The Alaska State Chamber of Commerce presented John Shively with the 2009 William A. Egan Award at its annual fall conference in Homer in September. The Chamber’s “Alaskan of the Year Award” was presented to Shively for his remarkable service to Alaska.

The prestigious award is given to individuals who have made substantial and continual contributions of statewide significance while working in the private sector. Each year, nominations are kept strictly confidential and the selection is made by the casting of a secret ballot by all past chairs of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce. The recipients of the award date back to its first honoree in 1964.

Throughout his 44-year career in Alaska, Shively has always taken a keen interest in Alaska’s people and their future, the Chamber noted. He came to Alaska in 1965 from New
York State as a VISTA volunteer. His first duty station was Bethel.

Shively became very active in the final years before the Native claims settlement, trying to educate people in rural Alaska about it. After leaving VISTA, John worked in the health field and wrote the grants that established the first two Native run health organizations – the
Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

He has held a variety of Hpositions working with the Alaska Native community, including Executive Vice President of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) from 1972 to 1975. Shively then went on to serve 17 years with NANA Regional Corporation. He was actively involved with NANA in obtaining the land selection rights for the area in which the Red Dog zinc mine is located.

In 1983, Governor Bill Sheffield named Shively his Chief of Staff. He returned to NANA in 1986 and served as Chairman and CEO of the United Bancorporation Alaska and United Bank of Alaska during a deep statewide recession in the late 1980s.

Under Governor Tony Knowles, Shively served as the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources from 1995 until September 2000, the second longest
tenure of any person in that position in Alaska’s history.

In 2002 Shively became the Vice President of Government and Community Relations for
Holland America Line. Last year he assumed his current position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Pebble Partnership, a company formed to explore the potential of developing a copper/gold/molybdenum deposit in southwest Alaska.

Shively is the author of a number of publications on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and other Native and rural issues. In 1992, he received the Denali Award from AFN, the highest honor given to a non-Native.

Shively has been a Regent for the University of Alaska and served on a number of other boards, including RDC, where for five years he served as president and continues to serve on the Executive Committee.

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