JANIE LEASK: .....on silent as everybody gropes for their pockets and their purses and all. We really appreciate it out of courtesy and respect for the members and the guests who are attending today's presentation.

On your table you do have question cards. As questions do come up, please write them down on the cards. Hold the card up in the air, staff will collect them and bring them up to me, and hopefully, I will get through as many questions as time allows this afternoon.

I would like to thank both BP and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company for underwriting today's program.

And we're very pleased today to have both Byron Mallott and Greta Goto from First Alaskans Institute to talk to us about an important study, Our Choices, Our Future, which impacts both rural and urban Alaska. And I'll more formally introduce them in a moment, but for right now let me introduce the head table.

From your left to my right, Rick Mystrom. Rick is the former mayor of the Municipality of Anchorage. And Rick and I co-chaired the Commonwealth North Urban/Rural Unity Study which was done about five years ago so, Rick, it's nice to have you back and nice to see you again.

Next to Rick is Alice Galvin. Alice is the senior consultant of organizational individual learning for BP, a member of Commonwealth North board of directors. And, Alice, thank you and BP for helping underwrite today's event.

Next to Alice is Steve Lindbeck, a familiar face in a new position. Steve is the new vice chancellor or university advancement at UAA and is a member of Commonwealth North. So, Steve, congratulations on your new position. And we look forward to working with you in your new capacity.

Next to Steve is Governor Hickel, twice Governor of Alaska, former Secretary of the Interior, and a co-founder of Commonwealth North. And, Governor, it's always nice to have you here.

Next to Governor Hickel, Greta Goto, First Alaskans Institute, one of our guest speakers, and next to Greta is Byron Mallott, president and CEO of First Alaskans Institute, also one of the speakers here today. So, ladies and gentlemen, please give our guest table a warm welcome. (Applause)

Now let me formally introduce our two guest speakers. Byron Mallott is a familiar face to many people, not only in this community but around the state. Byron is president and chief executive officer of First Alaskans Institute. He was born and raised in Yakutat, the ancestral home of his mother's Tlingit Indian Clan. Byron has been active in both the public and the private sectors in Alaska since 1965 at which age he was elected mayor of Yakutat at the age of 22, so Byron started very young.

In various capacities he has served every Governor since Statehood including Governor Egan when he served as the first commissioner of Community & Regional Affairs. Before his current post at First Alaskans Byron served for five years as executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation having been appointed to the Fund's board of directors by former Governor Hammond in 1982. And during a 20 year period between 1972 and 1992 Byron served with SeaAlaska Corporation in a variety of capacities as a director, as chairman of the board, and as president and chief executive officer.

He also has served on several state and national boards including 23 years serving on the board as a director of the Alaska Air Group which is the parent company of both Alaska and Horizon Airlines. Hopefully, they settled all their strikes and were on time okay. Okay. Otherwise maybe I shouldn't have said that, but okay.

His years of public service in the state includes his election as mayor of the City and Borough of Juneau, a term of service as the president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and an appointment by Governor Knowles as co-chair of the Commission on Rural Governance Empowerment. Byron is a clan leader of the KwaashKiKwaan Clan of the Raven Tribe of Yakutat and currently serves on the board of directors of SeaAlaska Corporation. His wife, Toni, teaches -- or did she retire?

BYRON MALLOTT: Retired.

MS. LEASK: She retired. That's what I thought. She retired from teaching elementary school in the Juneau School District. And Byron and Toni have raised five children.

With Byron will be Greta Goto. Greta is the director of the Alaska Native Policy Center at First Alaskans Institute and a new board member to Commonwealth North. Greta was born in Fairbanks, raised in Dillingham, and she attended Georgetown University graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Service and an Asian study certificate. Greta's worked in a number of positions both in Alaska and Tokyo before deciding to go back to school, to graduate school in 1999 where she graduated with a Master's in Business Administration from UAA.

Greta's held a number of volunteer positions in Dillingham. She is currently a member of the Alaska Native Professionals Association and she serves on the advisory councils to the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center and UAA's College of Business and Public Policy.

We're very, very pleased and very honored to have both of these speakers here today, so please help me give them a warm welcome as I turn the podium over to Byron. (Applause)