improved and stable funding for basic public institutions like K-12 education, the university and public safety are also important in sustaining a workforce. “Alaska has the ability to solve these problems,” Robinson said. Despite these problems, Alaska’s resource endowment is its basic strength, ISER’s Bob Loeffler said in closing the session. “We have the resources. Our minerals are underexplored. Tourism, based on Alaska’s natural beauty and wild places, is still underdeveloped. Alaska’s advantage, Loeffler said, “is that we’re prettier than other places. The same goes for seafood: “Our fish just tastes better.” Allen Waldrop, the Alaska Permanent Fund’s Director of Private Equity, was asked about how private investors are viewing Alaska. The Permanent Fund itself has $16 billion invested in private equity, about 20 percent of the Fund invested in about 7,000 companies globally. While the Fund invests in energy and resources worldwide it cannot be a big player in Alaska projects. “The Alaska projects we see are large-scale, in remote locations,” and have a long-term payback. Most of the (resource) investments we make have three to five year turnaround,” Waldrop said. Infrastructure and workforce issues are also big factors in Alaska, but less so elsewhere. While the Fund is not a big investor in Alaska projects its global activity gives its staff a unique perspective. Waldrop was asked if he sees Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria as influencing investors’ attitudes toward Alaska. Not so much, he said. There are investment decisions people make based on principles like ESG but that can be double-edged. “It opens opportunities for others because there is less competition,” he said. “People are primarily economic animals. We don’t see people avoiding Alaska,” over ESG issues, Waldrop said. But Alaska has to be competitive and today, with tectonic shifts taking place in the nation’s workplace, being competitive means more than just dollars. “You have to have health care, education,” and other public services to attract a stable workforce and investors look at those things, he said. — COMPILED BY TIM BRADNER Photos by Judy Patrick www.AKRDC.org 17
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