2009 - Spring

nasir vik
elevated view
Vol. 5, Issue 3, Spring 2009
Looking
Back To
Summer
Picnic
“A Clean Umiaq” Is UIC’s Code Of
Business Ethics And Conduct
This past year UIC worked hard to create its
company-wide code of business ethics and
conduct. This code is a key component of
our mission to be a recognized business
leader in Alaska for providing quality services,
solid profitability, and shareholder value
because it’s all about UIC’s reputation and
trust. Our goal was to create a code that
set our standards high and incorporates the
Inupiat culture. We achieved this goal and
have high hopes that it will inspire the best in
all of UIC.
The code, “A Clean Umiaq,” is based on the
following story of the bowhead.
Each year the bowheads prepare for their
journey north and east. They travel through
the Bering Sea, through the Bering Straits,
into the Chuckchi Sea, and finally arrive at
the Beaufort Sea. Along the way they meet
hunters waiting with their umiaqs. Some of
the umiaqs appear light and clean, pleasing
to the eye. If a bowhead wishes to give itself
to a whaling crew, it surfaces by a clean
umiaq. This umiaq belongs to respectful
people; people who are considerate of others,
who share their catch with widows, orphans,
and the old, and all those who could not hunt
for themselves. They are honest. They treat
other people, and all animals with respect.
These are the hunters to whom whales want
to give themselves.
This powerful story reminds all UIC
employees that we must make sure UIC is a
clean umiaq. It also reminds us that we must
individually be clean umiaqs. Just as the
bowhead chooses to give itself to a hunter
who keeps his umiaq clean, our employees,
customers and vendors will and vendors
will want to be involved UIC because it is a
respected company with a strong reputation.
More than 250 UIC
shareholders gathered
in Barrow for the 35th
Anniversary celebration
last summer.
Policy awareness campaign poster.
Continued on page 7
Preferred Hire In Barrow Gas Field
Operation Up To 71 Percent
INSIDE
• President’s Message 2
• Employee News 3
• Kivgiq
4
• New Employees
6
• Foundation News
6
• Elder Story 7
• Bowhead News 8
Over the past year, the Barrow and Nuiqsut
Gas Field Operations have made great
strides toward an era of quality, safety, and
ingenuity never before seen by our company
or our clients – accomplishments that we
can be proud of and that our industry peers
can take notice of and respect. As a UIC
company, Rockford has spearheaded such
accomplishments as increased shareholder
hire, improved training programs, and higher
safety standards.
At the beginning of 2008, UIC’s preferred
hire ratio in the Barrow Gas Fields was at
a record low of 37 percent. The core of
our vision and mission statement is the
development of our shareholders, and it
had become apparent that we were not
achieving that goal. Today, Rockford is
proud to say that UIC’s preferred hire ratio in
the Barrow Gas Fields is at a record high of
71 percent and growing. It is clear that we
are firmly back on the right path to reach
our vision of shareholder development
and value.
Rockford’s commitment to our shareholders
does not stop at the point of hire. In
conjunction with the National Center for
Construction Education and Research
(NCCER), Rockford has developed a
nationally recognized operator qualification
and training program so that our employees
will have the professional training and
certification necessary for the proper and
safe operation of our gas fields. This training
program allows us to bring in an individual
with no prior gas field experience and
provide such quality training that they would
be able to easily compete with any gas
operator employed by Alaska’s largest oil
and gas companies.
The Barrow and Nuiqsut Gas Operations are
Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r O f U k p e a g v i k I ñ u p i a t C o r p o r a t i on ( UI C )
Continued on page 2
President’s Message
Dear Fellow UIC Shareholders,
I recently had the opportunity
to provide testimony at U.S.
Department of the Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar’s public
hearing held in Anchorage. This meeting
was one of only four hearings being held
across the nation regarding Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS) energy resources. Secretary
Salazar was seeking input on where and
how his department should move forward
in developing the traditional and renewable
energy resources of the OCS. There was a
tremendous turnout for the event with over
500 people signing up to testify. The following
text presents highlights of my testimony
which stressed the need to seek balance in
responsible exploration and development with
our customary and traditional subsistence way
of life.
Highlights of our Testimony:
UIC shares the interests of the North Slope
Borough, as our coastal district governing
body, to create a strong and growing industrial
sector in the Alaska Arctic. We strive to
develop long-term, meaningful employment
opportunities for our shareholders and their
descendants. Responsible oil and gas
development in the Chukchi and Beaufort
Seas provides these diverse employment
opportunities for our people.
