I’m going to cut right to the chase today — we have some exciting news to share!
Wild Alaskan has officially filed as a public benefit corporation, an exclusive legal designation for businesses committed to the highest social and environmental standards. The particular components of our public benefit purpose fuse Alaska’s environmental mandate with that of the Kallenberg family mission, anchored by our unwavering commitment to:
- ALASKAN STANDARDS — Environmental sustainability underscored by the Alaskan state mandate itself, as codified in the Alaska State Constitution.
- ONGOING EDUCATION — The continued teaching of wild-caught species conservation, inspired by the work that Robert C. Kallenberg (our founder/CEO Arron’s grandfather) himself pioneered.
The company’s new status underscores and codifies Wild Alaskan’s foundational, company-wide commitment to sustainability and social impact. “We believe that what’s good for the planet and society is also good for business, and we’re constantly striving to do better. Becoming a public benefit corporation is a natural extension of that commitment,” says Nathaniel Brooks, VP of Finance and Business Operations here at Wild Alaskan — who himself grew up fishing the waters of Alaska. “Since our founding, Wild Alaskan has been driven by a core mission: accelerating humanity’s transition to sustainable food systems. In becoming a public benefit corporation, we aim to take that commitment to the next level.”
To explain a little further, becoming a public benefit corporation means that a company has modified its corporate charters to include commitments to go beyond maximizing shareholder value to produce tangible, demonstrated public benefits. Benefit corporations are legally required to undergo rigorous auditing and assessments and to report on progress in achieving their benefit goals. By filing as a public benefit corporation — a status that’s challenging to reverse — Wild Alaskan aims to codify its firm commitment to social good, environmental sustainability and providing the highest-quality seafood.
I’ll end with another fun share — this recent Forbes piece — in which Arron says that he ultimately started this business because “I felt the weight of my family legacy.”
Live wild!
Monica
