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Ahtna Kanas Spring 2016

Listening to Shareholder-Owners While Keeping Close Watch on Economy

Dear fellow shareholder-owners,

Michelle Anderson President, Ahtna, Inc.
President’s Message

Ahtna continues to use a strategic-management framework called the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the Corporation, improve internal and external communications and monitor performance against strategic goals. The BSC was developed out of the Harvard School of Business and has transformed corporations worldwide and across a variety of industries. Ahtna has used the BSC to successfully link long-term strategy with short-term actions. This year we will have more to share on the strategic front as we develop our strategic assessments and the Ahtna corporate narrative.

2015 Ahtna shareholder-owner survey

I would like to thank everyone who participated in our 2015 Ahtna shareholder-owner survey for providing your valuable feedback. The results of the survey have been shared with Ahtna leadership and will be used to drive action plans to improve our shareholder-owners’ satisfaction. One thing that we heard from the survey is that shareholder-owners appreciate the outreach events that Ahtna organizes and would like to see more of them. In 2015, we hosted open houses, candidate forums and receptions in Glennallen, Fairbanks and Anchorage, as well as at our subsidiary offices in Sacramento and Irvine, CA and most recently at our SeaTac office in Seattle, WA.

Shareholder development

Our Shareholder Development team has been hosting presentations in local schools to connect with the youth and talk to them about what courses they should be taking now to prepare for their future careers. Karen Linnell, an Ahtna Board Director and Director of the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, and staff from Ahtna Engineering Services (AES) recently spoke with Glennallen High School students about careers in their fields. AES provided some hands-on experience with drones that the students really enjoyed. Ahtna has also teamed up with the Kids2College program to help bring early college awareness and a college-going culture to our communities.

Ahtna staff had the opportunity to assist shareholder-owners with applying for jobs at recent job fair events in Glennallen and Anchorage and our Shareholder Development department is also leading an effort to partner with local unions on training and apprenticeship opportunities.

E-version of Kanas

We are always looking for new ways to reach our shareholder-owners and provide timely and relevant information. The launch of the redesigned Ahtna website last year provided a valuable new communication channel and now, for the first time, an E-version of the Kanas is available, which offers the convenience of being able to read the latest Ahtna news on all your devices.

Top 40 under 40

We are all very proud of Ahtna Board Treasurer Jason Hart and shareholder-owner Samuel Johns for being named two of Alaska’s Top Forty Under 40 in recognition of their commitment to professional excellence and their community. The Top Forty Under 40 recipients will be honored during an awards reception held April 8 at Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook.

Ahtna history

This issue of the Kanas includes the second installment in a series on Ahtna and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) history. Ahtna is also collaborating on an Ahtna history book that is planned to be published next year. It is important for us to document our heritage and make it available for present and future generations to help preserve our people’s identity.

Make your voice heard – Vote

Voting is a valuable right that we, as Americans, should never take for granted. With the presidential election taking place this year, I would like to encourage everyone to make sure they have the opportunity to have their voice heard by registering to vote. Many states offer the convenience of online registration and you can find out more details by visiting www.usa.gov/register-to-vote.

Voting is important at the local level, as well, and with Ahtna’s 43rd Annual Meeting of Shareholders taking place June 4 in Glennallen, you will soon have the opportunity to cast your vote for Ahtna’s Board of Directors. Take the time to review the proxy statement that will be mailed to you in April and, if you can, attend one of the Candidate Forums to educate yourself on the candidates and make an informed vote. As in previous years, online voting will be available for your convenience and additional details on the meeting and important deadlines can be found on page 16.

Investing in Alaska

Alaska’s fiscal crisis is something that has everyone’s attention and, with the price of oil not expected to rebound anytime soon, it poses a real threat to the health of our state’s economy and also directly impacts Alaska Native corporations with a reduction in 2016 7(i) resource revenue payments. We are being proactive and taking steps to position ourselves to weather any downturns in the economy and to maintain the vitality of our operations and their profitability. While we are seeing cuts in certain areas of the state’s budget, our recent acquisition of AAA Valley Gravel is just one example of our leadership making a strategic move to focus where increased spending is projected. You can read more about the AAA Valley Gravel acquisition in Ahtna Netiye’s CEO message.

The Alaska LNG Project would be the single-largest infrastructure investment in Alaska’s history, and Ahtna would be the largest private landowner for the pipeline route, with 33 miles of the proposed pipeline crossing Ahtna land. We continue to meet with key project stakeholders to put Ahtna in a favorable position to take advantage of contracting opportunities and gainful employment for our people. Ahtna is supporting the project’s geotechnical and geophysical work this winter, and we expect to work with two other major contractors on cultural awareness and environmental-related items.

In closing, I would like to congratulate all of the 2015 Ahtna Employees of the Year and thank them for going above and beyond for the company, their fellow employees and our shareholder-owners. We are fortunate to have so many exceptional employees working together to achieve our mission.

Tsin’aen,

Michelle Anderson signature

Michelle Anderson, President
Ahtna, Incorporated