NANA's Inupiat Ilitqusiat: Greene, Henry help provide an economic foothold, protect cultural heritage.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Alaska Native Corporations - NANA Regional Corporation

Sprinkled throughout NANA Regional Corporation's headquarters in Kotzebue are posters listing the core values under which the company operates. Called the Inupiat Ilitqusiat, the philosophy includes sharing, humility, respect for others, respect for nature, cooperation, hard work, hunter success, and humor.

It is a philosophy that was developed over thousands of years by the Inupiat people of Northwest Alaska. It is the root of NANA's success as one of the thirteen Alaska Native regional corporations formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), according to NANA Regional CEO and President Marie Greene and Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lori Henry.

"In some ways, NANA is a natural extension of our Inupiaq value of responsibility to tribe. It is our natural way of working, of being," Greene says. "We continue to seek input and cooperate with each other. That was modeled for us from birth and it is still the way we do things. Our practices remain the same."

Economic Engine

NANA is one of Alaska's largest corporations, with $1.7 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2013. Its partnership with Canadian mining firm Teck Resources to operate the massive Red Dog zinc mine north of Kotzebue is the economic engine for Northwest Alaska. NANA Development Corporation also has subsidiaries in the oil and gas industry, hospitality, government services, real estate, construction, and technology industries.

ANCSA was a historic document that sought to settle long-standing land claims issues and stimulate economic development in rural Alaska. Under the act, the regional corporations and about two hundred village corporations were established, dividing 44 million acres of land and $962.5 million among them. The corporations were given dual mandates: to provide an economic foothold for shareholders and to protect their cultural heritage.

"At board meetings and strategy sessions, the commitment is still so strong to help improve the lives of the shareholders," Henry says. "That kind of strategic focus is unusual for businesses in the corporate world."

Greene began working at NANA's precursor, the Northwest Arctic Native Association in 1977. Henry came to NANA in 2013. And while she is a longtime shareholder, Henry says she developed a fascination with the corporation's commitment to its core values while researching it as she earned a master's degree in organizational development.

History and Future

On a gray, drizzly day in July, the women spent some time discussing NANA's history and future in Greene's office, which overlooks fishermen putting out nets for salmon on choppy Kotzebue Sound and Sikiagruk Shore Avenue, which was reengineered in 2012 to combat erosion caused in part by a warming Arctic.

Greene grew up in Deering, a small village...