Alaska Business Monthly

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Construction: $7 billion statewide: it will be a strong year despite a flattening in the industry.(BUILDING ALASKA)
Neeser Construction Inc. continues construction of the Anchorage Rental Car Center at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, as pictured here on March 21. The 618,000-square-foot structure wil . . .

Going 'green': function and form key to new home construction with environment and energy savings in forefront.(BUILDING ALASKA)
Fairbanks builder Mike Musick started preaching about "green" building before anyone had coined the phrase. "Since the mid-1970s, I've been building as green as I could; I just didn't call it gree . . .

Upscale anchorage: higher-end homes comprise up to 30 percent of the city's buying market.
A house to call a home is not only a basic necessity, but also has become a retreat from outside stress and everyday activity. Today, Alaska's largest city is filled with executive homes that offer . . .

Mobile data 101: wireless devices: high technology that fits in the palm of a hand.
Mobile data is about to change your life. In the not-so-distant future, it's likely that the change will be as profound as the first time you sent an e-mail message. Perhaps your first experience wi . . .

ACS.(Right Moves)
Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc. appointed Mary Gasperlin as its director of corporate communications. In this role, Gasperlin will serve as the company's media spokesperson as she assumes r . . .

Alaska Democratic Party.(Right Moves)
Former Alaska Lt. Gov. H. A. "Red" Boucher, 86, was honored recently with the James "Jim" Doogan Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alaska Democratic Party. Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, presen . . .

Department of Natural Resources.(Right Moves)
Gov. Sarah Palin named Tom Irwin commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. Marty Rutherford will serve as deputy commissioner. Irwin was the commissioner of the Department of Natural Re . . .

Council on Disabilities and Special Education.(Right Moves)(Inclusive Practice Award)(Brief article)
The Alaska Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education awarded its Inclusive Practice Award to Jennifer Schroeder, teacher of the Intensive Needs Special Education Class of Kilbuck Elem . . .

Cook & Haugeberg LLC.(Right Moves)(appointment of Kathleen A. Reid and Kara M. Moore)(Brief article)
Cook & Haugeberg LLC, certified public accountants, admitted Kathleen A. Reid and Kara M. Moore for membership. Reid graduated with honors from Washington State University in 1995 and earned her C . . .

The Wilson Agency LLC.(Right Moves)
The Wilson Agency LLC was named the 2006 United Benefit Advisors Member Firm of the Year. United Benefit Advisors is a network of more than 160 independent benefits firms across the United States th . . .

UAA.(Right Moves)
University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton announced that Fran Ulmer, a former Juneau mayor, legislator and lieutenant governor with a long history of public service, will serve as interim chancel . . .

ACVB.
Andrea Schmidt joined the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau as a convention sales manager. Schmidt's territory will comprise the Midwest, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, . . .

Horizon Lines.(Right Moves)
The Lowe's Companies Inc. Home Improvement Transportation Division awarded Horizon Lines with its most prestigious honor, The 2006 Platinum Carrier Award, for the highest levels of delivered service . . .

SLR.(Right Moves)
Tor Christopherson joined the Anchorage office of SLR, an environmental-consulting firm as an environmental scientist. Christopherson has a bachelor's degree in biology from Colorado College and wil . . .

Alyeska Title Guaranty Agency.(Right Moves)(appointment of Amy Braden)(Brief article)
Amy Braden joined Alyeska Title Guaranty Agency as chief escrow officer. Braden has more than 23 years experience in the title insurance industry. She will be responsible for closing real estate tra . . .

Kakivik Asset Management LLC.
Ken Heaps returned to Kakivik Asset Management LLC as quality manager/NDE III. Heaps has more than 23 years experience supporting Alaska's oil and gas, petrochemical and construction industries. H . . .

Devery Prince Agency.(Right Moves)
Allstate Insurance Co. awarded the Devery Prince Agency in Anchorage with the 2006 Alaska Agency of the Year award. This is the seventh time the agency has received this honor. This award is prese . . .

AEDC.(Right Moves)
The board of directors of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp. hired Bill Popp as president and CEO. Popp (as of April 2) replaced Bob Poe, who announced his departure in January. Popp comes to . . .

