Announcing the 2026 HRTS Smokehouse Gala Awardees
First Alaskans Institute Announces
2026 Howard Rock & Ted Stevens Smokehouse Gala Awardees
Rex Rock Sr., John Lincoln, Taylor Hoffman, Dr. Stephen Langdon, and Willie Hensley to be honored November 21 in Anchorage
DENA'INA EŁNENA, ANCHORAGE, AK — First Alaskans Institute (FAI), a statewide Alaska Native advocacy nonprofit, is proud to announce the awardees of our 15th Annual Howard Rock & Ted Stevens Smokehouse Gala. Kakianaaq Rex Allen Rock Sr. (Iñupiaq) and Aġnaqłuk John Lincoln (Iñupiaq) will receive the Howard Rock Alaska Native Leader Award, Taylor Hoffman (Yup'ik) will receive the First Alaskans Institute Young Native Leader Award, and Dr. Stephen J. Langdon will receive the Friends of First Alaskans Ted Stevens Award. Iġġiaġruk Willie Hensley (Iñupiaq) will receive Special Recognition for Lifetime Achievement.
The Gala will be held Saturday, November 21, at the Marriott Anchorage Downtown in Anchorage. Named in recognition of the late Howard Rock (Iñupiaq) and Senator Ted Stevens, the Smokehouse Gala celebrates significant contributions of Alaska Native peoples and our friends in advancing our collective wellbeing to keep Alaska strong.
“Our awardees reflect the highest values we live by in the Alaska Native Community, and we are honored to have an opportunity to highlight their work and commitment to our people.” said Roy Apagruk Agloinga, President & CEO of FAI.
HOWARD ROCK ALASKA NATIVE LEADER AWARD
This person has shown through their quality of character and effort to be a leader of distinct caliber because they put their community and people before themselves.
Kakianaaq Rex Allen Rock Sr. (Iñupiaq)
Rex Rock Sr. comes from Point Hope (Tikiġaq), the same community Howard Rock called home. Located on the western coast of the Arctic Slope region, Point Hope is the longest continually inhabited area in North America. Rex is a tribal citizen of the Native Village of Point Hope and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, and a shareholder of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) and Tikiġaq Corporation, the village corporation for Point Hope.
Rex serves as President and CEO of ASRC and holds the Point Hope seat on its board of directors. He has served on the ASRC board for more than 30 years, including as chairman from 2004 to 2010. As President and CEO, he oversees all of ASRC's business operations and works to keep a strong relationship between the board and the corporation's more than 14,000 Iñupiaq shareholders. Before this role, he led Tikiġaq Corporation as President and CEO, guiding the village corporation's strategy and vision. Under his leadership, Tikiġaq Corporation started an educational scholarship program to support current and future generations.
At home, Rex has served as whaling captain of the Rock Crew and president of the Point Hope Whaling Association. For more than 20 years he coached the Tikiġaq High School boys' varsity basketball team, leading them to four state championships and earning Coach of the Year honors many times from his peers. He was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. Today he serves on the St. Thomas Episcopal Church Council and as president of the Tikiġaq School Advisory Council. Rex graduated from Tikiġaq High School and attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He and his wife, Ramona, have been married for more than 40 years and have four children and six grandchildren.
John Aġnauqługaq Lincoln (Iñupiaq)
John Aġnauqługaq Lincoln serves as NANA’s president and chief executive officer. In this role, he leads the development of NANA’s corporate strategy and cooperates with other leaders in the NANA region to improve the lives of shareholders by maximizing economic growth, protecting and enhancing NANA lands, and promoting healthy communities.
John joined NANA in 2016 as vice president of lands and most recently served as vice president of external affairs, where he worked to ensure the protection of corporate, regional and shareholder interests. Prior to joining NANA, John had a successful career in information technology, specializing in network infrastructure, server virtualization and Microsoft server technologies. He is a former tribal council member for his tribe, the Native Village of Kotzebue, and former chairman of the board for the Maniilaq Association, the regional tribal organization for northwest Alaska. John also served as an Alaska state representative from 2018 to 2021, where he was an original member of the House Special Committee on Tribal Affairs and co-chair of the House Resources Committee.
After graduating from Kotzebue High School, John went on to earn his bachelor’s degree, concentrating in management science and public policy, from Stanford University.
FIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE YOUNG NATIVE LEADER AWARD
This young leader has shown through dedication they are working to help Native peoples and our community with significant and profound purpose.
Taylor Canaar Hoffman (Yup'ik)
Taylor Canaar Hoffman was raised in Bethel, Alaska, where he grew up connected to his Yup’ik culture and traditional ways of life. He attended Ayaprun Elitnaurvik from kindergarten through sixth grade before graduating from Bethel Regional High School.
