and collectively many village corporations and Alaska Native-owned businesses provide thousands more jobs and generate billions more in revenues each year. In fact, some village corporations rival some of the regional corporations in terms of jobs and revenue. Check back next month when we reveal the 2015 Top 49ers to see the latest on that. Last year's Top 49ers included seven village corporations that reported $2.5 billion in gross revenues with 1,210 employees in Alaska, 17,813 worldwide. And those are just the companies included in the Top 49 Alaskan-owned and operated companies ranked by gross revenue. Alaska Native companies have a huge impact.

Alaska Native tribes also have a huge impact, an impact Alaska Business Monthly will be covering in more detail in future issues. Alaska has 229 federally recognized tribes. The United States has three main governing bodies: federal government, state...