National Siblings Day: Brother Bonds

In honor of National Siblings Day, here is a highlight on two AHFC employees from the Planning and Accounting departments - brothers Andy and David.

For Andy and David, careers at Alaska Housing Finance Corporation have offered a variety of benefits: the chance to learn new skills, work-life balance and the opportunity to work alongside family.

The brothers grew up in a small town in southwest Montana and were always active outdoors. Their parents worked for the Forest Service and as a family they used to identify trees while out on hikes. When Andy’s army career brought him to Fairbanks, he found that Alaska offered him the outdoor lifestyle he was looking for.

“I like climbing mountains and sliding back down them,” Andy said.

While he was only stationed in Fairbanks for three years, Andy’s experiences in the mountains around Anchorage and Valdez made an impression on him. When he left the military, he decided to make Alaska his home.

An Introduction to Alaska Housing

Andy worked in property management in Anchorage and learned about Alaska Housing for the first time through housing voucher programs. When he heard that AHFC’s Planning department was hiring, he saw an opportunity to apply the skills he had developed while in the military.

“I had been a planner in the army and while the projects are different, I saw that my skills could carry over: project organization and manipulating moving pieces, basically making things happen. But I didn’t know anything about housing development and the federal funds that make it possible.”

Preparing for his interview and a new role, Andy realized he needed a crash course in the vocabulary behind taxes, audits and housing underwriting. He turned to a trusted industry expert – his brother David.

Looking for Balance

David was in a doctoral program in accounting in Washington state and worked 65+ hours a week as an auditor. He said he was burning out and needed a change in his life. 

“I called Andy in 2017 and asked, ‘If I moved to Alaska, could I stay with you?’  When Andy said yes, I put everything in my car and got on a ferry,” David said.

“When I started looking for a job, I told Andy that I wanted to work 40 hours a week. I needed to have some work-life balance again. He kept an eye out for accounting and audit jobs for me and told me that AHFC was hiring.”

By then, Andy had settled into his role in AHFC’s Planning department and knew that a position at AHFC could give his brother the work-life balance he needed.

David accepted a position in the Accounting department, joining Andy at AHFC’s Anchorage headquarters. The brothers said they avoid ‘shop talk’ and rarely cross paths in the office but know they can turn to each other when needed.

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“If I have a problem I’m trying to work through, I know David will answer the phone. I can pick his brain to understand the accounting world or how a particular budget was built.”

- Andy, Housing Development Manager, Alaska Housing

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As for David, he said he has primarily worked with bond issuances but he is starting to learn more about the housing and property development side of AHFC’s work – including a program Andy runs.

While David and Andy say that they continue to learn in their roles every day, part of the appeal of a career at Alaska Housing has been the work-life balance.

“I can have outside interests again,” David said, remembering his previous work in Washington.

David says he enjoys cycling on the Anchorage trail system after work and is getting into mountain biking, an interest he shares with Andy.

When asked if they were ever competitive, the brothers said they probably used to compete against each other as kids, but then veered in different directions and pursued their own interests, with sometimes overlapping paths. Today, their competitiveness only comes out during game nights.

“David wins at all the games though,” Andy said.

“That’s because I’ll only play the games I’m good at,” David replied.

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Interested in a career at Alaska Housing? We are hiring for positions across the state! View career opportunities.