BSNC placed 16 interns across its operations — building homegrown management

Bering Straits Native Corporation placed 16 shareholder and descendant interns this summer across its departments and subsidiaries, with placements ranging from Wasilla to Atlanta. The cohort includes returning participants — Shane Angnaboogok is in his fourth consecutive summer, placed at Alaska Industrial Hardware while pursuing a business degree at UAF; Isaiah Nayokpuk is in his third internship year, placed in Human Resources — and new participants from institutions including UAF, UAA, Montana State, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

The substantive frame came from Jolene Okleasik, placed in Lands in Nome. "My goal is to become educated in Business Management and work in our region," Okleasik said. "We need more homegrown management."

BSNC is one of 12 Alaska Native regional corporations created under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, serving shareholders from the Bering Straits region. The corporation operates subsidiaries spanning federal contracting, hardware retail, environmental services, and other businesses across the U.S. — a portfolio structure shared across the 12 ANCs that creates a workforce pipeline opportunity for shareholders and descendants who want to develop management and operations experience.

That pipeline matters most where Okleasik wants to apply it. The Bering Straits region — like much of rural Alaska — depends on local talent staying or returning rather than departing for jobs elsewhere. Internships like BSNC's are one of the structural mechanisms by which an ANC tries to build the human-capital base for its own operations and for the communities it serves.