Mekoryuk man serves country, corporation

Published on March 4th, 2010

By ALEX DEMARBAN

Alaska Army National Guard Master Sgt. Eric Schlemme, left, and Maj. Wayne Don, center, join Mongolian Armed Forces Senior Sgt. Battulga Baatar to observe the tactics and techniques used by the Mongolian Expeditionary Force at Five Hills Training Area in Mongolia. (Courtesy Photo, Capt. Amy Slinker)

Alaska Army National Guard Maj. Wayne Don and Mongolian Armed Forces Maj. Javkhlanbayar Dondogdorj discuss a traffic control point training scenario at Five Hills Training Area in Mongolia. (Courtesy Photo, Capt. Amy Slinker)

Not every soldier in Afghanistan can say they're running a multi-million dollar Native corporation. But Maj. Wayne Don uses Skype to balance big-business decision-making with military responsibilities.

Don, from the Cup'ik village of Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island, chairs the board of the NIMA Corp. and has been named a Top 40 under 40 by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. He received the same honor from the Alaska Journal of Commerce and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.

Don, stationed at Eggers Base in Kabul, is on a special mission advising Mongolian soldiers about providing security at the base and in the area. He said he hopes to return to see his family in about two months, but couldn't say with certainty when his mission would end. Portions of following interview have been edited for clarity and brevity.

What's the mission at Eggers Base?

At Camp Eggers, they set up something called the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan Command. It's a new command they got of folks from over 30 countries here in this specific base. The big emphasis here with Camp Eggers is that there are advisers and mentors that work with the Afghan police and the Afghan National Army. So there's a lot of trainers that work with folks in the military and the police and different ministries and government folks.

What's your job? Would you protect all these efforts?

Yes. The Mongolians are charged with providing fixed-site security, so they essentially cover the perimeter of our base, so they're the first line of defense against any kind of incident. So in that regard they have a pretty important mission. They're the first line of defense for a lot of folks. ... We've had several incidents while we've been here and the fact that nothing has happened, knock on wood, is testament to the professionalism and the quality of protection that these folks are providing for us.

Can you describe some of the incidents?

There's a lot of suicide bombers within the area. There's a lot of activity. We've had at least two vehicle-borne explosions. Not directly on the base, but very close. In fact, two kilometers. The most recent thing we had was last month and it was about two kilometers away. We've been fortunate that none of the activity has affected us. It has not been directed right at us, but it's been very close.

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

Probably the biggest area we provide the most value to the Mongolians is that they're working with a U.S. Command. So as such we have primary responsibility for liaison between the Mongolian contingent and the U.S. Command. ... But a lot of times what we do is provide consultation on base security. If they want to make any improvements or adjustments to base security, usually they'll come to us first.

If there are questions about conditional logistical support they'll come to us. If they have life-support kind of issues they'll come to us for that.

Their military's in a state of change - they went from a Soviet-style system and they're transitioning to be more compatible with NATO forces - so they'll ask questions about operations.

A big emphasis is developing their non-commissioned officer corps. That's in the fledgling stages, so they'll ask a lot of questions about that. We'll provide consultations on leadership training, that sort of thing.

Do you get out of the base much?

We get out about two or three times a week. They have another unit that's based about 30 minutes away from here. The contingent commander likes to make a visit out there every other week or so.

So you help train those folks?

Well, the folks in that other camp are trained artilleryman, and mortar or indirect fire folks. So they do that training. The contingent commander likes to go over there and check on training, mentor those folks. Our big job is to make sure he gets there safely. So I have to organize his transportation, make sure he has security, make sure he gets there in one piece and comes back in one piece.

Have there been any incidents with his travel?

Ah, no. There's been a couple times where we've, yeah, maybe I won't talk about that.

Can you tell me about your past?

My mom's actually from Quinhagak, she's Yup'ik. My dad's from Nunivak Island, he Cup'ik. I left to go to college in 1990 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I spent four years there. I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1994 ... and I spent 11 years on active duty. My last assignment was at the University of Alaska Fairbanks teaching military science. I left active duty in 2005, to settle in the Anchorage-Eagle River area. And I've been in the Guard since.

How does it feel to win this top 40 under 40 (award) both nationally and at the state level?

The national award is a very big honor because there's a heck of lot of people from the East Coast to the West Coast, and lots of tribes who certainly have input into who the winners are. It's a pretty big honor to be selected nationally because of the quality of folks on that list. And the same thing with the Alaska top 40 under 40 list. There are some very distinguished folks on that list so I feel pretty honored to be a part of that group too.

What are some of the accomplishments in relationship to that award that you prize the most?

As it relates to the Top 40 under 40 award, from a national perspective, I was elected the chair of my village corporation board two years ago. ... (We've achieved success) in transitioning our village corporation from a small village-based company to a nationally focused contractor with multi-million dollar contracts in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, increasing our gross revenues pretty dramatically, and having a national subsidiary based in the Lower 48.

That's a pretty big achievement. We've entered the federal contracting marketplace and that's a very competitive industry and market. We've managed to garner some very big contracts that have set us up in a big way. We've increased business offerings for our corporations. We have a local focus and a national focus.

We started up an ecotourism camp on Nunivak Island. We've had international participation. We had a student from the United Kingdom that participated last year and then we had students from all over the (Yukon-Kuskokwim) Delta that we're able to participate in that. So it's a local and regional achievement and one of the few in the area. In fact, a lot of people are talking about it because of development efforts there.

And we're doing stuff in Anchorage. We have a fairly profitable real estate venture we've started in the Anchorage area. And our business interests are growing. We're starting up another federal contracting company here in the next six months or so. It's been a pretty dramatic period of growth over the last three to five years. And people are starting to recognize that and I think that's part of the reason. I happen to be part of that growth and change. It's been a fun ride so far.

Is the 8(a) program part of the success?

Oh, absolutely. It's a very competitive market, but the payoff is pretty big and a lot of the Native corporations have been able to make the 8(a) program a part of their growth strategy and benefitted their shareholders quite a bit, just in terms of the opportunity to provide scholarships and jobs and dividends to their communities and shareholders.

What are some of the major contracts?

We have two fairly large contracts with the Navy in Washington, D.C., doing construction and we also recently won a fairly lucrative contract at Andrews Air Force Base for the Air Force, and we're looking at bidding some other stuff in different parts of the country.

How do you participate in the corporation meetings from Afghanistan?

We Skype (laughs). I Skype into the meetings. They have a setup where I can talk to the rest of the board. And I communicate with our president and CEO a couple times a week. And if I need to call them, I can call them. But I'm pretty in touch with what's going on, despite the fact that at this point I'm on the other end of the world.

You mentioned you're looking at other contracts, do you do research on the Internet?

Not so much research or day-to-day kind of operations. Usually our day-to-day folks will call for consultation on some of the bids they're looking at. We'll talk about potential margins on some of those contracts and where we are with those. It's really more from a strategic perspective. That's what my level of participation at this point is, mostly because of the amount of time I can afford to spend.

Has your service over there slowed the company?

No things are going. We have a vice-chairman who is actively involved. We stay in touch. Then we have a day-to-day guy. I think if our organization was running the way it was five years ago, where it was mostly board members doing day-to-day stuff, my absence would have a pretty big impact on the corporation. But now that we have an organizational and management structure that allows folks to handle day-to-day stuff, most of my involvement is strategic issues and you know, the governance aspect of running a corporation.

Can you say what the latest value of the corporation is?

We're a little over $10 million. It's still fairly small by corporate standards but I think this year is our defining year. It's $10 million at present, but once we are able to recognize some of the other revenue coming in, it will be pretty dramatic growth from that.