ASTAC.(Right Moves)(Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative appoints Remi Sun)(Brief article)
Remi Sun was promoted to chief financial officer of the Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative. Sun served as comptroller and IT manager at the cooperative for several years following comple . . .

Alaska Business Monthly's 2007 oil & gas directory.(Statistical table)
Alaska Business Monthly's 2007 OIL & GAS DIRECTORY EXPLORATION COMPANIES COMPANY Top Executive Agrium Kenai Nitrogen Operations Chris Jonnichsen, Plant Mgr. P.O. Box . . .

Independents and big three unite on North Slope: exploration and production are 'more robust' this year than recent past.(OIL &
Alaska's North Slope oil fields are entering a new phase of increased activity--one in which independents are working beside and with the three majors that currently produce the flow of oil from the . . .

Southcentral's promise: with advanced new technologies available and high prices for both oil and natural gas, companies are tur
There is a lot of oil and gas left in Cook Inlet. Geologists are convinced of this. But how do we get at it? Dan Seamount, the geologist commissioner at the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commiss . . .

Summer's winged tourists are a worthwhile attraction: Homer and Cordova host shorebird festivals.(Alaska This Month)
Alaska's summer is filled with visitors from other places; coming by car, RV, boat and airplane they flock to see the colorful long days and wild beauty while creating a bustling tourist industry. . . .

May events calendar.(Calendar)
ANCHORAGE 2 An Evening with David Sedaris The acclaimed author of the best-selling books "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim," and "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and a regular contributor to Nati . . .

Health care in Alaska: poised for progress: balancing cost-shifting, the feds, technology and opportunities.(Special Series: Par
As discussed last month, the Alaska Health Strategies Planning Council is embarking on the formidable task of creating a comprehensive health care plan for Alaska by January 2008. The Alaska Health . . .

Alaska groundfish management: is it precautionary and sustainable? Fisheries off Alaska account for around half of total U.S. ha
Concern is growing over the state of the world's fisheries. A suite of human activities--unsustainable fishing practices, pollution and destruction of habitat--are threatening the ocean's capacity t . . .

Alaska as a model for sustainable fisheries? Not quite. We are facing disaster unless we protect the fisheries and ecosystems in
Our oceans are in crisis, a fact that has been all too well established by scientists, but not yet addressed by policy-makers. While climate change, toxic pollution, destruction of coastal habitats, . . .

A voice from the SBA: want to start or expand a business? Here are three methods to do that.(ABM Celebrates Small Business in Al
Recently I was visiting with a friend and his wife. Mark owns a thriving business and Juanita is just getting started. Shortly after dinner came the big question, "What can SBA do for me?". I starte . . .

Before and after: auto repair business is hard work, high-tech.(ABM Celebrates Small Business in Alaska)
Alaska is a good place to run an auto body repair business--at least in the wintertime. With about six months of ice and snow, plus 1,000-pound moose roaming the streets and highways, many Alaska dr . . .

An ounce of prevention ... 'blue goo' adds life to pipeline by controlling corrosion.(ABM Celebrates Small Business in Alaska)(A
RG-2400[R]. No, it's not the name of a new character in the latest of the Star Wars anthology, nor is it a close friend of Luke Skywalker. The product, distributed by Alaska Insulation Supply, commo . . .

Pegasus + two: SBA honors several for their growth and high credentials.
Officials of Small Business Administration offices in Anchorage welcome a wider field of applicants for a series of awards made each spring. Three separate categories were awarded--Small Businessper . . .

Partners, pals and Pegasus: SBA honors small businesspersons of year.(Cover story)
GETTING FROM "NO" TO "GO!" When Pegasus partners Carlos Nelson and Roy Ardern first approached KeyBank to finance their vision for an international aircraft repair and de-icing service at Ted Stev . . .

Computer simulator enhances Carlile's training.(TRANSPORTATION)
Carlile Transportation Systems has purchased and installed a new truck-driving simulator at its Anchorage terminal. This state-of-the-art computerized simulator is the first in Alaska and is custom . . .

Students present ideas in community creating contest.(EDUCATION)
This year, 241 students from eight elementary schools submitted 165 entries, an increase of 51 entries and 73 students from last year in the Anchorage Home Builders Association's Create a Community . . .

