Jim Ujioka, President of The Eyak Foundation

It is my pleasure to provide this update on The Eyak Foundation. The Eyak Foundation is overseen by a volunteer Board of Shareholder and Descendant Trustees, whose current members include Martin Dean Parsons (Vice President), Todd Lilleness (Secretary), members Nick Tiedeman, John Johnson, and Rikki Addy, and me (President). After 5 years of exceptional service, Trustee Rockele Jones recently submitted a letter of resignation. We thank her for her dedicated service.

In January, the Trustees met for both a regular meeting and the annual strategic planning session. During the regular meeting, the Trustees received a management report and financial update, held a preliminary discussion of the 2022 budget, and discussed a possible staff hire. No decision has been made on the possible staff hire, but the Trustees requested that a job description and recruitment approach be prepared for further consideration.

Catherine Woods, from Raven Management Consulting, returned to facilitate an in-depth strategic planning session with the Trustees and corporation staff who assist the Foundation. By the conclusion of the strategic planning session, the Trustees agreed upon 5 overarching goals for 2022:

• Secure minimum of $5 million to endow the foundation.

• Ensure funds raised exceed cost of staff.

• Ensure an effective administrative structure to sustain the Foundation.

• Continue the scholarship-giving process.

• Increase scholarship levels to our maximum ability.

We are confident that each of these goals can be accomplished with persistence and dedicated effort. We are thankful for generous donations from Shareholders, Descendants, TEC Board, subsidiaries, and corporation employees and we hope to hold at least one fundraising event in 2022 in furtherance of our $5 million endowment goal. We think the endowment, much like the Eyak Permanent Fund Settlement Trust established by Shareholders in 1998, will provide significant long-term benefits for our Shareholders and Descendants.

The Trustees encourage Shareholders and Descendants to apply for educational and vocational scholarships. We want to award as many scholarships as we can. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 400 scholarships to Shareholders and Descendants, exceeding $600,000.

The current award amounts for scholarships are:

• $1,500 per year (Vocational)

• $2,000 per year (Undergraduate)

• $3,000 per year (Masters/Doctorate)

For more information on The Eyak Foundation, including how to apply for scholarships, please visit our website: www.eyakfoundation.org and/or contact Heidi Johnson at (907) 334-6971 ext. 1, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Finally, if you are a Shareholder or Descendant over the age of 18 and you are interested in serving on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, please submit a letter of interest to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..