A Doyon director steps off the board to lead its scholarship foundation

Geraldine "Geri" Simon has given up a seat on the board that governs Alaska's largest private landowner to run its scholarship foundation.

Simon, an attorney and Doyon shareholder from Allakaket, started Monday as executive director of the Doyon Foundation. To take it, she stepped down as a director and corporate secretary of Doyon, Limited — the Interior Alaska regional corporation with more than 20,000 Alaska Native shareholders, about 12.5 million acres of land, and a family of companies spanning oil field services, construction, security and tourism. Her departure leaves a vacancy on Doyon's 13-member board; the corporation says it will announce a process for filling the seat after its November meeting.

She knows the organization from several directions. Simon previously served as Doyon, Limited's senior vice president of administration, and most recently led business development and strategic initiatives at Tanana Chiefs Conference, the Interior's tribal health and services consortium. She is also board president of K'oyitl'ots'ina, Limited, the village corporation for Allakaket and three neighboring Koyukuk River communities.

And she has been on the other side of the foundation's work: Simon received a Doyon Foundation scholarship herself, before earning a law degree from Seattle University.

She takes over an organization that has awarded more than $11.6 million in scholarships since Doyon established it in 1989. Simon said she plans to focus on "workforce development and Alaska Native language revitalization and especially harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of the next generation coming up."

Foundation board president Benjamin Schwartz said Simon was chosen after prescreening and third-party interviews.