Anchorage Chamber Presents 68th Annual Gold Pan Awards
Photo Credit: Vetre | Envato
The good times rolled at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce’s 68th Annual Gold Pan Awards. The Mardi Gras masquerade on November 21 showered the “Brilliance of Bourbon Street” upon winners who’ve shown business and entrepreneurial excellence, as well as a loyal commitment to Anchorage through community service.
Big Easy in Rage City
In the competitive categories, five winners were selected among fifteen finalists.
Alaska Wealth Advisors won the chamber’s Business Excellence award. Runners-up were Katmai Oncology and Copper River Seafoods.
The winner for Entrepreneurial Excellence was FashionPact, a secondhand store with a rather unusual business model that shares the proceeds of sales with charities selected by donors and customers. Also nominated were Aspire Med Spa and macaron specialists Sweet Caribou.
The Distinguished Community Service award for small organizations went to plant retailer Green Connection. The Alaska Aviation Museum and event promoter Erickson Unlimited were also nominated.
Among larger organizations, the Distinguished Community Service award went to Camp Fire Alaska. Other nominees were Subway of Alaska and Global Credit Union.
And the Nonprofit: Above and Beyond award went to Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis, better known as AWAIC. Anchorage Chamber members also nominated Catholic Social Services and youth athletics program Girls on the Run Southcentral.
In addition, the Anchorage Chamber presented a Volunteer of the Year award to Vladislav Finko, a marketing specialist at Alaska Wealth Advisors and vice chair of the Anchorage Chamber Young Professionals Group.
The chamber also recognized an ex-officio board member, Ryann Swalling of KPB Architects, with the 2025 Chairman’s Award. Swalling was a founding vice-chair of the Young Professionals Group and was awarded Young Professional of the Year by the chamber in 2018.
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Also in this issue: building a company and planning an exit strategy; several ESOPs, and UAS’ foray into a new model for tuition. Enjoy!