Two Bering Straits directors retire. One seat goes to shareholders, one to the board.

Two seats on the Bering Straits Native Corporation board are turning over this year, but shareholders will get a say in only one of them.

The seat left open by Tony A. Weyiouanna, Sr. of Nome and Shishmaref goes to shareholders in the 2026 board election. The seat vacated by Eugene Asicksik of Shaktoolik will instead be filled by the board itself, an appointment the corporation says it will explain later. An appointed director holds the seat only until next year's annual meeting, when it goes back to a shareholder vote.

The split comes down to timing. Asicksik is retiring a year before his term ends in 2027, after serving from 1986 to 2022 and returning in May 2023. Weyiouanna, who served from 2007 to 2010 and came back in 2023, is leaving as his term runs out this year — so his seat goes on the ballot.

BSNC has not said how shareholders might be considered for the appointed seat, saying only that details will come "in the near future."

The election has already run into a problem. BSNC says the proxy materials it mailed to shareholders left off one of the board nominees, and that corrected materials will go out to everyone eligible to vote. The annual meeting is Oct. 3 in Nome, and proxies are due Sept. 30.