However, UIC also shares an interest with
the North Slope Borough in protecting our
Inupiat heritage and traditional way of life
through local participation in project planning
and implementation, including all OCS
proposed activity in our region. We believe
industry should integrate local and Traditional
Knowledge with scientific knowledge to
support environmentally sound and culturally
sensitive activities in the Arctic. When industry
partners with the local people to share and
apply this Traditional Knowledge, it will lead to
preservation of our land, our resources, and
our way of life.
UIC recognizes that finding balance
between the goals of economic opportunity
and preserving our way of life will require
compromise, diligence, creative thinking, and
open communications.
In addition to employment opportunities,
UIC believes there should be a provision for
coastal producing states to share in federal
oil and gas revenues generated on the
adjacent OCS. Specifically, UIC recommends
federal OCS revenues generated in Alaska
should be allocated to the communities
within reasonable distance to development.
These communities serve as the platforms
for onshore and offshore lease activities, and
must develop resources and infrastructure
Board of Directors
Chairman
Vice Chairman
President
to support industrial development
while managing potential effects of that
development on the people and environment.
Recent Board of Directors Policy
Statement:
In our interactions with the oil and gas
industry, we will leverage our position to
benefit the Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation
Family of Companies, its shareholders, and
the community. In light of this, I want to
share a recent policy statement from our
Board of Directors:
We acknowledge the inevitability of
exploration and development by the oil and
gas industry and we will support exploration
and development activities as long as they are
done in a way that ensures:
• Protection and preservation of the Inupiat
culture and subsistence lifestyle
• Economic benefit for our community
• Employment for our shareholders and their families
• Contract opportunities for our companies
Anthony E. Edwardsen
President and CEO
Preferred
Hire Up To
71 Percent
Continued from page 1
Price E. Brower
Max E. Ahgeak
Anthony E. Edwardsen
Vice President
Corporate Secretary
Treasurer
Raynita T. Hepa
Roy M. Nageak, Sr.
Mary Jane Lang
Director
Director
Director
David M. Leavitt, Jr.
2
Doreen M. Knodel
Fred S. Kanayurak
a vital component to the survivability
and growth of both villages, and as
such, the safety of our employees,
facilities, and the public must be held
to the highest of standards. Over
the past year, Rockford has been
nurturing a safety oriented work
culture and we’re proud to say that
we have not had any injuries or other
incidents occur despite the extreme
weather and operating conditions
that our employees face in the gas
fields. We are also successfully
working with the North Slope Borough
to improve the gas field facilities and
infrastructure for the safety of our
employees and the public.
Employee Of
The Quarter:
Miriam Aiken
UIC implemented the Employee
of the Quarter award in 2008. It is
designed to further the UIC Mission,
enhance service to the shareholders,
promote positive teamwork and work
environment, motivate employees
to provide improved services in an
efficient and responsive manner.
Miriam began working for UIC
as an Accounting Clerk in May
of 1990. She transferred to UIC
Real Estate as an Administrative
Assistant and finally promoted
to the Real Estate Administration
Manager. Miriam is responsible
for all aspects of real estate
administration including, but
not limited to; processing and
maintaining lease or rental
agreements for commercial and
residential properties, prepare
shareholder homesite legal
documentations for presentation
to the Board of Directors when
land or home transactions are
being bought or sold; provide
administrative support for
maintenance on UIC property;
and supervises the Real Estate
Administrative Assistant and
Custodians. These are just a few of
the jobs that Miriam is responsible
for and UIC appreciates her
outstanding performance and
her many years of service to UIC
and its shareholders. She is a
wonderful role model to everyone
she works with.
Quyanaqpak Miriam for all your
dedication and hard work!
UMIAQ Reaches New Horizons
UIC subsidiary UIC Oilfield Services has
taken on the name “UMIAQ” to better
represent its expanded suite of services,
which now include regulatory planning,
stakeholder relations, spill response
planning, response operations and
geospatial analysis. With the addition of
these consulting services and the desire to
reach markets beyond those that traditionally
fall under “oilfield services” the need for an
updated identity was clear.
Jeff Leavitt and David Leavitt, Sr. with umiaq.
UMIAQ continues to provide full-service
camps, bulk and remote fueling, shorebased terminals, ice road construction,
equipment rental, and lands management to
its clients.
