CBJ Port Director Carl Uchytil wins Citizen of the Year award from Juneau Chamber of Commerce
- Mark Sabbatini
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Craig Dahl gets Lifetime Achievement Award; Alaska Seaplanes named Business of Distinction at annual gala
This story has been corrected to note Alaska Seaplanes General Manager Carl Ramseth, not co-owner Kent Craford, offered acceptance remarks for his company’s award.
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Something most residents can agree on is Juneau’s future will heavily be about ships. The person tasked with overseeing that effort for the past 14 years, Port Director Carl Uchytil, was honored by Mayor Beth Weldon on Saturday night as the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year.
A record 1.7 million cruise passengers are visiting Juneau during this year’s season that ends Tuesday. This summer also saw the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Storis icebreaker that will eventually be homeported in Juneau, which officially was designated as a Coast Guard city in April.
Weldon, in her announcement of this year’s winner during the Chamber’s annual gala at Centennial Hall, also referred to Uchytil's involvement in a wide range of other port improvements as well as his 27 years in the Coast Guard before announcing his name.
"This year's recipient has spent decades guiding ships, projects and people — sometimes literally — with steady hands and a humble heart," she said. "Their work has strengthened Juneau’s ties to the sea and helped secure a bright future for our port city."
Weldon noted Uchytil, the youngest of five children with four older sisters, "had never been on an airplane and had never even seen the ocean" before attending college. But after high school he "chose a path of service, one that would carry them across oceans and ice, through storms and calm seas alike."
"They've helped unite local efforts to honor and support those who serve at sea, even founding a Navy League Council here in Juneau and leading our successful Coast Guard city application over the past year," she said. "Their leadership helped bring national attention and new opportunity in Juneau. They played a key role in securing a project that will shape the maritime future for not just our city, but for Alaska."
Uchytil, who was out of town during the gala, was linked via online video to the award presentation, so Weldon’s announcement of his name wasn’t a surprise to him or the audience. His acceptance comments were nonetheless spontaneous, grateful and short.
"Thank you very much," he said. "I’m honored and humbled and flabbergasted. I’m not used to being in the limelight. I appreciate the honor, and it’s very, very, very humbling."
Uchytil became port director for the City and Borough of Juneau in 2011 following a Coast Guard career in which he served five tours aboard the icebreakers, including two as commanding officer of the Seattle-based Polar Sea that’s now out of service. He managed the cutter fleet and served as deputy director for civil rights during a tour at Coast Guard Headquarters, according to a Chamber of Commerce profile.
"In addition to many other notable roles he took on in the Coast Guard, as a Senior Executive, he led a staff of 12 professionals in ensuring alignment of the planning, preparedness and coordination of contingency plans for a work force of 1500 personnel assigned to boats, ships, and aircraft in Alaska, the Coast Guard's largest and most challenging area of operations encompassing 3.8M sq. miles and 33,000 miles of coastline," the profile published in July notes.
Lifetime Achievement, Business of Distinction awards
The Chamber’s two other major annual awards were also presented at the gala. Craig Dahl, a former bank president who is currently a special projects manager for CBJ, received the Chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Alaska Seaplanes was named the Chamber’s Business of Distinction for 2025.
A hint about who the Lifetime Achievement winner might be occurred when Tom Sullivan, vice president and regional branch manager for First National Bank of Alaska, was asked to introduce the winner. Dahl, among other occupations, is the retired CEO of Alaska Pacific Bank and Sullivan opted to name Dahl quickly as a mentor rather than offer a prelude speech keeping the recipient’s name a mystery.
"There are multiple businesses that can tell you that Craig gave them their first loan to get them going," Sullivan said. "And very importantly, Craig mentored many, many young bankers, and to his credit many of them are still around today. I know — I was one of them."
Dahl, moved to Juneau in the ninth grade and has been a resident here for 62 years, including 32 years of marriage to his wife, Leslie, who is also a bank manager, Sullivan said. During that time Dahl’s leadership roles have ranged from student body president during his senior year at Juneau-Douglas High School to executive director of the Chamber of Commerce until stepping down earlier this year to work for the city. As special projects manager, one of his primary tasks is overseeing the transition of Eaglecrest Ski Area to large-scale summer tourism, including the installation of a gondola.
Sullivan noted Dahl’s ambitions started outside the world of finance, as he initially studied aeronautical engineering at Seattle University.
"But the space program was kind of closing down — it was the ‘70s — so he shifted over to business," Sullivan said.
However, Dahl has been engaged in a diverse range of activities and occupations over the years including construction, boating, fishing, crabbing, shrimping, bowling, trap shooting, a Boy Scout troop leader, a Juneau Volunteer Fire Department firefighter, and a member of numerous civic boards and organizations, according to Sullivan.
Dahl, like Uchytil, kept his remarks short as he accepted his award onstage at the gala.
"When I look back, it has been a long many decades, and both Leslie and I find dedicating a lot of our time to the community and to other organizations is what makes this community a great place to live," he said. "And it's been an adventure — being a volunteer fireman, working for the different organizations, not the least of which is the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce."
"I really can’t talk much more," Dahl said, breaking off emotionally to applause from the audience.
The announcement of Alaska Seaplanes being named this year’s Business of Distinction was made by John Blasco, a past Chamber president who was named its Citizen of the Year last year.
"This year's honoree is one that has truly gone above and beyond, investing deeply in our region, keeping our communities connected, sharing this amazing place we call home with visitors, and showing what entrepreneurship in Alaska is all about," Blasco said. "When you live in Southeast Alaska connection isn't something we take for granted. The communities across our region are linked not by highways, but by water, by air and the determination of those that make travel possible. Tonight's award goes to a company that has made both connection and adventure their calling, keeping Alaska's capital city and its neighboring towns reliably, safely and proudly connected, while also sharing the majestic beauty of this landscape with travelers from across the globe."
The company has grown from small beginnings in 1997 to a 22-aircraft fleet that flies an average of 121 one-way segments daily during summer and 70 during winter, according to Blasco. every day in the summer, and 70 during the winter. The company also has 220 year-round employees, which increased to more than 300 at the peak of tourism season last year, and in 2024 the company also transported nearly 4.7 million pounds of cargo.
The award was accepted by a group of Alaska Seaplanes employees present at the gala. Carl Ramseth, the company’s general manager, offered thanks for an award that was "very appreciated and unexpected." He also offered thanks to some company leaders who were unable to be at the event, including co-owner Mike Steadman, who was the longtime owner of Wings of Alaska until it ceased operations in 2017.
"He was inducted at the Alaska Aviation Museum Hall of Fame back in April," Ramseth said. "His dedication to safety in Alaska aviation over the years has impacted all of us and what we do, and helped us be where we are today."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
Other photos from the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce’s annual gala, (All by Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)
