Ida Olemaun serves on the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation’s board of directors, holding the director seat for Utqiaġvik. Utqiaġvik is the northernmost community in the United States, the largest village on the North Slope and is located within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).
Ida is a tribal citizen of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope as well as a shareholder in ASRC; Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Utqiaġvik; and Kuukpik Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Nuiqsut. Her Iñupiaq name is Uumiñaq.
Ida is a session member of the Utqiaġvik Presbyterian Church, president of Intergenerational Arctic Ministries, Old Testament Bible translator for the Canadian Bible Society and court translator for the Alaska State Court System.
She previously worked as deputy director and director of the North Slope Borough Health Department. Ida previously served on the North Slope Borough School District board of directors, serving twice as its president, and sat on the Presbytery of Yukon Executive Search Committee. She also worked as a human resources generalist for the Arctic Slope Native Association.
Ida graduated from Mount Edgecumbe High School and received an honorary associate of arts degree from Iḷisaġvik College in 2021.
In her free time, Ida enjoys sewing, whaling and preparing subsistence foods. With her late husband, Nathaniel Olemaun Jr., a whaling captain, Ida has five children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.