Lack of bids sign of the times in oil industry.(OIL & GAS)
The state's regular Alaska Peninsula and North Slope Foothills area-wide oil and gas lease sales drew a single bid recently, reflecting industry reluctance to lease new land before resolving questio . . .

Alaska Air celebrates $3.5 million Nome terminal expansion.(TRANSPORTATION)
Alaska Airlines recently celebrated the $3.5 million expansion and renovation of its Nome airport terminal during a community open house. The project, which began in June 2006, includes upgrades to . . .

Branding goes ker-splat!(From the Publisher)
Fostering and encouraging the success and development of ethical business enterprise is what Alaska Business Monthly is about. That is why we become justifiably testy whenever we find that Alaska bu . . .

Correction.(Correction notice)
The charts in April's "Health Care in Alaska: Poised for Progress" article should be attributed to Mark Foster and Scott Goldsmith, authors of the March 2006 UAA ISER study "Alaska's $5 Billion Heal . . .

Monthly fluctuations in anchorage.(Alaska Trends for April 2007)
In a monthly, as well as a yearly perspective, building permit valuations in Anchorage declined drastically during the month of December 2006. The combined residential and commercial permits were va . . .

Alaska: big, bold and bountiful The Last Frontier is a tourism potpourri: Alaska is every outdoorman's dream, but if the idea of
Alaska--the word itself conjures images of vast mountain ranges, breathtaking scenery, big fish, bigger grizzlies and often someone's dream vacation. Thousands of people journey north every summer, . . .

Five steps to financing a business; from start-up to growth, every business will eventually need a loan officer.
Nearly 80 percent of U.S. businesses fail within in the first five years of hanging out their shingles, according to Mark Gregory, director of the Kenai Peninsula Small Business Development Center ( . . .

Thinking of buying a franchise? There's plenty to do before you write that check. Here are 10 critical steps every potential fra
Franchising is one of today's fastest-growing opportunities for getting into business for yourself. There are close to 6,000 different franchises spread across 80 industries from which one can choos . . .

The grime fighter: Alaska pioneering business is doing its job--one parking lot at a time.
While McGruff, the Crime Dog, is busy taking a bite out of crime, Brian Richardson and his company, Surface Cleaning Technologies Inc., is taking a bite out of grime, sludge, dirt and oily surfaces. . . .

Closing the gap: Alaska's mining, oil service and health care industries face challenge of meeting employment needs.
The challenge of finding enough employees to fill crucial slots in any industry can reach crisis proportions. Presently, Alaska's mining, oil service and health care industries are facing challenges . . .

Experts say the earth is flat ... 'We are within 9 1/2 hours of 90 percent of the industrialized Northern Hemisphere.'.(GLOBAL E
In Alaska, the Atlantic Pink Salmon run March through June, a fact not unnoticed by the salmon industry "The industry," explained Bob Poe, former president and CEO of Anchorage Economic Development . . .

ML&P: 75 years of powering Anchorage; power company's stability contributes to development of Anchorage.
This year, Municipal Light and Power (ML&P) celebrates its 75th year of providing electric service to Anchorage. Though the area it serves is fairly small-approximately 20 square miles-the impact th . . .

Erasing the past: career-minded people weigh body art against job advancement.
With the tattoo business rising steadily through the '90s and into the new century, a measure of tattoo regret has grown with it. Thus, with the advancing technology in laser tattoo removal, the bus . . .

Health care in Alaska: poised for progress: efforts are being made to prevent illness and decrease health insurance costs.(Speci
Alaska has many excellent health care facilities and practitioners, with more spent on health care per capita than any other state. However, Alaska, like the rest of the United States, gets less ban . . .

Ensuring a healthy work force: numerous health insurance options available to employers, individuals in Alaska.
As the cost of health care continues to rise, many Alaskans are finding that without health insurance, expenses associated with doctor visits, prescription medications, emergency care and hospitaliz . . .

Icy Strait Point: a destination of economy: tourist attraction in Southeast declares success.
Three years ago, Icy Strait Point was an experiment-in-progress, with well-wishers and competitors holding their breaths to see how the new tourist attraction would fare. Now, the region's first ded . . .