Crawford Patkotak serves as chairman of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation’s board of directors, holding the director seat for Utqiaġvik, and is the executive vice president of stakeholder engagement for ASRC. Utqiaġvik is the northernmost community in the United States, is the largest village in the North Slope and is located within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).
Crawford is a tribal citizen of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope as well as a shareholder of ASRC and the Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Utqiaġvik. His Iñupiaq name is Ahkivgak.
Crawford has served on the ASRC board of directors for over 20 years. As executive vice president of stakeholder engagement, Crawford acts as a key strategist working closely with the board of directors, president and CEO, senior leadership and key stakeholders to proactively identify community engagement opportunities.
Crawford is vice chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, the whaling captain for the Patkotak Crew since 2008 and president of the North Slope Borough Assembly. He currently serves as co-chair of the NPR-A Working Group. He formerly served on the Iḷisaġvik College board of trustees, the Barrow Utilities & Electric Cooperative, Inc. board, the United States Arctic Research Commission board and as a member of the City of Utqiaġvik Council.
Crawford graduated from Barrow High School. He grew up in Utqiaġvik and Peard Bay, and he currently lives in Utqiaġvik with his wife, Laura. Together, they have five children and eleven grandchildren.
His favorite passage is “Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, acknowledge Him in all thy ways and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).