Ounalashka Corporation

Ounalashka Corporation, or OC, is the for-profit Alaska Native Village Corporation for Unalaska, Alaska. OC was formed in 1973 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Incorporated with an original 269 Unangax̂ shareholders, OC now works to bring value to almost 500 original shareholders and descendants!

As the major landowner in Unalaska and the owner of premium office properties in downtown Anchorage, OC is at the forefront of land leasing, development, and commercial spaces. Commercial tenants include clients in the fishing and fishing support industries, international shipping and logistics companies, sand and gravel extraction, retail and others.

OC is guided by a nine-member Board of Directors, who set the mission and vision of the organization. Day-to-day business is overseen by our dedicated team of management and staff, who work in our Unalaska-based corporate headquarters.

To continue as a prosperous corporation through excellence in management and business development, to benefit Shareholders, thereby, strengthening Unangan culture, education and to be a premier corporation.

Year Established: 1973
OC Board Members: 9
ANSCA Lands: 115,200 acres

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), enacted by the United States Congress on December 18, 1971, officially recognized aboriginal claims on public lands in Alaska. This marked the establishment of a novel entity—the Alaska Native Corporation. The Act conveyed 44 million acres of land and nearly $1 billion in cash to Alaska Native people, to be managed by newly formed for-profit corporations under ANCSA. 

ANCSA incorporated a body of villages and regional Native corporations to manage the lands and money and made comprehensive conditions concerning the administration of the corporations. ANCSA shares cannot be sold, or otherwise alienated. A person can only receive shares through inheritance or a “gifting” instrument executed by specific lineal relatives. The intent was to keep the corporate assets under Native control. There are 12 regional corporations today, and ANCSA listed 204 villages that qualified for incorporation under the Act. The Law conveyed acreage of surface estate to the village corporations and the subsurface to the villages’ corresponding regional corporations. Ounalashka Corporation, established in 1973, is one such entity formed under ANCSA.

Today, OC Shareholders are located throughout the country and come from all walks of life. We are connected by a shared heritage and are an extended family. OC is committed to bringing value to all of our Shareholders and their descendants, through support for education, career opportunities, dividends, and investment in cultural preservation. To learn more check out Our Culture, visit the Museum of the Aleutians, or view the Museum’s website here.