If you happen to visit CIRI’s executive offices, you may find Dave Swenson sitting behind the reception desk. When CIRI’s receptionist takes a lunch break in the middle of the day, often the CIRI shareholder and employee fills in for an hour. When he is not busy politely directing visitors and fielding phone calls in the reception area, Swenson, whose title is corporate services supervisor, helps keep CIRI running like a well-oiled machine.
Whether he is hard at work managing CIRI’s warehouse, helping set up meetings, purchasing supplies for the company or running the courier department, Dave makes a hard job look easy and makes many other people’s jobs a little easier in the process.
Swenson began working at CIRI six years ago when he was encouraged to apply after doing some work at the CIRI warehouse. Swenson is originally from Seldovia, although he has also lived in Kodiak and Union, Wash. He is of Aleut, Swede and German-Jewish descent.
He was a young boy living in Kodiak during the ’64 earthquake and remembers watching the water in the bay recede from a hill, seeing the floor of the bay, seeing many of the boats in the bay end up on hills and being evacuated by the U.S. Navy.
In his spare time, Swenson enjoys cedar log carving, fishing, being outdoors and hunting. Swenson donates moose meat that he harvests for CIRI’s fall friendship potlatches. He also volunteers at Bean’s Café every month and occasionally when needed at Koahnic Broadcast Corp.
Prior to joining CIRI, Swenson was a commercial fisherman, construction worker, landscaper and seafood plant worker. Swenson enjoys working at CIRI because he likes to be on-the-go. Swenson says “My brother doesn’t believe that I work at CIRI, because I don’t wear suits.”
Swenson’s quiet commitment to excellence has helped him get to where he is today. But he considers his biggest accomplishment raising his children, who in turn have helped inspire him to live his life as fully as he can.
