Junior Achievement 2018 Hall of Fame Laureate Chuck Robinson.

• Position: Junior Achievement

Charles "Chuck" Robinson was a monumental figure in the development of communications in Alaska. Starting shortly after Alaska became the 49th state, Robinson worked at statewide White Alice Communication System sites for the military and continued his endeavors in the Last Frontier in telecommunications for the next five decades, serving as the president and CEO of Alascom; president and CEO of Pacific Telecom; and founder, chairman, and CEO of Alaska Communications Systems.

Robinson's daughter, Robin, describes her father as "intelligent, dedicated, and hardworking," adding that he was a born leader and team builder who valued loyalty and was generous "on all levels." His son Bret also spoke of Robinson's work ethic, saying, "That's why he was so well respected; nothing was handed to him," he started from the bottom and worked his way to the top.

Robinson was born in 1933 in Salem, Arkansas; Robin says, "His family had very little and life was not easy. From a very early age he worked to support his mom, brother, and two sisters." Beyond his family, Robinson served his country as a communications specialist in the Korean War.

Building an Industry

Tom Jensen, who worked with Robinson for twenty years, says Robinson's experience as an Army signal technician was his first step into the communications industry: "He worked his way up as a technician to become a manager." In 1969, when RCA purchased what was then called the Alaska Communications System from the military, Robinson went to work at the company, newly-named Alascom, where he worked his way up from a technician to being the vice president of operations. "That title meant that Chuck was in charge of overseeing the entire operation of the company statewide." As part of the purchase agreement, RCA committed to providing telecommunications services to every Alaska location with a permanent population of more than twenty-five people, "so from the very beginning, that was a heck of a challenge," Jensen says, as that amounted to more than 250 rural locations ranging from Barrow to Ketchikan to Little Diomede Island.

When the trans-Alaska pipeline was under construction, Robinson led Alascom as the company installed a microwave communication system that spanned the state from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez and "provided voice, data, and all the electronics required to handle each and every one of the pumping stations along the route," he says. "Because Alaska was so vast--that was an 800-mile...