Native corporations 'pass the torch': rising leaders of the new generation.

• Author: Lochner, Mary
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Alaska Native Corporation Review

Forty years after regional and village Native corporations were created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, the mantle of leadership in those corporations is being passed on to the next generation.

"You see it within the regional corporation structure, this passing of the torch," says Bristol Bay Native Corp. president and chief executive officer Jason Metrokin. "At the village level there has now become a passing of the torch, but the pool of ready-made recipients is not as great as it could be."

Metrokin, who was hired on to the corporation's top leadership position in 2009, replaced retired president and CEO Hjalmar Olson, who had led the company in that role for roughly three decades. Metrokin was the first Alaska Native leader born after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to step into the top position at a regional corporation.

"I was this young punk a few years ago and somebody said, 'Hey let's give this guy a chance--he has potentially the makings of a leader,'" says Metrokin, who was BBNC's public relations director before he was president and CEO. "You don't know until you put a person in that leadership position; there's always a risk. And somebody was willing to give me that chance. I think we need to do more of that."

Leading a New Generation

As the next generation of Alaska Native leaders steps into their role at regional and village corporations, the shareholders they serve are increasingly comprised of the next generation as well. Sophie Minich, who will become Cook Inlet Region Inc. president and CEO in January 2013, says the number of shareholders in the regional corporation has grown considerably in the last 40 years.

At CIRI's inception, it had 4,373 shareholders, says Jim Jager, director, corporate communications. As of July of this year, that number had nearly doubled, to 8,102.

He says that, while original shareholders each had 100 shares, younger shareholders who have received shares through gift or by will of shareholder relatives tend to have fewer shares. That's because original shareholders often distribute shares to multiple relatives. It means that younger shareholders are likely to have 10 or 20 shares in the company rather than 100.

"Several shareholders own a small number of shares in the company. We will work hard to make those shares meaningful to them," Minich says.

At the same time, the number of non-Native shareholders in CIRI has increased in 40 years from zero to 555. Non-Native shareholder receive dividends the same as Native shareholders, but...