Sourdough express: Fifth generation Alaskan family business prospers.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: Corporate 100

Josh Norum is a rarity in Alaska. He's the fifth generation to run his family-owned business, Sourdough Express and Sourdough Transfer, which specializes in moving freight and household goods throughout Alaska and to the Lower 48, with facilities in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

Founder Robert "Sourdough Bob" Ellis established the company in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush in Dawson City, Yukon. Ellis used sled dogs and horse-drawn wagons to move gold miners' supplies in Dawson City. When gold was discovered in Interior Alaska in 1902, Ellis followed the stampede to Fairbanks, bringing a reputation for personal, reliable service. He later switched to Model T trucks, but for decades, he still relied on sled dogs and horses to reach remote spots.

In 1923, Ellis sold the business to Ed Hering, which is the start of Norum's family connection. Hering's great-grandson Jeff Gregory is the current president of Sourdough Express. Norum is his nephew.

Over the next century, the company grew and changed to meet the needs of the communities it served. It specialized in moving freight for the mining, and later oil and gas, industries as well as household goods for Alaska's large military population. Today, the company has two distinct divisions: Sourdough Transfer, a full-service moving and storage company; and Sourdough Express, a commercial freight company that operates throughout the state serving the oil and gas industry, construction, grocery and retail, and mining operations.

"We're trying to strategically change," Norum says. "Not just do everything for everyone, but do the best things we can for the people we want to work for."

Fifth Generation

Norum was born and raised in Fairbanks. He says he always knew Sourdough Express was likely to be part of his future. He started working at the company when he was twelve, doing chores in the shop and washing trucks in the summertime. When he was sixteen, he decided he didn't want to work for someone else and started his own lawn maintenance business. At nineteen, he went back to Sourdough, became a mover, and eventually earned a business management degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working nights and summers at the family business. He's been working there full-time since graduation and is vice president of Sourdough Transfer.

"I'm the only member of my generation working here," he says, although many of his cousins have worked at Sourdough during the summers. His wife, Jayme, works upstairs in...