August 26, 2016
Margaret Stock, Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate, is a small business owner. She runs her own law firm, Cascadia Cross-Border Law Alaska, which employs ten people. Several of her workers are current or past students at the University of Alaska. Yesterday was Demo Day, sponsored by “Launch: Alaska,” an organization that encourages entrepreneurs and innovators to do business in Alaska.
Stock said, “the University of Alaska statewide system can be a key player in the expansion and investment of resources for startups and accelerators. The Demo Day yesterday that Launch : Alaska sponsored highlighted what I already know is true–that we must foster creativity if we want to grow our economy. The businesses featured at Demo Day — businesses like Aquilo and Eidein Engineering, both in Fairbanks — are some of the most innovative and cutting-edge small businesses in our state.”
Stock said, “Eidein Engineering states on its website that Alaskans have strong values of self-reliance, privacy, security, reliability, and they expect their tools and technology to live up to the same high standards. I agree with that sentiment. And I rely on technology in my own business as an attorney. I talk with clients all over the state and all over the world, and I need the most reliable, secure, and up-to-date technology.” Stock’s immigration law practice serves hundreds of businesses and families in Alaska and throughout the world.
Launch: Alaska has been working with investors statewide and nationally, as well as with the Small Business Development Center (SBCC) across Alaska and with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to assist startups and accelerators. Stock added, “I’ve been involved with programs like “Launch : Alaska” for many years and want to promote their efforts and ingenuity.”
She said, “I agree with Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’s statement that ‘Alaskans eat risk for breakfast’. And I encourage all the folks who are part of Launch : Alaska, including the Board of Directors and the more than 50 mentors, to ‘eat risk for breakfast’ and then have a big plate of creativity and innovation for lunch.”
Launch : Alaska is a member of the Global Accelerator Network. You can learn more about Demo Day and the businesses that were featured yesterday at http://www.launchalaska.com/
As Alaska’s U.S. Senator, Stock plans to look at what other colleges and universities are doing in the Lower 48 as potential models for Alaska. A program at the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) called the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) may be a model for what the University of Alaska could also establish.
Stock was born in Boston and has a sibling and mother who have attended Babson College. Babson College has the premiere entrepreneurship program in the United States. The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship is named after the founder of Home Depot.
“Alaska has the potential to establish a program like the one at Cal Poly and we could aim to have the University of Alaska’s entrepreneurship program become as well-respected as Babson College’s entrepreneurship program. We have the talent and the creativity and we can find the investors and the funding to make it a reality. Launch : Alaska is already on its way and has been doing an incredible job in this arena.”
Stock has lived in Alaska for more than 30 years. She spent 28 years in the Army Reserve. Stock graduated from the Army War College and taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point. She also taught at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Stock graduated from both the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Law School. Stock is recognized nationally as an expert on immigration law and national security, and has worked locally in Anchorage on entrepreneurship programs with the University of Alaska.
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