UAA College of Business and Public Policy

The College of Business and Public Policy's Leadership Fellows Program pairs high-performing CBPP students with a mentor in the Anchorage business community, giving students the opportunity to learn about real-world leadership from local business leaders. This year’s cohort includes 21 CBPP students, called protégés, and their mentors. To begin the program, each protégé interviewed their new mentor, and every week, we will feature one of these interviews with the mentors, who share their thoughts on leadership. This week’s featured protégé/mentor pairing is Ryan Ellison, and his mentor Bill Popp.

1 Where are you from? How did you decide to pursue a career in Alaska? 
“I’m from a military family and we came up in 1968 when I was eight years old, and basically grew up here in Anchorage. It was a place that we immediately fell in love with, and also where I wanted to and felt I could make a stand and put my chips on the table, so to speak.

Alaska is a place where I could pursue a career, or multiple careers as I have, and offered ground floor opportunities and where I felt I could blaze my own trail. ”

2 Where did you go to college? What did you study in college? 
“I have not received a degree but have studied at the University of Alaska, both here in Anchorage and down in Kenai. When I first got out of high school, I had a double major of electronics and theatre, so that’s an interesting mix.

I was coming right off of the peak of the oil pipeline boom in the mid 70’s, and I started to work for the local Safeway and by the time I graduated from high school, I was making phenomenal money in the grocery industry. I was working night shifts at Safeway and going to college in the day, and it reached a point of asking myself the benefits of going to school when I had a good and promising path forward with where I was at the time.

As I reached the end of my 16 year career at Safeway, I really wanted to go out and test myself as an entrepreneur; I enrolled in key classes in accounting, fundamentals of supervision, and business management, but did not actually finish the degree. ”

3 Did you have anyone you relied on for mentorship/solid career advice? If yes, what is the most important leadership advice they shared with you? 
“I’ve had a lot of people in different positions advise me over the years and have received a lot of excellent advice. One of the more salient pieces is that if you are not enjoying what you’re doing, you’re in the wrong place and doing the wrong job. This led me to depart from Safeway and to pursue a different direction. I’ve held many different positions and roles over the years and it is a true maxim, and it has served me well over the years. ”

4 It is important and beneficial for CBPP and Anchorage’s business community to collaborate and invest in the next generation of leaders. What do you think should be conveyed to our next generation of leaders?
“They have a number of responsibilities, not only to themselves to pursue their career path that they wish to seek, but also to be ethical members of the business community and set standards for their peers. Remember that Alaska is a young state and there are a number of opportunities here that are offered, and there is a responsibility to give back to the state as well. This can be done by doing the best possible job that one can do, volunteering to the community, or by being a good upright citizen.”

5 Is there anything else you would like to add?
“For future leaders, there is going to be a lot of challenges going forward. We are going to see great change from what Alaska has been and what Alaska will be. We can predict some of that change, but a lot of that change we won’t expect, and that presents an opportunity. Future leaders will need to embrace the change, while it will be difficult, understand that it is vital to Alaska and willing to take a role in shaping Alaska to come.”