Avaiyak Burnell serves as first vice president on 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 in the North Slope and is located within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).
Avaiyak is a shareholder of ASRC and Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Utqiaġvik.
Avaiyak serves as the president and CEO of Eskimos, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ASRC, which distributes fuel and automotive parts to communities across the North Slope and operates a power sports retail store. As one of ASRC’s first business ventures, Eskimos, Inc. has been providing services and jobs to North Slope communities for the last 50 years.
Avaiyak also sits on the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission’s Weapons Improvement Program Committee, working to improve and maintain the efficiency and humaneness of the bowhead whale hunt.
Avaiyak is an Iraq War veteran who served five years of active duty in the Marine Corps. He graduated from Barrow High School.
Avaiyak resides in Utqiaġvik where he was born and raised and where he enjoys subsistence hunting, camping and spending time with his family. He and his wife, Kristine, have six children.