Rick Mystrom.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Junior Achievement--2013 Alaska Hall Of Fame Laureate Inductee

What does it take to make a businessman or woman successful? Openness to new ideas, a good work ethic and the ability to make work fun are all common suggestions for business success, and former Anchorage mayor Rick Mystrom has those in spades.

Mystrom is among four Alaskans being honored this month by being added to the Alaska Business Hall of Fame. These business leaders join a group of more than 100 honorees who, according to information from Hall of Fame sponsor Junior Achievement, have made a direct impact toward furthering the success of Alaska businesses, have a commitment to Junior Achievement's programs and who have demonstrated a commitment to Alaska business.

"It really is an honor. I've got a lot of awards for community service but this is a pure business award. I'm very honored that they considered me," Mystrom says. "Look at the people who have won this award in the past and they're really characterized by their success and integrity."

Mystrom might be best known for his service as the Anchorage mayor from 1994-2000. He helped cut crime in Alaska's largest city by nearly half and created an organization aimed at bridging differences between Anchorage's diverse cultural groups. But he set down roots in Anchorage years before, in advertising and marketing.

Selling Alaska

A risk-taker all his life, Mystrom drove to Alaska from California with his wife, Mary, and their 8-month-old baby. There was no job waiting for him in Anchorage and, when they arrived, he had about $200 in his pocket--not much to start a new life.

Watching the evening news, where the newsman was less polished than those Mystrom was used to seeing, he says he turned to his wife and said, "There's a job opportunity." So, in suit and tie, he visited the news station the next day and asked to see the company president.

Mystrom hit it off with the company president and although he didn't become a news anchor, he did land a job selling advertising, which paid better. Mystrom says he quickly became the station's top salesman, filming commercials and making new jingles. It wasn't long before he was the sales manager, he says.

After a couple of years in the television business, advertising company owner Larry Beck hired Mystrom as vice president of his four-man advertising agency. Mystrom bought Beck out in 1976, right when the trans-Alaska oil pipeline construction was really going. "We really started booming," Mystrom says.

Called Mystrom Advertising, the company had...