Documents obtained by the Alaska Landmine from the Division of Banking and Securities show that the top ten executives of Alaska Native Regional Corporations earned a combined $25 million in total compensation in 2018. The documents also show that eleven executives of regional corporations earned more than $1 million each in total compensation last year, with four earning over $3 million. In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) established twelve regional corporations, as well as a thirteenth with no land conveyance. It also established 224 village corporations.
Topping the list are Butch Lincoln and Rex Rock Sr. from Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), who both earned more than $5 million in total compensation last year. ASRC is by far the best performing Native Corporation and Alaska company. They are consistently the number one Alaska company on the Alaska Business Top 49 list. All twelve regional corporations also appear on the list.
The State of Alaska requires Alaska Native Corporations with over 500 shareholders to file annual reports that list the names and total compensation of the top five executives, the total compensation for all executives, board member compensation, and other company information. The information is publicly available but requires going in person to the Division of Banking and Securities office, locating the filings on a computer they provide, and copying them to a removable drive.
Several executives of regional corporations head or work for subsidiaries. Many Native Corporations have acquired subsidiaries around the country that often take advantage of the 8(a) Business Development Program.
Here is a list of the top ten paid executives.
Below is a list of the all of the top paid executives at the twelve regional corporations. Some of the corporate filings break down compensation by salary, bonus, retirement, etc… and some just list total compensation.
ANC Regional Corp Top 5 Salaries 2018
For comparison, here are the salaries for top executives of other Alaska companies.
Chugach Electric, Total Compensation (2018)
Lee Thiebert, CEO – $542,141
Arthur Miller, Sr. VP – $475, 139
Brian Hickey, COO – $430,454
Sherri Highers, CFO – $358,366
Salary information was obtained from Chugach Electric’s annual SEC filing. It can be found on page 98.
Northrim Bank, Total Compensation (2018)
Joseph M. Schierhorn, President, CEO – $768,074
Michael A. Martin, EVO, COO – $391,753
Benjamin D. Craig, EVO, CIO – $338,875
Salary information was obtained from salary.com.
GCI Liberty, Total Compensation (2018)
Ron Duncan, CEO – $4,676,306
Peter Pounds, CFO – $2,078,339
Salary information was obtained from GCI Liberty’s Annual Report. It can be found on page 30.
Here are the 2018 Proxy Statements for each of the 12 regional corporations:
Ahtna
2019 AHTNA Proxy Statement 4-22-19
Aleut
2019 Aleut Corpt- Proxy Statement – Final (1) Rec. 9-4-19
ASRC
2019 ASRC Proxy Statement 5-9-19
BBNC
2019 Bristol Bay Proxy Statement 8-14-19
Bering Straits
2019 Bering Straits Proxy Statement 9-3-18
Calista
2019 Calista Proxy Statement 5-16-19
Chugach
2019 Chugach Proxy Statement 8-22-19
CIRI
2019 CIRI Proxy Statement 4-8-19
Doyon
2019 Doyon Proxy Statement 1-24-19
Koniag
2019 Koniag Proxy Statement 8-21-19
NANA
2019 NANA Proxy Statement 2-11-19
Sealaska
Thank you for publishing this article. Executive compensation is a big nationwide issue, and the fact that these are Native Corps doesn’t mean they need to be treated with kid gloves. These are big, powerful companies that wield massive political influence, and it’s good for Alaskans to know more about how they operate (very well it seems, if you’re at the top).
Ok Brophus. Boomer.
Exactly. Taxpayers and the government are funding these companies. They are breaking the law. They are taking money as non competitive Federal Contractors. These contracts are sole sourced to these conglomerates which are not ran by non native Americans. They refuse to partner with other companies. It is greed.
If I was writing this article I would have at least put it in perspective of the company size. ASRC is a 2.5Billion size company. The larger and more complex an organization is, the more substantial the compensation package provided to the CEO and other Executive Team Members responsible for generating income for its shareholders (in some instances over 175m$ bottom line annually). Lastly, these large Alaska Native Corps are still competing for the talent vs other private or public companies.