The name UMIAQ, meaning “skin-covered
boat”, embodies the values of cooperation
and teamwork in the pursuit of a common
goal, which are imperative to success. Each
of the oars in the logo represents a person,
with all working together to drive the boat
forward. Each UMIAQ team member has his
or her own unique strengths and expertise,
but collectively is much stronger. The name
UMIAQ also honors the deep traditions and
L to R: Charles D. N. Brower, General Manager, Ukpeagvik
Holdings, Inc.; Miriam Aiken, Real Estate Administration
Manager, UIC Real Estate; Anthony Edwardsen, President, UIC
UMIAQ is committed to working with
our clients in planning for responsible
development, which is critical to a vital and
sustainable economy for our North Slope
communities. We are committed to the
corporate mission to “provide shareholder
value” and look forward to the new
opportunities our expanded services will
provide our UIC shareholders.
For additional information or questions
contact umiaqinfo@uicumiaq.com
Now Presenting…The Quality Engineering Corner
What Is Quality Engineering?
Quality Engineering is ability to achieve
repeatable, defect-free, and lower cost
business processes, maximizing profits
for our shareholders while providing
more efficient, higher quality products
and services to our customers. Every
company or organization at various
points in their life cycle will adapt
to environmental changes. Those
changes may be internal, external,
or both. Those that learn to do it well
have a distinct advantage over those
who do not. Here at UIC, we have
made it a priority and established a
Quality Engineering department to help
facilitate quality initiatives and align
business processes with UIC strategic
goals/results.
What will you learn? Our plan is
to introduce you to a new Quality
fact, concept or term defined in each
Shareholder Newsletter issue. In this
issue we briefly look at Six Sigma.
The future of our gas operations
holds great promise in continuing
UIC’s commitment to shareholder
excellence and value with new job
opportunities, innovative training, and
high safety standards.
values that are an integral part of the UIC
Family of Companies.
Six Sigma is more of a business
strategy than a quality program.
Areas include:
• A philosophy of management.
– As a philosophy for business
operations, Six Sigma recognizes
the direct linkage among numbers
of product defects, wasted
operating costs, and level of
customer satisfaction with a
company’s goods and services.
• A process-measurement
methodology – Six Sigma predicts
the probability that a process
will produce results that meet
customer expectations or stated
requirements.
• An analysis methodology – Six
Sigma is a disciplined, datadriven methodology for decisionmaking using statistical analysis
to amplify the effectiveness of an
organization’s best workers.
• A business culture – Six Sigma is a
culture that motivates teams to work
on a common problem to achieve
higher levels of performance
effectiveness and productivity at a
lower cost.
Continued on back cover
3
Kivgiq Activities
Kivgiq Potluck
UIC and the Native Village of Barrow were
privileged and honored to co-host the 2009
Kivgiq Potluck. The event was held at the
Ipalook Elementary School on February
11, 2009. Hundreds of people from across
the North Slope, and even as far away as
Greenland, came together to share in
this feast.
Above: Words of welcome were given by
our President, Anthony E. Edwardsen, our
Chairman, Price E. Brower, and by Native
Village of Barrow Executive Director/President,
Thomas Olemaun. We would like to thank all
staff members and volunteers who worked
together to make this event a success.
UIC Sponsored Events at Piuraagiaqta 2009
Umiaq Race
1st Nageak Crew
2nd Luther Leavitt Crew
3rd Little Kupaaq Crew
Harpoon Throwing
1st George Adams Crew
2nd Little Kupaaq Crew
3rd Luther Leavitt Crew
Avataqpak Race
1st Aalaak Crew
2nd Sherrick Crew
3rd Nageak Crew
4
5
“A Clean Umiaq”
New Anchorage Employees
Continued from page 1
Heather Anderson, Lead Accountant Heather has joined the UIC parent office
accounting department. She has over 11
years of accounting experience. She was
previously employed at Tikigaq Corp.,
The Kuskokwim Corp. and Seldovia
Native Association, Inc. Born and raised
in Portland, Oregon, as a small child, she
dreamed of living in Alaska. In 1983, that
dream came true.
Meda Synder, Recruiter Meda is the Recruiter for the Anchorage
corporate human resources office. She has
over thirteen years experience in human
resources with a Bachelor’s degree in
Political Science from the University of
Alaska Fairbanks. She will facilitate the
hire of UIC shareholders, shareholder
spouses and descendents for UIC and
subsidiaries in Anchorage.
“A Clean Umiaq” sets the standards
that are expected of all our employees.
In all our activities we strive to ask five
questions before acting:
Is it legal?
Is it honest?
Is it fair?
Is it in UIC’s best interests?
Does it fit UIC’s culture?
