Regional corporation review.

• Author: Strieker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Alaska Native Corporations

As they have matured over the past three decades, Alaska's Native Regional Corporations have increasingly looked to their peoples' traditional value systems as guiding principles for business. Such philosophies as respect for the land, respect for elders, hard work, cooperation, and sharing are considered when the corporations are making investment decisions, even as they are facing a changing world.

Created under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which created twelve Alaska-based regional and more than two hundred village corporations to settle historic land claims, the corporations divided 44 million acres of land and $962.5 million. The act sought to achieve two goals: foster economic development in Alaska and meet the needs of shareholders through education, improved living conditions, and the preservation of their cultures.

Today, the twelve regional corporations are economic powerhouses in Alaska, accounting for $8.6 billion in revenues in fiscal year 2013 and tens of thousands of jobs in the state for their more than one hundred thousand shareholders and descendants, as well as others. They are well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities provided by a warming Arctic and the increased traffic and challenges it may bring in the coming decades.

Ahtna Corporation

The Ahtna family of companies continues to grow and includes projects in all fifty states and around the world. The Glennallen-based corporation's for-profit arm, Ahtna Netiye', includes fifteen subsidiaries working primarily in government services and construction. Total 2013 revenues were up over 2012, to $201 million, with a $4.9 million profit.

The corporation plans to continue its successful work in government services but is also looking for ways to diversify, according to Ahtna Netiye' CEO William Anderson Jr. Ahtna Netiye' is looking closely at large in-state energy projects for future investments, as well as resource development.

In 2013, Ahtna purchased a building in Anchorage to consolidate its Anchorage operations, as well as a building in Sacramento, California, to oversee operations in the Lower 48.

Ahtna has more than 1,800 shareholders with roots in the Copper River Valley. During their annual meeting, Ahtna shareholders voted to establish the Ahtna Hwt'aene (People's) Trust, an ANCSA Settlement Trust created by the board earlier this year. The trust is intended to provide a number of shareholder benefits, such as being a permanent source for shareholder distributions, independent of the corporation's financial performance.

Ahtna, Inc. also continues to pursue federal legislation to allow the Ahtna Intertribal Wildlife Commission, consisting of Ahtna, the Chitina Native Corporation, and the eight federally recognized tribes of the Ahtna region, to manage wildlife on Ahtna lands conveyed under ANCSA. The legislation would authorize a co-management agreement between Alaska, the federal government, and the Ahtna Intertribal Wildlife Commission for lands within Ahtna's traditional territory.

The Aleut Corporation

For The Aleut Corporation (TAC), 2013 was a year of growth. TAC, headquartered in Anchorage with a land base in the Aleutian Islands, had gross revenues of $116.2 million in 2013, up 19 percent from 2012. Net revenues before taxes in 2013 were $4.77 million, compared to a loss of $10.8 million in fiscal year 2012. The increase is attributed to Aleut Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary that saw a profit in 2013 after a significant loss in 2012.

Eighty percent of TAC's revenues are generated through government contracts. It also has subsidiaries overseeing fuel sales and storage businesses, rental properties, and natural resources. The main source of revenue is Aleut Management Services, which provides services to federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and General Services Administration. Aleut Industrial Services provides oil and well testing service and Patrick Mechanical provides engineering, design, and construction of complex pipe and HVAC systems.

In its 2013 annual report, TAC notes "the company's federal contracting business has faced, and is expected to continue to face, increasing competition, increased proposal costs, and potential adverse changes to the US Small Business Administration 8(a) program."

TAC is looking beyond 8(a) and hopes to establish a long-delayed pollock fishery in the Aleutians. CEO Dave Gillespie notes, "We are in the early planning stages to develop Adak as a major logistics and Arctic...