Rooms Full of Leaders: UAA's Alaska Native Business Management program.

• Author: Leman, Jesse
• Position: EDUCATION - University of Alaska Anchorage

When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act established corporations to facilitate land transfers, one of the objections to the federal law was that Western corporate structures were alien to the Indigenous way of life. Fifty years of struggle and success have demonstrated that Alaska Native corporations can thrive under self-determination. A critical part of their history and path forward is finding and developing leaders within their ranks.

Joining in that mission of nurturing business acumen, UAA offers its Alaska Native Business Management program.

"It's a small, fledgling program," says Sharon Lind, an assistant professor of management. "We are still in a growth phase. When I left UAA two years ago, the program was actually growing. We're trying to reinvigorate and reactivate that interest."

After a two-year hiatus from the program, Lind returned as its director, and she found that recruitment had dwindled. "The program was kind of in limbo during those two years," she says, "so we're working really hard to change that and get the word out. I'm working nonstop on recruitment."

To streamline recruiting, Lind built a statewide database that includes all of the Alaska Native regional and village corporations, their nonprofit affiliates, and even individuals that Lind has spoken with at events like the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, where she set up a booth with the focus of outreach.

Flying the Flag

It helps to have unofficial ambassadors of the Alaska Native Business Management program, such as alumni Zach Dunlap and Francine Moreno. Whether presenting at a showcase in Rasmuson Hall for the College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP) or meeting with Senator Dan Sullivan, Dunlap and Moreno are always willing to volunteer their time and energy toward making sure people know how impactful the program has been for them.

For the past fifteen years, Dunlap has worked at Doyon, Limited, where he is also a shareholder. When he and his wife both decided to go back to school, they came across the minor in Alaska Native Business Management through their degree program. With each working for Native corporations, they thought it was worth looking into, and after the first class Dunlap knew it was a great fit.

"I had done other professional development sort of similar to this, and this program specifically was geared exactly towards what we do every day at work," says Dunlap. "It's so uniquely Alaskan. It's a big business community, as far as the Native corporations go, but there isn't a whole lot of opportunity for this kind of academic pursuit. You just have such great exposure to people in Alaska Native...