Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 10, 1 October 1990 — Trustees study Alaska Native examples [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Trustees study Alaska Native examples

By Deborah Lee Ward Editor, Ka Wai Ola O OHA Valuable information in the management of land and cash settlements was given in an interesting discussion when representatives of Sealaska Corporation and its non-profit affiliate, the Sealaska Heritage Foundation visited the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Honolulu in late July. With OHA continuing its pursuit of full entitle-

ment for all Hawaiians, the experiences of Alaska Natives in managing the land and cash settlements made to native Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian is of intense interest to OHA trustees and administration, said OHA Chair Thomas K. Kaulukukui. As a result four trustees last month visited Juneau, Alaska, to meet with officials of Sealaska Corp. and Chugach Alaska Corp. and leam how Alaska Native balance solid functional corporate business practice and the equally important cultural preservation. Trustees Clarence Ching, Moanikeala Akaka, Rod Burgess and Moses Keale were accompanied by OHA Administrator Richard Paglinawan. Alaska Native village and urban corporations were created by Congress under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA). Alaska Natives began speaking with one powerful voice through the formation of the Alaska Federation of Natives in the 1960s. The result was the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, passed in 1971 by Congress. The Act provided land and cash as a settlement for Alaska Native aboriginal land claims, shared through regional, village and urban native-owned corporations established under the Act. Sealaska was one of these corporations.

One of the most successful of 12 regiona! native corporations, Sealaska began with $93 million from the federai goverment and the rights to select up to 330,000 acres of national fores land and up to 660,000 acres of subsurface mineral rights. Eaeh qualified Alaska Native received 100 shares of stock, free. By the late 1970s Sealaska made primary commitments to seafood processing, timber anel building materials businesses and to build a headquarters in Juneau. By the 1980s, Sealaska was named the number one business in Alaska and ranked 745th in Fortune magazine's list of the 1,000 largest eompanies. Sealaska's Oeean Beauty Seafoods has 12 seafood processing plants in Alaska and the Paeific Northwest and markets and distributes its products worldwide. While it is a for-profit corporation, Sealaska's commitment to cultural values is reflected in corporate policies and decisions that promote the long-term survival of Native Alaskan culture and society. Sealaska Corporation has 18 directors, all Alaska Native shareholders. Shareholders are any Alaska Natives who were born before Dec. 18, 1971, the date the claims settlement act passed, continued page 10

Sealaska /rom page 1 and who ean prove at least 25 percent native blood. Representing Sealaska Corporation in this first visit to OHA were Marlene Johnson, chairman of the board of Sealaska Corporation, Byron I. Mallott, president and chief executive officer, Ethel Lund, director, Emie Hillman, of Sealaska's natural resources department, Chris E. MeNeil, Jr., general counsel and Lillian Hillman, shareholder. Sealaska Heritage Foundation was represented by Dr. Walter A. Soboleff, PhD chairman of the board of trustees and a former director of the corporation, and Tim Wilson, Sealaska Heritage Foundation program director. The Sealaska visitors were in Honolulu to attend ceremonies to bless Alaskan spruce logs they donated for a eanoe project of the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program. Also part of the delegation was Judson L. Brown, past member of the Sealaska board of directors and a trustee of Sealaska Heritage Foundation. OHA trustees Thomas Kaulukukui, Sr., Moses Keale Sr., Clarence Ching, and Louis Hao explained OHA's purpose and programs and asked questions. Administrator Richard Paglinawan and deputy administrator Stan Lum attended the meeting as did several OHA division officers. How Sealaska works Sealaska distributes dividepds to its shareholders as direct benefits. Its subsidiaries adhere to a corporate policy whieh promotes hiring of shareholders. Scholarships provide college education and technical training for hundreds of recipients. In 1980 Sealaska Corporation created the Sealaska Heritage Foundation as a non-profit eultural entity whose programs have helped support a blossoming of native arts, crafts and performing arts and the revival of native languages. Sealaska's Mallott noted that while in general Alaska Natives agreed with the Act, some details needed resolution after its passage. Amendments made two years ago to the Act have addressed the enrollment of Alaska Natives born after 1971 as corporation shareholders. These "new natives" must be at least 25 percent native blood to qualify to hold shares. This so-called 1991 amendment, allows the gifting of stock from living shareholders to their children. lt also allows shareholders to make other decisions on the disposition of their shares. New land protections and benefits have eome from the 1991 amendment to the native claims settlement act. Sealaska Corporation played a leading role in getting that new law passed in the U.S. Congress. Mallott says Alaska Natives believe their strongest relationship is with the federal government not state government, especially for special status as Natives. Amendments made in 1988 to the claims act were meant to keep the state from taking away government entitlement benefits from the natives because of benefits they receive from ANCSA. To a question by trustee Clarence Ching on how Sealaska Corp. resolves its profit imperative with cultural concerns, Sealaska Corp. chairman Marlene Johnson said the corporation has recognized it cannot be strictly for profit and must not forget its people. Giving shareholders preference in corporate decisions is one way they approach the question. Mallott adds, "There is no separation in our mind. We recognize we can't do other things unless we are profitable. Number one, our shareholders demand the corporation be very profitable. We see this as a primary focus. We also want Sealaska Corporation to be caring, to support them as native people and shareholders, yet we must resist bureaucracy. It's difficult in the face of corporate competition. "We have a strategic planning process, a mission statement, and written corporate philosophy. It's a process, a value system, a philosophy. We are constantly dealing with that."

OHA chairman Thomas Kaulukukui, right, presents ho'okupu to Sealaska visitors Byron AnMHHMHNMHi

Mallot, left, and Marlene Johnson, center.