2024 Alaska Business Hall of Fame Laureates

When it comes to ethics, Karp goes back to the basics. “Whether you’re growing up in business or growing up as a kid, the simple adage ‘do the right thing’ applies,” he says. “As a kid that might mean don’t shoplift, while as an adult running a multi-million-dollar business, it likely means making sure to negotiate in good faith so everyone gets a fair deal. At its core, the message is the same.”

Karp believes that it’s important for young people to figure out what motivates them in a particular direction and then take a balanced approach to get there. “I consider myself blessed because I had such a unique childhood in Nome,” he shares. “I came out of college not knowing there were any parameters to stop me from pursuing my interests, and that’s a gift.”

Sheri Buretta

Board Chair, Chugach Alaska Corporation

Born at Elmendorf Air Force Base hospital in 1965, Sheri Buretta grew up between Anchorage and the Prince William Sound village of Tatitlek where her mother was born. “I went to Nunaka Valley Elementary School, Clark Middle School, and graduated from [Bettye Davis] East High School and from UAA,” Buretta recalls. “Like many kids, my first job was babysitting and newspaper delivery starting from age 10. But when I turned 14, they were just finishing the Northway Mall, and I got a job at the Pretzel Factory. I loved that job! I was able to go to work after school and sell pretzels while meeting a lot of people.”

Growing up in poverty fueled Buretta’s understanding of the need to make money. “My mom was born in the village when there was no electricity, plumbing, or water, so they had to live off the land,” she shares. “In my lifetime I’ve seen the subsistence economy and the importance of our rural communities and villages and then, overnight, all of these modern conveniences were available. But you had to be able to pay for them, so your work shifted. Now you had to have a job that pays you cash.”

Watching the shift taught Buretta that if she wanted to get things, she had to work. “I remember how empowered I felt when I was able to buy my first car,” she says. “I bought skis, bought braces for my teeth, and I bought a ticket to Hawaii to be in my friend’s wedding when I was just 16, thanks to my job at the Pretzel Factory.”

Buretta encourages young people to find what makes them energized, what makes them feel like they are being the best person they can be, and then find a job that allows them to do just that. “Remember, life goes by in a blink, and you may come across days that feel like you just can’t get past whatever situation you’re dealing with. But life is beautiful. Every day we have a new chance to start over and try again. Empower yourself to have that.”

Mark Pfeffer

Founder and CEO, Pfeffer Development

Born in Iowa, Mark Pfeffer grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture, finishing his studies with a semester in London. Upon graduation, his dad bought him a one-way ticket to Anchorage, where he started his career as an intern architect. But Pfeffer’s work experience started long before he arrived in Anchorage.

“When I was in the eighth grade in Omaha, my mom would pick up my sister, brother, and me, then she would stop at this little local meat market to get hamburger or whatever,” recalls Pfeffer. “I was about two weeks from finishing eighth grade when the meat market owner said, ‘Hey kid, you want a job this summer cleaning up at the end of the day?’ and I jumped at the chance!”

Pfeffer made $1.10 an hour starting in May of 1971, but the lessons he learned were far more valuable. He rode his bike to the meat market every day that summer to work. Three months after he started the job, the owner hired another guy who was 22 years old. “So I was 13 and he was 22 and was a meat cutter, butcher kind of guy,” recalls Pfeffer. “But he also had a master’s degree in business administration that he got as a veteran on the GI Bill, but he was still a meat cutter.” The 22-year-old man began helping the little meat market owner become more business-oriented and, over the course of the eight years Pfeffer worked there, the business grew.

Pfeffer worked in the meat market throughout his high school years, handling all sorts of tasks, and then eventually he finished college and moved to Anchorage. But he stayed in touch with the guy that started three months after him who went on to expand the small meat market into a huge international meat business. “He became really successful, and so did I,” says Pfeffer. “I didn’t really know what was going on as I watched him build the business, but I knew something was happening, and it inspired me to think in some way to be a business guy.”

Widely known as a real estate developer, Pfeffer’s success is unquestionable. He has started several companies over the years, and he literally owns Anchorage City Hall (he bought the building from Weyerhaeuser, which was leasing it to the municipality).

“When I came up to Alaska in 1980, I worked for the guy who first hired me for about a year. Then I started my own firm, which was just me working out of a small apartment designing house remodels, and I’ve been self-employed ever since,” he says.

Pfeffer believes adults should make themselves available to young people: “Take the time to listen to what they’re pitching, give them an audience, and give them some hope.”

In return, his advice for young people is simple: “Follow your passion, stay organized, try to see the future, and don’t give up. And do things that are good for the community.”

Denali Award Winner

Jennifer Schrage

President, Signature Land Services

Running, biking, skiing, and other outdoor pursuits have always been a part of Jennifer Schrage’s life, having been born and raised in Anchorage.

“When I was ten years old, Judy Sedwick, Diane Barnett, and my mom were all good friends, and Judy put together a little running group for a bunch of us girls between 8 and 10 years old,” recalls Shrage. “She also taught us about winning graciously and losing gracefully and how to encourage each other. She wanted to make sure she was empowering us to be our best and to believe we can do whatever we try.”

That was the beginning of the Girls Club Running Team, but there was more to come. “After watching a Half Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, Judy and Diane decided they wanted to do this for all of us girls,” says Schrage. “We all assembled on the deck at our house on Sand Lake, jumped in the water for the swim, had a transition area for the bike in the driveway, biked around Kincaid, then came back to run down to the Jewel Lake Carrs and back—and that was the start of the Alaska Women’s Gold Nugget Triathlon.”

Schrage continued her sports pursuits through college and into her adult life. She attributes much of her success to the discipline she learned from her coaches. “My coaches definitely taught me much about what I need to do to be successful in life,” she says.

Working in media sales as her first job, Schrage quickly noted the comparison: “Realizing I had to develop my year-round sales goals, I referred to a training plan from college and realized it mirrored the hours of training I needed to get to the next level.”

While Schrage’s mentors often included coaches, she encourages young people to find mentors that work for them. “Start meeting people in school and find those mentors. JA is fantastic in terms of seeking out those opportunities and discovering where you want to be,” she notes. “At the end of the day, it’s the human element and relationships that are critical.”

That insight earned Schrage the Denali Award from JA, just the third Alaskan so honored.

Schrage’s mantra is one she shares with her own sons. “I’ve told my boys this many times, and I will say it again to the Junior Achievement youth: teachers and mentors can never fire you; they only want the best for you,” she says. “They want to offer feedback, provide opportunities, give you a safe space to learn, make mistakes, and try again.”