Tanana Chiefs Conference’s Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation program recently welcomed a new staff member to their team, Sean Rice. Sean was born in Kotzebue on May 15, 1974 to Isabel M. Field, who later became Rice when she married his step-dad Jerry Rice. Sean was born Sean Patrick Field, his Inupiaq name is Ipiiliq, his aanaa (grandmother) is Iren Schene, his taata (grandfather) is James M. Schene.
Sean is a retired laborer out of the Laborers Local 942. He owned his own janitorial company, New Life Hard Surface Cleaning and Restoration, which held the contract for cleaning both of the Fred Meyers here in Fairbanks, and cleaning and repairing the live-in homes for the Fairbanks Resource Agency. Sean also owned S&T, LLC, which was a construction company where they paved residential driveways, repaired and put in sewers and drainage pipes, installed lawns and residential landscaping. He had a contract with Exclusive Paving, NANA Management and Relator companies in Fairbanks. Sean also helps with non-profits like the NAACP, Juneteenth, Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship Committee, Festival Fairbanks, and the Midnight Sun Intertribal Powwow.
Sean is a welcome addition to the Workforce Development Team under Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation. He is located on 5th floor Chief Peter John Tribal Building in the Family Services & Supports Division, west wing. He can be reached by email at sean.rice@tananachiefs.org or by calling 907-452-8251 extension 3329.