Ben Mallott named Alaska Federation of Natives president

Ben Mallott, the son of former Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, will become the new president of the Alaska Federation of Natives on Oct. 1, the organization announced June 28.

The younger Mallott, who is stepping into a role his late father previously served at AFN, will succeed Julie Kitka who is stepping down after 34 years as president.

Mallott, 40, has served 11 years as an officer with the largest statewide Native organization. AFN represents about 140,000 Alaskans and more than 300 Native corporations and federally recognized tribes. He is currently AFN’s vice president of external affairs.

AFN is immersed in a multitude of issues at the tribal, state and federal levels — some involving longstanding issues such as subsistence, others involving new matters such as sovereignty rights arising in lawsuits and litigation.

The organization is also contending with the departure of some Alaska Native entities as members in recent years including the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which departed last year along with the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of Tlingit and Haida, said last year AFN played a critical role for the tribe during the 1980s through the early 2000s, but in recent years Tlingit and Haida has expanded to the point the tribe can adequately advocate for itself by itself.

The first issue Mallott has named as a priority is subsistence. The Tanana Chiefs Conference cited a lack of action on subsistence as a key reason for its departure from AFN. Communities relying on subsistence are facing critical shortages of some species such as salmon, along with ongoing battles about legal rights and preferential access to those resources.

Mallott, a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé who now lives in Anchorage, has significant family roots in the state’s political and business world. In addition to his father’s decades as a tribal, political and business leader, his brother Anthony Mallott was president of Sealaska Corp. until he stepped down in January.