Leading Alaska's natives: the 13 regional corporations.

• Author: Stricker, Julie

They are wealthier and own more private land in the state than any other sector in Alaska. They represent about 100,000 Natives. They are the 13 regional corporations of Alaska.

If you live in Alaska, chances are you've done business with a Native corporation. Need to buy gas in Fairbanks? Arctic Slope Regional Corp. can fill 'er up. Looking to rent a bulldozer? Cook Inlet Region, Inc. has one available. How about a cruise? CIRI can help you with that, also. Sleepy? Native corporations can accommodate you in one of several hotels they operate statewide.

From tourism to telecommunications, a hotel room to a whole city on an Aleutian island, Native corporations have hit their stride in the 1990s and are leaving footprints in every sector of Alaska's economy. This business diversity is behind the increasing success of the corporations.

It wasn't always the case. The 13 corporations were created in 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. As part of that act, 40 million acres of land and nearly $1 billion was distributed among the regional corporations. Hushed with sudden wealth, but with little business experience, many of the corporations focused solely on developing the timber and mineral resources on trek lands. These companies floundered when the economy soured in the mid-1980s. Only recently have all 13 corporations been consistently profitable. Together, they account for nearly $1 billion in annual revenue in the state of Alaska.

LEADER OF WEALTH

Arctic Slope Regional Corp. accounts for the lion's share of that $1 billion. In 1997, ASRC collected $661 million in revenues, a boost of 19.8 percent over 1996, and a staggering 260 percent increase over 1992. A third of that revenue came from ASRC's petroleum refining and distribution facilities, with another 23 percent from its oil-field service subsidiaries. For the third year in a row, ASRC led all other Alaska-owned corporations in revenues. ASRC President Jacob Adams attributes the increases to plain, hard work.

"We're doing a better job of how we do things," he says. "We saw that so many (North Slope) projects got delayed that we decided that the best way to keep up the amount of revenue was to go out and do a little more work and to do it more efficiently."

The company's Sourdough Fuel subsidiary is the largest gasoline retailer in the Interior, and the acquisition of Kodiak Oil Sales, Inc. puts ASRC on the Kodiak docks as a marine diesel distributor. On the North Slope, subsidiary Eskimos, Inc. upgraded its gas station and tank farm, and expanded the NAPA hardware and auto parts store. ASRC's oil-field services subsidiaries won new contracts on the North Slope, and the corporation is exploring opportunities in Russia, Venezuela and the Lower 48.

Another subsidiary makes plastic components for computers and electronics in a North Carolina factory. Taking a step into the future, ASRC donated a television cable channel so North Slope Borough residents can monitor the location of public buses from their homes instead of waiting outside in sub-zero weather.

ASRC's corporate goal is to become a $1 billion revenue company by 2001. However, like all Native corporations, ASRC...