Shaping Sealaska’s Future through Increased Shareholder Engagement

In January, Sealaska made the board chair position full-time to foster a stronger connection and communication between the board and Sealaska shareholders. Current Board Chair Joe Nelson is now leading an effort to increase opportunities to listen, engage, and inspire participation among Sealaska and shareholders. 

Dear Sealaska Shareholder,

We need you — your perspective, experience and ideas. We need your passion and creativity to help shape your Native corporation’s future.

Sealaska’s recent financial results allowed us to add $10 million to the scholarship fund and create a nearly $6 million Deishú Memorial Fund in 2018. 

We continue to expect great things in 2019. Every day our people are solving problems around clean water supply, stewarding our land, and creating opportunities for our next generation of leadership. Our long-term success will hinge on how well we engage shareholders to help us shape and realize our vision.   

Joe Nelson, Sealaska board chair

We are kick-starting this effort by putting your board chair to work. 

There are 23,000 shareholders living in all 50 states and around the world, all with unique experiences and different levels of connection to Sealaska. While I cannot reach everyone face to face, we will all make a genuine effort to increase the quantity and quality of our time together.  

The 2019 Annual Meeting will be in Anchorage on June 22. In the months leading up to the annual meeting, we will break ground on establishing a couple of shareholder advisory groups. We cannot reach everyone at once, but the advisory group format will help provide more focused discussion and listening.  

I grew up in Yakutat, Alaska, studied law in California and returned to Alaska as a lawyer, consciously choosing to work in mainstream institutions, first as a lawyer and then as an executive within the University of Alaska system. I did this because those institutions needed Native leadership. Now, I am excited to refocus my time and energy on Sealaska because our investments are more aligned with our Native values, we are more profitable than ever. As a full-time board chair, I can advance our goals of stable and consistent leadership, and increased focus on strategy and decision making to ensure successful growth. We have so much more work to do. 

On behalf of the board, we are looking forward to creating space for more quality time with you this year. Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Joe Nelson / Kaá Ax Gú
Sealaska Chair