Vol. 2, No. 12 • September 11, 2007
Seasons of Change
Helvi Sandvik
NDC President
Berries are a critical food source for Inupiaq people. On my recent trip home to the NANA region my daughter Katy was admonished by her grandmother for not picking enough berries. Katy’s response was, “Blueberry picking should be a choice, not a requirement.” I later explained to her that for elders, berry picking is different. In their lives, gathering the fruit of the land was a life or death requirement. They can never forget that. While Katy perhaps came away with a better understanding of her Ahnah, she still can’t understand why I seem so obsessed with berry picking. I guess I can’t really explain my obsession, other than it brings back fond memories from my youth. Even today, one of my greatest feelings of accomplishment comes as my blueberries pile up one by one until my bucket is filled to the top.
Just as each generation establishes new traditions based on their lifestyle and the changing times, at NANA too, change is part of our corporate culture and how we continue to position ourselves for continued growth. We need to constantly review the way we do business, and periodically adjust our structure and focus in order to deliver on our objectives. Recent signs of change within NANA Development Corporation include Stan Fleming being named Senior Vice President of Strategic Development and IT. He was formerly president of NANA Contracting Services, a part of our management team that focused exclusively on our businesses that delivered services to the government. Selina Moose will continue to head up human resources as Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Mike DeBruhl will strengthen NDC’s human resources group as Vice President of Human Resource Operations and Policy. Business unit managers now report to Dave Marquez, NDC’s Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Teich will now be Vice President of Strategy and Business Management. Like Stan Fleming, both Mike and Chris previously focused solely on our contract services companies. The risk management group, headed by Terry Simoni, will now work under the direction of NANA’s legal department and the benefits team is now part of the human resources department. Congratulations to everyone and thank you for your continued hard work and flexibility.
Hooping it up
They may not know how to hula dance or hula-hoop, but these board members figured out how to give everyone a good laugh at the annual NANA picnic! The four board members on the right are Lester Hadley, Charlie Curtis, Don Sheldon, NRC Chair, and Luke Sampson, NDC Chair.
Did You Know?
In the region…
Beluga whales came back to Buckland this summer for the first time in 14 years. Beluga meat is an important food source for Inupiat people.
Bountiful Berries: The NANA region is enjoying one of the most successful berry picking seasons in history. “There were so many that it looked like someone’s blueberry bucket had been spilled on the ground,” Myra Upicksoun, Kotzebue, said.
New hotel in Kotzebue: NANA is moving forward with their plans to build a new hotel in Kotzebue. An environmental assessment of the land was completed earlier this summer. The old Hanson’s grocery store is being demolished to make room for the new building.
NDC news…
ASCG to become WHPacific: The NANA engineering company that is headquartered in Anchorage and operating in eight states, is consolidating all of its operations under one name—WHPacific. “The change unifies all of our operations and strengthens the capabilities of each of our 18 offices,” John Rense, ASCG President said. The change process for ASCG’s Anchorage office is already beginning as Rich Reis, who runs the current W&H Pacific offices in the Northwest, has begun to merge the ASCG Anchorage operation with the capabilities of the Northwest, bringing architectural services to W&H Pacific and more engineering resources to clients in Alaska. Learn more: ascg.com , whpacific.com.
NANA Pacific at the Joint Operations Center for the National Guard Bureau
—or
the JOC—monitors the National Guard nationwide, which includes preparing
reports that go to the President, Joint Chiefs, Office of the Secretary of
Homeland Defense, Department of Transportation, the Army and Air Force, and
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Business in Prudhoe Bay, which is directly tied to the ebb and flow of oil industry activity, continues to grow, resulting in a remarkable year for NOSI, the NANA oilfield service company located in Deadhorse.
People on the move…
Fred Smith, Senior Operations Manager, is responsible for NANA operations on the North Slope as well as providing senior management direction to our regional businesses. Fred is based out of the Anchorage office.
Sandy Beaver, former Vice President of Administration for NRC, is now NDC’s Senior Liaison in Kotzebue, as well as the Manager of Kotzebue Properties.
Jerry Ellis
Jerry Ellis joins KPSG, KPSG is pleased to welcome Jerry Ellis to the Ki Professional Service Group (KPSG) family of companies, where he will be President of Wolverine Services, a subsidiary that provides executive office space and services and video teleconferencing to commercial and government agencies.
In this position, Ellis will secure Wolverine’s 8(a) certification before the end of the year and pursue other business opportunities in the public sector as well as private sector marketplace.
