The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development has a new executive director. Jared Reynolds has been in the field for over a decade and comes to the center from Do North Coworking in Vermont, where he helped launch a program that supports startup companies in the forest products industry, called the Forestry Accelerator.
The center is a program of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Business Enterprise Institute, and provides technical assistance to businesses and communities across the state.
He said the state’s biggest economic challenges are infrastructure and a lack of affordable housing.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Jared Reynolds: I think, in an urban context and in rural areas, figuring out how to build quality, affordable and just enough housing is a challenge. And that’s not unique to Alaska. I mean, I think other places that I’ve been to have this common challenge, but there’s definitely unique challenges around housing in Alaska. Then I think infrastructure, and that seems to be different throughout the state. [I] think some in rural communities, what I’ve heard is some of that basic infrastructure and getting just to meet, like everyday needs, that kind of infrastructure.
Ava White: You’re talking like, water, sewer, things like that?
JR: Yeah, water and sewer. And then I think maybe in more urban areas, it is around, like transportation or building, [in] sort of these vibrant communities. So I think those two things are exciting, and seems to be a common theme that I’ve heard throughout the state.
AW: What are you seeing as some of the biggest opportunities?
JR: One thing that I’ve been really excited about in these conversations I’ve had with sort of economic development leaders has been this commitment throughout the state to finding solutions. And I, you know, I spent time early in my career living in Alaska, I lived in Sitka, and that’s sort of what drew me back. I worked in community health, there was this commitment to finding solutions to the unique challenges that the state faces.
There are these really talented people throughout the state that are trying to find solutions despite these challenges of, you know, finding ways to build more housing. There’s been all these really interesting business development entrepreneur programs that I’ve sort of interacted with in my first few weeks. That part’s really exciting, especially this commitment to building up this entrepreneurship innovation ecosystem in Anchorage and Fairbanks and throughout the state.
I’m really excited to find ways to support [it]’. That sort of aligns with my background over the past couple of years, where I sort of developed and run this business accelerator. So I’m definitely excited for that piece of this job.
AW: The forestry accelerator, talk to me about that program.
JR: I spent about three and a half years before this, leading an organization that was also part of a university that did sort of entrepreneurship and innovation work. One piece of that that I helped to develop, build and lead over the past three years was this forestry accelerator, and it really came out of this gap in rural Vermont and rural New England that the forest industry has just changed.
Paper mills have shut down, there isn’t this outlet for low grade wood, and it’s sort of made the whole industry difficult to survive. Although there’s still these markets for higher grade wood, there’s not also markets for low grade wood, it just doesn’t pencil out. We developed this program with a focus on supporting startups, innovation and entrepreneurship that are developing new markets for low grade wood that will then support the entire industry.
There’s this opportunity industry focused business accelerators are kind of unique to find ways to build something similar in Alaska, that is, you know, supporting kind of these primarily hard technology companies that have different needs than software companies in a specific industry to really kind of create that hub of innovation.
AW: Are there any similar projects that the UA center is looking into?
JR: I have heard of some. I don’t know specifically, but, Alaska is definitely has these specific industries around oil and minerals and mining that could have a lot of opportunity in just its kind of geographic position, and things like defense or the Arctic that I think, allow it to have that same industry focus that could make it really a national and global leader within that industry.
Ava White reports on economics and hosts the statewide morning news at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at awhite@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8445. Read more about Ava here.