After graduating, Taylor joined the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) as a Summer Bridge student, where he completed an internship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while earning college credit. He later continued with ANSEP as a University Success student eventually earning his Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Today, that journey has come full circle as Taylor serves as ANSEP’s Director of Grants and Contracts, helping secure and manage the resources that support ANSEP's Kindergarten through PhD programs and students interested in pursuing STEM and Business degrees.
Outside of work, Taylor is currently pursuing his MBA through the University of Washington Foster School of Business. And when he’s not working or studying, he enjoys playing in local basketball tournaments during AFN or Fur Rondy, hunting and fishing, yuraq-ing and spending time with his wife, Tun’aqi, and their 4 month old son, Salik.
Taylor remains proud of his Bethel roots and grateful for the lasting influence his culture, family, and community have had on his life and the path he continues to pursue.
FRIENDS OF FIRST ALASKANS TED STEVENS AWARD
This award is given to a person that has shown through their support of Native issues and partnership with our common cause that they are friends of the Alaska Native community.
Dr. Steven J. Langdon
Dr. Stephen J. Langdon is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he taught from 1976 until 2014. Over a 50-year career, he has carried out research on many public policy issues affecting Alaska Native peoples. He has advocated for policies that sustain rural Alaska Native communities and their cultures in subsistence, fisheries, lands, tribal government, cultural heritage, customary trade, and co-management. His book, The Native People of Alaska, is a widely used introduction to Alaska Native peoples.
Dr. Langdon's research focuses on the history and culture of the Tlingit and Haida peoples of Southeast Alaska. His archaeological work on traditional fishing technologies showed that they were designed to make sure salmon reached their spawning grounds, so the runs would be sustained. He has published extensively on Tlingit and Haida traditional knowledge and uses of salmon, showing the deep relationships between the people and salmon that sustained their cultures for centuries. Most recently, he conducted research on Indigenous Knowledge of Alexander Archipelago wolves for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The findings were included in the agency's Species Status Assessment, which concluded that the wolves should not be listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Dr. Langdon also took part in Congressionally mandated research on the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program, which documented the program's positive impact on communities and led to its permanent status. He was instrumental in developing the Community Quota Entity (CQE) program, which allows community entities to hold halibut and sablefish quota for community members to fish.
The Alaska Native Brotherhood invited Dr. Langdon to give the keynote address at its 100th convention in 2012, and that same year he received the University of Alaska Foundation's Bullock Prize for career excellence in contributions to Alaska. In 2017, the Alaska Federation of Natives honored him with the Denali Award, its highest award for a non-Native person, and Sealaska Heritage Institute presented him with a copper tinaa engraved with his Tlingit name and his G̲aanax̲.ádi clan crest. In 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region, gave the wolf Indigenous Knowledge project a special award for partners research.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
This special recognition honors a leader whose lifetime of service has shaped the lives of Alaska Native peoples for generations.
Iġġiaġruk Willie Hensley (Iñupiaq)
Iġġiaġruk Willie Hensley was born in Kotzebue in 1941 and raised in the Noatak River area, where his large family lived in sod homes in the winter and tents in the summer. They lived a traditional Iñupiaq life, as their ancestors had for thousands of years. With no high schools in rural Alaska at the time, Willie attended Chilhowee Academy in Tennessee, graduating in 1960. He started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, then after a 60-below winter there, transferred to George Washington University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1966.
Back at UAF, Willie wrote a research paper, "Alaska Native Land Claims: The Primary Issue," which challenged the right of Congress to convey more than 100 million acres to the new state of Alaska, arguing that Alaska Natives still held aboriginal title to all of Alaska. After a five-year fight, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971, conveying 40 million acres and nearly $1 billion to Alaska Natives. It remains the last and largest settlement with America's Indigenous peoples.
Willie served for 20 years as a director and eventually President of NANA Regional Corporation, which was created through ANCSA. He was a founder of the Alaska Federation of Natives and served in its leadership. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives and State Senate, and later as Alaska's Commissioner of Commerce. He spent ten years as Manager of Federal Government Relations for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Washington, D.C. He shared his story in his 2009 memoir, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow. In 2025, Willie was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and today he chairs the First Alaskans Institute Board of Trustees.
FAI congratulates each of this year's honorees. Across generations, regions, and sectors, they have stood up for our peoples, our lands, and our ways of life, and our communities are stronger for it. Their work reminds us that every Alaskan has a part to play in lifting up the Native peoples of this place. Enaa baasee’ (thank you) to the honorees' families and communities, who have supported them every step of the way. This year's honorees join a long line of leaders and friends recognized at the Smokehouse Gala. You can find the full list of past awardees and tributes on our website.
EVENT DETAILS
What: 15th Annual Howard Rock & Ted Stevens Smokehouse Gala
When: Saturday, November 21, 2026
Where: Marriott Anchorage Downtown
Tickets, tables, and sponsorship: e.givesmart.com/events/PwQ/