Tupaaq Heath, UIC Administrative/
Communications Support Specialist
Tupaaq is responsible for keeping
the Calais office operational and
efficient as well as assisting in general
corporate communications, both
internal and external. L to R: Meda Snyder, Tupaaq Heath, Heather Anderson, and Marvalyn Ekolook
Marvalyn Ekolook, HR Assistant
Marvalyn Ekolook joins the Anchorage
human resources department. She
has worked in various fields within
UIC and ASRC: including construction
administration, construction safety, human
resources, and accounting. UIC Parent Office
Herman Ahsoak, Expediter
UIC is pleased to announce the selection
of its new Expeditor, Herman Ahsoak, hired
on January 5, 2009.
As Expeditor, Herman will be located in
the UIC Parent office and handling all
freight and mail for UIC and its Barrow
subsidiaries.
An Alaska Native from Barrow, Herman
has lived in Barrow all his life. He is a
Barrow High School graduate and worked
previously for the North Slope Borough.
A UIC shareholder, Herman is currently
active in the Barrow Volunteer Fire
Department and Barrow Whaling Captains
Association. Herman is well known in our
community and here is what he had to say.
“In 2008 it was hard for me to find a
permanent job, I was helping Sylvia pay
bills by making and selling ulus and using
our ASRC and UIC dividends. I am very
thankful that UIC is an equal opportunity
employer. They do everything they can to
help shareholders.
UIC Foundation Recipient
Leanna Russell,
Training Administrator
UIC Foundation Scholarship
recipient Leanna Russell is
a returning employee to the
UIC Family of Companies,
now serving as Training
Administrator for UMIAQ.
Leanna supports the Health,
Safety, and Environmental
Training (HSET)
department by managing
and implementing training and career
development programs for UMIAQ.
According to Leanna, the most important
job of the HSET department at UMIAQ
is promoting a culture of safety in the
workplace to keep everyone mindful of
their own safety and the safety of others.
When asked what her favorite part of her
6
job was, Leanna said, “It’s
a great work environment.
I get along really well with
the people I work with. I
love being part of a closeknit team.”
Leanna is a UIC
shareholder descendant
who was raised in Barrow,
graduating from Barrow
High School in 2003.
Leanna is currently attending the College
of Engineering at University of Alaska
Anchorage and is part of the Alaska
Native Science and Engineering Program,
known as ANSEP. Leanna’s advice for
anyone preparing for college is, “Do your
FAFSA and apply for scholarships as
early as you can!”
If we can answer yes to all five
questions, then we can be assured
that it’s the right thing to do for the
company. We recognize that just
because something is legal doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s the right
thing to do. We also want to make
sure that it’s fair and the best thing
for the company. We recognize that
this is good business and will set us
apart as a corporate leader.
"A Clean Umiaq" also sets ten
principles for UIC. We try to follow
these principles to make UIC a
clean umiaq:
Good luck to all the Whaling Captains in
Barrow, Wainwright, Tikigaq, Nuiqsut and
Kaktovik in 2009. May God also richly
bless Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation also
in 2009.”
Scholarship
Application
Deadlines
May 1 — Summer semester/quarter
August 1 — Fall semester
December 1 — Spring semester/
winter quarter
March 1 — Spring quarter
Application is available online at
www.ukpik.com. Follow link to
Shareholder Services then to Other
Services. If you have questions,
please call Mabel Kaleak at 907852-4460.
To qualify for renewed scholarship,
students must maintain a 2.0 GPA.
Current grade report must accompany
all scholarship renewal applications.
Avoid the tug-of-war between
competing interests.
Keep your pockets clean.
Don’t accept or give too many gift
baskets.
Don’t kick the company car or be a
cyber-slacker.
Live the Golden Rule.
Be a straight shooter.
Leave politics at home.
Protect our game plan.
Respect everyone and the
environment.
Keep healthy and stay safe.
These principles include many of the
legal standards that we’re required
to follow, but also the ethical
standards that we have chosen to
live by. We understand that UIC
represents the lands and people
of Barrow and see that we have
been placed in a position of trust.
These standards help us live up to
expectations and will help preserve
Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation.
Honoring Our Elders:
Thomas Pannigona
Reflects On Life
In The Arctic
Thomas Pannigona was born on September
7, 1934 in Brownlow Point, west of Kaktovik
in Camden Bay. Some of his earliest
memories are of his father, Samuel, taking
him camping in the mountains and when
Ross Ahngasak came to their camp with
his reindeer. Samuel would take Thomas
and his older sisters Mary and Josephine
out with him to check his trapline. He
taught Thomas how to hunt and gave him
his rifle and shotgun after he learned how
to shoot. Thomas also learned how to sew
by watching his sisters. Both his sisters
worked hard sewing and cooking, but also
enjoyed playing games with him, including
napachaq (dart game), kaivsaaq (a
spinning toy), and ayagaaq (string game).
