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When CIRI shareholder Anthony Chudocken rides the elevator to the top of the work-in-progress that is the Fireweed Business Center, he looks down and sees the past, present and future.
“I remember this area when it used to have the Fireweed Theater, and the drive-in before that,” he says. “I used to go there when I was a little guy. CIRI’s Fireweed Business Center is a good upgrade for this area – I think it will be a good asset for CIRI.”
[lightbox link=”https://www.ciri.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Anthony-Chudocken-FBC-worker.jpg” thumb=”https://www.ciri.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Anthony-Chudocken-FBC-worker-225×300.jpg” width=”225″ align=”left” title=”Davis Constructors and Engineers Inc. employee Anthony Chudocken operates the elevator that carries employees and equipment on the Fireweed Business Center construction site.” frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=”Davis Constructors and Engineers Inc. employee Anthony Chudocken operates the elevator that carries employees and equipment on the Fireweed Business Center construction site.”]Chudocken is often the first person on the job site, starting his day at 6:45 a.m. and operating the elevator that carries workers, equipment and material to each of the tower s eight floors. Employed by Davis Constructors and Engineers Inc., Chudocken is one of many CIRI shareholders and descendants for whom the new building has provided employment opportunities.
“Our goal is to promote and support CIRI shareholder and descendant hire for open positions associated with the Fireweed project,” says Debra Ahern, senior director of CIRI Human Resources. “We’re proactively collaborating with Davis Constructors and Engineers and the subcontractors assigned to the project to recruit shareholders and descendants. And we’ll continue to do so as subcontractors have additional hiring needs on the project.”
The department’s efforts to broaden shareholder and descendant employment are part of CIRI’s comprehensive commitment to deepening the company’s engagement with its shareholders.
Twenty-one-year-old CIRI shareholder Christopher Raduege had just finished studying industrial electricity at the Alaska Vocational Technical Center, with help from The CIRI Foundation, when he was hired by Redi Electric as a material handler on the Fireweed Business Center project. Redi Electric was one of several companies that set a goal of 70 percent Alaska Native hire for this project. To date, companies involved with the Fireweed Business Center project have achieved 41.6 percent Alaska Native hire.
“I move pretty much everything the journeymen and apprentices need on the job,” describes Raduege, who will move on to an IBEW apprenticeship once this job ends. “The building is going to be really cool once it’s all done, and to know that I helped construct the building my Native corporation owns – I take pride in that.”