Ellis has more than 25 years in the intelligence community. Prior to joining Wolverine Services, he served as a senior manager with General Dynamics in the information technology and security support business for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Air Force and NASA satellite launches. As Vice President of Network Operations for Veridian, Ellis managed federal government and commercial contracts. He spent six years as Program Manager and Regional Director for Trident Data Systems and served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, specializing in information systems and intelligence.
“I am very excited to return to a small business environment where everyone makes a difference,” he says. “Working in a small business is like being in a large family—you have to count on the people around you and that creates an energy that motivates people in a very positive way.”
Qivliq launches Pinnacle Awards
Left to Right: Desiree Gill, Zoya Schaller, Charles Mitchell, Shervan Torabi, Race McCleery, Sam Watkins, Kevin Fleck, Troy Nevins, Diane Anderson. (Not pictured: Peter Burgess and Ron Pridgen)
Qivliq presented its first Pinnacle Awards to acknowledge 10 outstanding employees, recognized for reaching a level of excellence in two or more areas of leadership, strategy, business management, and NANA values. CEO Race McCleery presented the awards at the Qivliq family picnic in July. Congratulations to the winners!
- Desiree Gill Qivliq
- Sam Watkins TKC Communications
- Kevin Fleck TKC Communications
- Zoya Schaller TKC Communications
- Peter Burgess TKC Communications
- Troy Nevins Nakuuruq
- Ron Pridgen TKC Technology Solutions
- Shervan Torabi TKC Technology Solutions
- Diane Anderson TKC Technology Solutions
- Charles Mitchell TKC Technology Solutions
Summer fun
Balloon jet pack. Will it fly?
The third annual Qivliq family picnic was held at the Lake Fairfax Park in Virginia earlier this summer. Employees and family members from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area enjoyed a day of carefree summer fun splashing around in the Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole, enjoying balloon artist Bobby’s colorful creations, and visiting with co-workers. Qivliq, TKC Technology Solutions, and TKC Communications wiffle ball players battled for the 2007 Qivliq Cup. TKC Technology Solutions relinquished their 2006 title to the victorious Qivliq team!
Five Rivers in Iraq
Robby Thomas, (right) Five River Services lead in Iraq, is seen here with General Petraeus and Robby's wife Becky, a video-teleconferencing engineer for Raytheon. They are stationed at Victory Base.
The Five Rivers Services (FRS) team in Iraq recently had the opportunity to meet with the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force (Iraq) Gen. David H. Petraeus in his office complex in Al Faw Palace on Victory Base in Bagdad.
TKCC initiates village partnership
The Buckland Village Council, a TKCC executive team, and Clyde Gooden, Vice President of Business Development at NDC, met in Buckland in July to discuss a village partnership program involving the village of Buckland and TKC Communications. The purpose of the meeting was to help TKCC executives begin to have a better understanding of the NANA Region and the Inupiaq culture, and to also help Buckland gain insight into the business culture and the diversity of NANA’s workforce, customers, products, and services that make up NDC’s extensive business portfolio. A second meeting is being planned to establish goals and objectives of the partnership.
Clyde Gooden honored as “Advocate of the Year”
Within NANA we know what a talented group of employees we have, but it is always nice when one of our own is recognized by others. Last week, Clyde Gooden, NDC Vice President of Business Development, was recognized as the “Advocate of the Year” by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency at its annual regional conference in San Francisco. This was an exciting night for Clyde and for NANA overall! Clyde received this award for his work to identify other minority owned companies for NANA to partner with. By sharing our success with others we help break down barriers faced by minorities in general in the business world. Stan Fleming, our Senior Vice President of Strategic Development stepped up as a last minute replacement as the keynote speaker for the conference, when the originally scheduled speaker couldn’t make it due to a family emergency. Stan seized the opportunity to tell the NANA story to a group of 500 business leaders from across the country, and was bursting with pride on behalf of all of NANA at Clyde’s recognition. Congratulations to Clyde for a job well done, and thank you Stan for your never ending enthusiasm!
IT tips
Zoom , zoom, zoom…
You can use the scroll button on your mouse to zoom in and out of MS Office documents quickly by holding down the ctrl key and rolling the scroll wheel forward to get a closer view of the document, or rolling it backwards to reduce the size.
More file options
If you hold down the shift key while selecting the file menu in Word, or in Outlook when composing a message, the menu options change. You get handy options to save all and close all open files. In Excel, you are offered a close all option, but there is not a save all function in this program.
General office keyboard shortcuts
- Ctrl-C: Copy selection
- Ctrl-X: Cut selection
- Ctrl-V: Paste copied selection
- Ctrl-Shift->: Increase font size
- Ctrl-Shift-<: Decrease font size