Top 49ers--All Alaska--Thirty-First team 2015: winning the 'race to success'.

• Author: Harrington, Susan
• Position: FROM THE EDITOR - Company rankings

It's that time of year when Alaska Business Monthly reveals the largest Alaskan-owned, Alaska-based companies. It's something the magazine has been doing since its first October issue in 1985. "The New 49ers, All Alaska, First Team 1985" represented the first field of Alaska Business Monthly's Top 49er companies ranked by gross revenue--boasting $2.76 billion in gross revenues and 19,044 employees. This year the number one Top 49er has nearly the same in gross revenues as all the Top 49ers did then and more than half the number of employees--and that's just one company. Collectively, the field has grown and the industries dominating the list have changed.

In 1985, Carr-Gottstein Company, Inc. topped the list by selling groceries, liquor, and commercial real estate. Sealaska was number two with activities in logging, seafood processing, barge transportation, brick manufacturing, and sand and gravel holdings. The next three Top 49ers included an air carrier (Wien Air Alaska), a bank (National Bancorp of Alaska), and a travel agency (TravelCenter, Inc.).

How things change. The Top 49ers have mirrored changes to the Alaska economy with many Top 49ers becoming more diversified in their activities, even within their industries and economic sectors. By the way, of those first top five Top 49ers, the only remaining company is Sealaska--an Alaska Native Corporation...