Cultural-level business: village corporation leaders find delicate balance between tradition and profits.

• Author: Campbell, Melissa
• Position: Alaska Native Business News

George Olemaun is president of what is believed to be the most successful Alaska Native village corporation in the state. But this spring, as he worked in his office at Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. in Barrow, Olemaun was getting a little antsy. The bowhead whales were coming.

As the leader of a major company, Olemaun pays close attention to the bottom line--working hard to make a profit, expand the corporation's portfolio and pay dividends to shareholders.

It's much the same as any business, including the Alaska Native regional corporations. Many Alaska Native village corporations are headquarters to profitable and diversified portfolios. There are few industries they haven't invested in, from oil to timber to missiles.

Unlike many businesses, village corporations tend to focus much of their efforts at home; subsidizing the village store, running the electric utility or sponsoring scholarships and cultural events. Business at the village level is done on a scale smaller than that of their regional partners, which serve thousands of shareholders who live within a vast region.

"We're right there on the front lines, so we're seen to be closer to our shareholders," said Scott Danner, Olemaun's special assistant. "(Our regional corporation) tries to accommodate shareholders, too, but it has shareholders all over. Our shareholders are in one area, one town."

Spring is an ideal time to be among the community. Spring is whaling season--the ice along the Beaufort Sea breaks and the bowhead whales come to the north for their annual migration. UIC's subsistence leave time was about to kick in.

It's not your typical corporate employee perk, but one that Alaska's village corporations are compelled to honor as away to keep alive Native culture and the age-old traditions. Olemaun holds the highest honor of an Inupiat leader; that of whaling captain. It is one way Native leaders give to the community, not just the shareholders. Olemaun feels compelled to provide more than revenues and dividends to his shareholders, many of whom make up the community of the Native Village of Barrow. Olemaun was itching to put on his captain gear, get in his traditionally made sealskin boat and provide a whale for his community.

"There are few leaders here who are not whaling captains," he said. "It's our culture, our tradition. You can't do one without the other."

When a whaling crew strikes down a whale, the entire village turns out to pull the 40-plus-ton beast onto the shore and butcher it. The meat and blubber is then shared among the...