Calista Corporation intern Christian Osentoski flies Yulista Aviation, Inc.’s new CH-47F Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulator

Calista Corporation intern Christian Osentoski flies Yulista Aviation, Inc.’s new CH-47F Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulator

Immediate release
December 21, 2011

Calista Corporation Brings Benefits to Shareholders
More Than $5.6M in Total 2011 Benefits

(Anchorage, Alaska) – This year, Calista Corporation Shareholder and Descendants benefits total more than $5.6 million. The three main forms of benefits are dividends, educational support and cultural preservation. These financial totals do not include payroll to Shareholders and Alaska Native employees.

The first and largest portion of Calista Shareholder benefits is dividends, of which $4.15 million was paid in 2011. This includes $500,000 to eligible Calista Shareholder Elders – those 65 years of age or older. Voted and approved by Shareholders during the 2007 annual meeting, this distribution is designed to provide assistance to Elders during the winter months (when the high cost of heating fuel is in some places more than $7.00/gallon). The $300 per eligible Elder provides much needed assistance.

The second largest form of benefits is through education-related support. More than $750,000 has been provided in the form of scholarships, internships and donations to the scholarship program this year.

The third largest benefit in terms of financial contribution is support for the Calista Elders Council. Although Yup’ik is the second most commonly spoken indigenous language in North America, the loss of the Yup’ik language still remains a threat. CEC works to secure the Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Athabascan cultures through language documentation and preservation, youth education camps, mentoring programs and more.

“The 40th anniversary of ANCSA is a perfect reminder that the regional native corporations were formed to help improve the socio-economic conditions of our respective areas,” said Calista Corporation President Andrew Guy. “This is a very complex duty, to operate as a for-profit corporate business while also supporting our remote communities and traditional culture. It is a very unique and serious responsibility that is put on very few corporations in this country.”

Guy continued, “The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program allows and enables Calista to provide much needed key and notable benefits to our Shareholders. We are thankful to congressional leaders for supporting us in continuing to provide a hand up to our native peoples, while also providing service to our country through federal contracts like the design and manufacturing of the Army’s Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulators for the Chinook CH-47F helicopter.”

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PHOTO CREDIT: Yulista Aviation, Inc.

PHOTO CAPTION: Calista Corporation intern Christian Osentoski flies Yulista Aviation, Inc.’s new CH-47F Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulator. YAI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Calista Corporation. Built for the Army under a contract awarded in 2010, the first of five simulators rolled out in October 2011. Ostentoski is the son of Calista Shareholders and is currently a junior at University of Alaska Anchorage majoring in mechanical engineering.

The second largest of the original 13 Alaska Native corporations, Calista Corporation was established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and represents over 12,000 Shareholders. The Calista region encompasses over 6.5 million acres and includes 56 villages, which are incorporated into 46 individual village corporations. Since 1994, Calista has provided more than $2.6 million in scholarships and since 2008 more than $12.7 million in dividends and distributions to its Shareholders and Descendants.

Calista Corporation is the parent company of 16 subsidiaries, providing services ranging from telecommunications and marketing to construction and facility management. Calista can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/calistacorp<http://www.facebook.com/calistacorp>) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/calistacorp). If you would like more information or to schedule an interview with Calista Corporation, please contact communications manager Thom Leonard at 907-868-2426 or tleonard@calistacorp.com<mailto:tleonard@calistacorp.com>.