2002-2003 Byron Mallott

2002-2003 Byron Mallott
Byron Mallott, photo by UAA LitSite Alaska
Byron Mallott, photo by UAA LitSite Alaska

Byron I. Mallott was born and raised in Yakutat, Alaska, the ancestral home of his mother's Tlingit Indian clan. Mr. Mallott has been active in both the public and private sectors in Alaska since 1965, when he was elected mayor of Yakutat at age 22.

In various capacities, he has served every governor since statehood, including Governor William A. Egan, in whose cabinet he served as the first Commissioner of the Department of Community and Regional Affairs. He is also the former president and chief executive officer of the First Alaskans Foundation.

He also served as executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation from 1995 until January 2000. Additionally, he was appointed to the Fund's board of trustees in 1982 by Governor Hammond, and served a total of eight years as a trustee under three successive governors. He chaired the corporation for three terms.

Over a 20-year period (1972-1992), Mallott was variously a director, chairman, and president and chief executive officer of Sealaska Corporation, the largest of the 12 land-based regional corporations formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. During his tenure, Sealaska established a shareholders' Permanent Fund and a corporate investment portfolio with total holdings in excess of $100 million. Mr. Mallott served as a director of the Seattle Branch Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for six years, and served in 1999 on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Mallott's additional business experience both in Alaska and nationally is extensive. He has been a director of five commercial banking institutions, and was a founding director of the Alaska Commercial Fisheries and Agriculture Bank. Since 1982, he has served as a director of Alaska Air Group, parent company of Alaska and Horizon Airlines. From 1986 through 1988, Mr. Mallott served on the board of the National Alliance of Business.

His years of public service, in addition to those appointments previously listed, include his election as mayor of the City and Borough of Juneau, a term of service as president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and an appointment by Governor Knowles as co-chair of the Commission on Rural Governance and Empowerment.

Mallott is clan leader of the KwaashKiKwaan clan of the Raven tribe of Yakutat and serves on the board of directors of Sealaska Corporation. He is married to Toni Mallott who teaches elementary grades in the Juneau School District. Together they have raised five children, the youngest of whom graduated from Juneau High School in 2002.