Generational transition in Tlingit Country: new leadership at Sealaska Corporation.

• Author: Hensley, William L.
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Alaska Native Corporations

In 1796 the Russian garrison that had been established in Yakutat was attacked and destroyed by Yakutat Tlingits. By force of arms, restricting access to food resources, and hostage-taking of Tlingit women, the Russians assumed that they had control of Yakutat. It was a drastic miscalculation.

The Russians had steadily decimated the sea otter population in the Aleutians, the Kodiak, and Gulf areas of Alaska and finally began to make a push to Southeast Alaska, the ancestral home of the Tlingit people and an area teeming with sea otters--the low hanging fruit of Russian economic interest.

The Tlingit were inveterate traders, ranging hundreds of miles up the Gulf of Alaska and south to what is now Washington and Oregon. They traveled three hundred miles inland to destroy a Hudson Bay Company trading post that was going to compete for the fur trade that normally belonged to the Tlingit. Trade and commerce were second nature to the Tlingit.

Deep Roots in Yakutat

The roots of Anthony Mallott, thirty-nine, the new president and CEO of Sealaska Corporation, lie in the stunning forests, glaciers, and mountains of Yakutat. Anthony Mallott was recently inaugurated as the seventh president of Sealaska following the resignation of Chris McNeil, sixty-five, who had run the corporation for thirteen years.

Anthony Mallott is the son of Byron Mallott, who headed Sealaska Corporation from 1982 to 1992. Byron gave up his directorship in Sealaska when his term expired this year. In addition to CEO, he was also Chairman of the Board in the early years of Sealaska. His vacated seat was won by Ross Soboleff, a score of years younger. Byron has had an illustrious career as Commissioner of Community and Regional Affairs, Executive Director of the Permanent Fund Corporation, and as a Director of the Alaska Air Group, parent company of Alaska Airlines. He is a clan leader in Yakutat and is now running for governor.

Anthony Mallott earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Stanford University. He also worked for nine years with Bank of America, gaining experience in risk management and financial investments. He joined Sealaska in 2006 and was responsible for managing its investment portfolio and was its corporate treasurer.

Anthony says, "It is an appropriate transition led by Sealaska leaders that has roots going back to the Alaska Native Brotherhood days, the formation of the Tlingit-Haida Central Council. It is a thoughtful transition that includes...