By The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE - Charlie Alasuk Curtis, the president of NANA Regional Corp., has announced he is retiring at the end of the year.Curtis, 51, cited unspecified health reasons as part of his decision to step down Dec. 28.

Curtis, an Inupiat Eskimo and Vietnam veteran, agreed to serve a decade when he was hired as president of the Kotzebue-based Native corporation in 1992.

"I've been blessed in having done that," he said.

Under his leadership, NANA profits increased by 500 percent, the corporation said. Revenue blossomed from $38 million in 1992 to $176 million last year.

Some of his greatest accomplishments as president were increasing shareholder hiring and expanding scholarship opportunities.

"Charlie has had a vision of success for NANA," said Helvi Sandvik, president of NANA Development Corp. She said that in the past five years, NANA had more net profits than in the previous 18 years and has paid out more shareholder dividends than in the previous 11.

NANA built three hotels in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. It owns or has partnerships with 35 companies, including TeckCominco, which operates the Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue. The world's largest zinc mine sits on NANA land.

Like many other Native corporations, NANA contracts with the federal government as a minority-owned company. NANA has five so-called 8(a) subsidiaries that are allowed bidding preferences with the government.

Curtis said he plans to spend his retirement in the company of his family in Kiana, a Northwest Alaska village. He said his goals center on spending time with his grandchildren and living life "day by day."