Bristol Bay native corporation: providing for its shareholders.

• Author: Slaten, Russ
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: 2015 Top 49ers

"We set a goal for ourselves about five years ago to double our shareholder hire and double our shareholder wages, and in that period of time we've more than doubled our shareholder hire. We're at about 160 shareholder workers today, and we've tripled our shareholder wages. We've paid out about $13 million in wages annually to shareholders," says Jason Metrokin, president and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC).

BBNC's mission statement is "Enriching our Native way of life," and Metrokin says it is accomplished through a number of ways. BBNC has followed a goal of paying 35 percent of its net income to shareholders in the form of dividends. Its first dividend paid to shareholders was $0.25 a share in 1978, and in the current fiscal year BBNC anticipates paying $32.40 a share, most recently averaging $17 million in shareholders dividends annually.

"What sets BBNC aside from our counterpart ANCs [Alaska Native Corporations] is that we've paid those dividends consistently and predictably since 1978, so our shareholders can count on the BBNC dividend every quarter and count on it increasing over time," Metrokin says.

The dividend on average grows about 2.5 times the rate of inflation, he says.

In addition to dividends, BBNC works to provide employment, training, and educational opportunities for its shareholders, Metrokin says. Since 1986 the BBNC Education Foundation has provided scholarships for higher education and vocational training. BBNC's endowment for its Education Foundation is nearly $20 million annually today, providing it with a strong foothold on which to operate and provide scholarships well into the future, Metrokin says.

Power of Mentorship

Metrokin saw the importance of not only higher education, but also cultural education from elders through a mentorship under Alaska Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, whom he met when Mallott was the president and CEO of the First Alaskans Institute.

"Growing up in an urban setting like Anchorage, I learned a lot about rural Alaska through my experiences with National Bank of Alaska and First Alaskans Institute, and then working for Byron exacerbated my experiences learning through him."

Becoming a shareholder himself through BBNC shares passed on from his late grandfather, Metrokin became the first non-original shareholder of an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporation to become president and CEO.

Metrokin was born and raised in Anchorage, with a father from Kodiak Island and...