Lol, talent. Good one. For the folks where the rubber hits the road, yes. Rex is basically a highly compensated cheerleader.
And meanwhile, their employees have to take Leave Without Pay if they get COVID-19 (after having to do the same during the government shut down), and all “merit” increases have been cancelled, when the company isn’t losing any money. But sure, making those kinds of decisions deserves $3.5 and $5 million a year.
They are receiving Non Competitive Sole Source Government contracts so it is not the same. They did not build their company. The taxpayers and Government funded them to make millions. They did not innovate, build or grow anything. These are 8(a) Federal Contractors meaning the cap for Executives are 400K so they are breaking the law.
I am curious to know what the salary and compensation are for the village corporations as well.
Stay tuned. I will also be doing a story on that.
That is great – but before any more of this hard-hitting journalism, you might want to do a little research… You are comparing apples to oranges, my dude. Not even sure where to start, okay how about here: There are only two (2) differences between an Alaska Native Corporation (Capital A, Capital N) than a non-Native corporation: 1. ANC’s do not have to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 2. Now listen real close here, this is important. ANC’s stock can not be traded (sold, bought, etc.) So by comparing “Total compensation” of ANC executives vs. publicly held… Read more »
Can you do a follow up? These companies are getting 100M sole source contracts via Tax Payers, SBA and Government per the 8(a) program. They do not have to compete at all. Money just thrown to them while other companies suffer. They are suppose to only be making 400K as an executives and CEO’s per the program.
Ok, I’m going to run for office!
Oh wait , I have cancer & in hospital with respiratory distress. I guess NO CHRISTMAS for me this year again. Wish our Corporation were more profitable ! Raven
Executive compensation for GCI and Northrim allow executives to receive stock compensation. Alaska Native corporations cannot compensate executives with stock packages.
The actual compensation for GCI’s highest paid employee in 2018 received more than $4,000,000 when factoring in stock packages. According to their website, GCI had revenues nearly totaling $900m in 2018 (http://ir.gciliberty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gci-liberty-reports-fourth-quarter-and-year-end-2018-financial). ASRC, by comparison, had revenues in excess of $2.5bn.
Why don’t you cover corporate executive compensation nationwide?
Because we are paying for this waste and abuse as taxpayers. These people are getting sole source contracts via the 8(a) program. The contracts are 100M per contact so many have billions dollars in revenue . They do not grow, innovate nor build their companies. They are getting sole source contracts with competition. Most people running these companies are not native americans. These are so call Disadvantaged Companies reaping a harvest on the backs of taxpayers.
This is so wrong on all accounts. No shame…no oversight bt the SEC. Thus the out of control behavior!
I thought natives were decolonizing… why do they need money?
They are not Native Americans. The people who are running the companies are mostly white people so minority companies especially black companies never benefit from these programs ever. This is the 8a program for disadvantaged businesses but it is for advantaged companies. Why are they in competitions with small companies?
Well whoever was part of the 13th region corporation probably should be in the top 10 here because they received all the money while the rest of us who actually were in that regional corporation didn’t receive anything
They are not suppose to receive that excessive compensation money anyway per the SBA 8(a) program. The CEO’s are not supposed to earn over 400K in compensation per the rules of the program. This is non competitive set aside sole source contracts for 100M to disadvantaged companies for Native Americans companies. I need to send this Ed Blum since he is suing Black Companies only who were the original Natives of this country.
Some members of Congress have hammered Alaska Native corporations that have won multi-billion-dollar federal contracts through the 8(a) program. The late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens pushed the program through Congress, giving Alaska Native corporations access to no-bid federal contracts of unlimited size. Other minority and disadvantaged businesses in the program cannot win sole-source contracts worth more than $6.5 million. Critics call the Native benefits unfair and say it opens the door to fraud and waste.