Thomas has been whaling since 1969,
although in recent years severe rheumatoid
arthritis has prevented him from going.
Some of Thomas’ fondest memories
include weekends spent with his children,
hunting, and going on vacation. He
describes growing up on the Arctic Slope
as cold, especially because he grew up
without a heater, only a wood stove. Some
of his saddest recollections are of times
when it rained.
Thomas got married at the age of 25 and
had five children. Raising a family on the
North Slope was challenging because
there were not many jobs, but once he
found a steady job things became easier.
He worked with Forrest Solomon Sr. at
Wien Airlines before taking a job at the
USPS Hospital in Barrow. After 28 years
at the hospital, Thomas had to retire when
his arthritis worsened. “It was even hard to
start a vehicle,” he recalled.
Thomas has always been in awe of heavy
pieces of machinery, such as graders
and loaders, saying, “They make life so
much easier!”
Thomas stresses that being an Elder has
been a great thing. He tries to pass on
the lessons he has learned throughout
his life to the youth in the community. He
comments, however, “They say, ‘I know, I
know,’ even before you finish what you
were telling them!”
The happiest memories of his life are, “that
an unseen being is taking care of us, our
Lord, Jesus Christ.”
The quote Thomas hopes most to be
remembered by is what his father Samuel,
always told him, “Pray before you leave the
house to go hunting, and you will always
have a bountiful one.”
Thomas and Dorothy’s wedding
Pannigona whale landed
L to R: Grandaughters Roxy, Jone, Amau Flora with baby Everett,
Aaka Dorothy, Daughter Nanauq and Thomas Paningona
Pannigona spring whaling camp by open lead
If you would like a copy of “A Clean
Umiaq”, please send a request to
compliance@ukpik.com.
7
Bowhead Safety Training Recognition
Bowhead has dedicated a tremendous
amount of time and effort to implement our
Safety Training Development Plan. In addition
to our e-training programs, Click Safety and
Alert Driver, we have conducted numerous onsite, instructor-led training sessions for CPR,
First Aid, OSHA, and Disaster Preparedness
and Fire Safety.
One of our responsibilities to ensure safety
program compliance is through routine audits.
We are proud to announce that Bowhead
Manufacturing Company Logistics Support
(BMCLS) was recently awarded the Bronze
Safety Council LCA Excellence in Safety
Training Award. Out of the pool of nominees,
Quality Engineering
our achievements and dedication to safety
training put us in the top of the category.
First Responders should an employee sustain
an injury or experience a medical emergency.
During 2008 our “Safety Audit +” Program
was implemented to incorporate Safety Audits
and On-site Safety Training to include: CRP
First Aid OSHA
Since the implementation of our Safety
Program, we have accomplished a dramatic
increase in safety awareness across
the organization including a 92 percent
participation in weekly toolbox training events,
a 28 percent decrease in our workers
compensation experience modification factor
(from .92 to a .66 exp mod factor) and an
incident rate of under three percent with an
average of 315 employees.
BMCLS’s Health & Safety Manager travels
extensively to our field locations and provides
a comprehensive two-day “Safety Audit +”
Training Program during each visit.
The “Safety Audit+” Training Program
enhances safety awareness companywide
while providing each location with a
designated Safety Representative plus trained
BMCLS will be honored at an upcoming
awards celebration in Baton Rouge, LA.
Congratulations BMCLS!
Continued from page 3
Now, all that’s nice…but why are Six Sigma
and the rest of the Quality tools important to
you? Because quality involves and affects
every member of the organization. How?
UIC employees could find themselves on
an Integrated Process Team (IPT) as a
Process owner, team member or Lean Six
Sigma Green Belt facilitator. Additionally,
our government customers require we have
quality programs in place to be eligible for
certain work. As UIC continues to grow
quality engineering tools like Lean Six Sigma
will enable us to become more efficient
and lower our costs making our rates more
attractive.
Nasirvik Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation Shareholder Newsletter
P.O. Box 890, Barrow, AK 99723 Phone (907) 852-4460 Fax (907) 852-4459
3201 C Street, Suite 801, Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone (907) 677-5200 Fax (907) 677-5280
P.O. Box 890
Barrow, AK 99723
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