Big business plans for the New Year: business resolutions bode well for 2004.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa

Lose weight. Make more money. Quit smoking. Spend more time with the family. Get organized.

Just about everyone makes New Year's resolutions, and some of us even manage to keep them. But what about businesses or corporations? Do leaders of industry make their own goals for the new year, in order to keep their companies on track?

The fact is, to be successful, a company has to have goals--whether it's cutting fat from the budget, increasing the bottom line, or hiring and keeping quality employees. Following are same New Year's resolutions from a number of Alaska's corporate leaders-and their plans for making those 2004 goals come true.

RICHARD L. LOWELL

PRESIDENT AND CEO

RIBELIN LOWELL & COMPANY INSURANCE BROKERS INC.

Since 1977, Ribelin Lowell & Company has been providing insurance services to Alaska. Formerly the Ribelin Insurance Agency, the company has grown steadily over the past 26 years--growth that it hopes continues in 2004.

According to Richard L. Lowell, president and CEO, the company has four major goals for the coming year. They are to recruit qualified professional staff, increase and support greater insurance educational opportunities for present staff, increase company revenue growth in accordance with professional staff capabilities for performance and deliverability, and increase gross revenue by 5 percent.

When recruiting new staff, Lowell will be looking both inside and out side of Alaska. "Producers and support staff will most likely come from outside Alaska because of unavailability in the local market," he explained. "We also plan to increase and support greater insurance educational opportunities for our present staff, thereby elevating the quality and professionalism of our producers and account managers."

It is these producers and account managers who will add to the bottom line, according to James Dooley, chief operating officer and sales manager for Ribelin Lowell. "We hope to project a 5 percent increase, but our ability to control costs is heavily dependent on our personnel (producers and account managers) helping keep margins satisfactory," he explained.

LIANE PELLETIER

PRESIDENT AND CEO

ALASKA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

In October of 2003, Liane Pelletier became the CEO and president of Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc., after Charles E. Robinson retired. Now head of the leading integrated communications provider in Alaska, Pelletier has big plans for the company and its more than 400,000 subscribers.

According to Pelletier, her 2004 goals include:

* Retaining and growing the number of...