The City of Unalaska has a new finance controller and treasurer, who’s coming to town from Chicago. Mapke Kenyi — but you can just call him Kenyi — is a former telecommunications engineer who started in finance with the Cook County government. Kenyi likes to DJ and hike in places that remind him of his hometown in Uganda. He said Unalaska is one of those places.
In this episode of “Island Interviews,” KUCB’s Andy Lusk sat down with Kenyi to hear more about what brought him to the Aleutians.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Mapke Kenyi: I'm the new finance controller, slash treasurer, but mostly right now performing the duties of finance controller.
Andy Lusk: I’m not 100% sure what that means. Can you walk me through the job description?
Kenyi: The responsibility of finance controller with the City of Unalaska is to manage the financial functions of the city, including receivables, revenue analysis — mostly the finances and also the accounting part of it. We pay the bills of the city. We receive anything to do with finances for the City of Unalaska.
Lusk: You're coming to us from Chicago. Do I have that right?
Kenyi: Yes, I'm from Chicago, Illinois.
Lusk: This is a little different, right?
Kenyi: Yeah, it is. It's a small town compared to Chicago, which is a big city, busy. There are different driving speeds here [compared to] Chicago.
Lusk: Yeah, 30 miles an hour. That’s what it tops out at, so everyone who moves here needs to get used to taking their foot off the gas a little bit.
What's your first impression of the city itself?
Kenyi: I like it — I grew up in a small city. I'm from Uganda around the River Nile, so the landscape is more or less like Unalaska. I grew up in a small city around the river bank, so this reminds me of my childhood up to, maybe, my teenage years before I moved to the city. Couple that with moving out of the country to the U.K., and then coming to the United States and living in Chicago.
Lusk: How did you get into the financial world?
Kenyi: My background is in engineering. I did telecommunications engineering, I did work for Motorola. My first trip to the United States was through Motorola, around 2000 when a lot of things were changing. New cell phones were coming in and I was more qualified to work with the walkie-talkie telecommunications system.
My friends and I were talking, and I asked if I should go and do my masters in telecommunications and learn new things, because now computers and cell phones are coming in. At that point, we had a discussion, and I'm like, ‘You know what? Why don't I change my profession and go into the business world?’
That's when I started my associate degree in accounting and progressed to doing my bachelor's in accounting and arts, and then doing my master’s of accounting and financial management, and then my MBA, master’s of business administration, with a specialization in financial analysis.
Then I started working with the Cook County government. From Cook County, I went and worked as a fiscal controller, which is also a finance controller, with the State of Indiana.
When this opportunity came in, I looked at it — having been here before in 2016. I had a cousin who lived here and I came to visit him. That was around June, coming into July, and the weather was nice. I liked it. I have a young family, so I said, ‘You know what? This will be a place where I can go, stay and raise my family.’
Lusk: That's beautiful. I didn't know that you had been here before. How long were you here?
Kenyi: In 2016, about two weeks. My cousin was working here. During that season, unfortunately he lost his mom, and I came to give him that support and visit the place where he works, because he comes and works for some months, and then comes back to Chicago and lives with us. So I also thought that would be an opportunity for me to come and see where he works and where he lives. Plus, giving him that family support for the loss of my for the loss of my auntie, who happened to be his mom.
Lusk: I'm sorry for your family's loss. It's interesting that this place brings people together. What does your family think [of it]?
Kenyi: My son hasn't been here. His mom came and saw the weather, the rain, the wind, the sunny part of it. Initially it was a little hard. You know, when you mention Alaska — Unalaska, Alaska, of all places — leaving my family and friends! But she likes it, and she's like, ‘You know what? If we can move there to raise our family, then it's the place we can be.’ I mean, in Chicago the weather also can get real brutal. So if we lived in Chicago, I think we can manage living here.
Lusk: We can call this the ‘Windier City.’
Kenyi: Yes, the Windier City. I like that. Like yesterday morning was windy.
Lusk: The fun thing is that no matter what day this interview airs, that's probably going to be true — it was windy yesterday.
I want to talk about the new job that you've taken as well. We talked about the description of it and some of the duties. I want to talk about some of the projects that you're going to be working on. Obviously, Unalaska has a lot in the works right now: still talks of doing geothermal, the Trident plant that's going to be at the end of Captains Bay, a lot of paving projects, a lot of environmental remediation projects. What strikes you as the most interesting right now, and what are you most excited to work on?
Kenyi: This my second week right now, and the person I'm going to be working with just came back this week, so I'm now getting to learn all the different funds, all the different projects that the city is going to be working on, and what is expected out of that.
I'm working with the team leader, and she's showing me a lot of things. I've also been going through a lot of files to see exactly what's coming on. It's going to be a very interesting journey to take. Of course, some will be challenging, but it's part of our job. All I can tell you is I like my team, the people I'm working with right now, and also the people on the city council. Everybody's drinking from the same cup of water.
So far so good, that's what I can tell you. But I look forward to the challenges and all the projects they will work on. Whatever comes our way, we can handle it and do our best to manage the finances of the city.
Lusk: This is one of those places where any direction you look, there's something that you can learn about so in-depth. You could basically get a doctorate in whatever you look at in terms of fisheries management, geology or ecology. What do you want to learn the most?
Kenyi: I like fishing, and I've got some offers from people who say, ‘You know what? You can always ride with me.’ I want to learn the different kinds of fish — of course, that's also a revenue generating activity for the city, so I’d like to learn that. Also hiking around. Like I mentioned, I grew up in this kind of environment — that was when I was young. Now I'm not that young, but I'll look into going out there and seeing nature. I like that, but fishing will be first on the agenda on a personal level.
Lusk: With all of that being said, is there anything else that you want our listeners to know about you, or anything that we haven't gotten into yet?
Kenyi: All I can say is I'm here and I like my neighbors, I like my workmates. I like the people.
I remember the first day I came here, when I came for my interview in January, we met you on the way. The city manager stopped and said, ‘Oh, that's Andy.’ And we said hello. You don't get that a lot in Chicago. I like the fact that everybody knows almost everybody, and everybody's there for each other. I look forward to raising my family and living with them here.
