About Us
Yukon Construction Consulting is an Alaska Native-owned project advisory and owner’s representation firm supporting complex capital projects in Alaska and beyond.
Founded by Donald Richardson, who was raised in Anvik, YCC brings practical project leadership shaped by firsthand familiarity with remote communities, seasonal logistics, operating constraints, and the importance of infrastructure that performs over the long term.
YCC works alongside owners, designers, contractors, specialty consultants, and internal teams to help projects move forward with clear priorities, disciplined decision-making, and accountability. We help clients connect the work across planning, procurement, construction, and closeout so that scope, cost, schedule, risk, and operational needs stay aligned.
Our purpose is straightforward: to help owners make sound capital decisions and deliver projects that create lasting value for the organizations and communities they serve.
Why YCC
An Owner’s Perspective Across the Whole Project
Capital projects rely on the expertise of many capable people. Designers develop the technical solution. Contractors plan and build the work. Specialty consultants provide focused expertise. Operators, regulators, stakeholders, and internal teams each bring an important perspective.
The owner is responsible for making sure those individual contributions lead to one coherent outcome.
YCC provides senior project leadership centered on the owner’s objectives, investment, operating needs, and long-term interests. We help owners see how decisions in one area may affect the broader project, including scope, cost, schedule, procurement, construction risk, operations, and future asset value.
Our role is collaborative. YCC works with the broader project team to clarify priorities, identify issues early, organize decisions, and maintain accountability as the work moves from planning through delivery.
For some clients, that means serving as an extension of an internal project team. For others, it means providing focused advisory support at key decision points. In either case, YCC brings a practical owner-side perspective that helps clients move forward with confidence.
YCC is particularly well suited to projects involving remote logistics, active operations, multiple stakeholders, accelerated schedules, complex procurement, or significant visibility to executives and boards.
Our Team
YCC combines principal-led owner representation with specialized technical and field expertise tailored to the needs of each assignment.
Donald Richardson
Principal & Owner
Donald Richardson is the founder and principal of Yukon Construction Consulting. He is a licensed professional engineer, project management professional, and certified construction manager who helps owners navigate complex capital projects from early planning through construction and closeout.
Raised in Anvik, Alaska, Donald developed an early appreciation for the importance of reliable infrastructure, sound decision-making, and long-term stewardship in rural communities. That perspective continues to shape his work with Alaska Native organizations, public owners, private clients, and project teams throughout the state.
Donald’s experience spans infrastructure, facilities, aviation, rural Alaska, and federal environments. His work includes project strategy, delivery planning, design and construction coordination, estimating, procurement, contract administration, project controls, change management, permitting, stakeholder coordination, and operational turnover.
Through YCC, Donald serves as a trusted extension of the owner’s team. He helps clients define priorities, evaluate delivery options, manage risk, coordinate consultants and contractors, and keep decisions aligned with the broader goals of the investment.
Donald holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Arctic Engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Alaska Pacific University. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in Alaska and Washington.
Dustin Smith
Technical Advisor | Tank Integrity & Corrosion
Dustin Smith is a licensed mechanical engineer and corrosion expert with more than two decades of hands-on Alaska experience in integrity management, storage-tank inspection, cathodic protection, protective coatings, piping systems, and field engineering support.
Raised in Kotzebue, Dustin understands the importance of infrastructure that can be inspected, maintained, and relied upon in demanding Alaska conditions. His career has focused on helping owners evaluate asset condition, understand corrosion-related risk, and make informed decisions about inspection, repair, and reliability.
Dustin supports YCC on selected assignments involving fuel storage, tank and piping condition, corrosion risk, inspection planning, repair scoping, coatings, cathodic protection, and asset-management planning. His work has included crude, diesel, jet-fuel, potable-water, and ballast-water storage tanks, along with pipelines, marine structures, and remote facilities.
His experience includes tank condition assessments, non-destructive testing coordination, remaining-life evaluations, settlement analysis, cathodic-protection design and commissioning, coating evaluations, repair recommendations, construction support, and closeout documentation.
Dustin is an API 653-certified tank inspector and API 570-certified piping inspector. He also holds advanced cathodic-protection and coating-inspection credentials through AMPP/NACE. His role with YCC adds specialized technical depth where owners need defensible information to prioritize repairs and plan future capital needs.
Brian O’Dowd
Technical Advisor | Infrastructure Delivery & Heavy Civil
Brian O’Dowd is a licensed civil engineer and infrastructure leader with nearly two decades of experience delivering capital programs, construction projects, and mission-critical infrastructure throughout Alaska.
His background spans transportation, rail, marine, airport, highway, pipeline, energy, and industrial projects. Brian has worked as an owner’s representative, consultant, contractor, project manager, construction manager, and infrastructure executive, giving him a practical perspective on how projects move from early planning and procurement through construction and long-term operation.
Brian supports YCC on selected assignments involving heavy civil construction, transportation and marine infrastructure, capital planning, procurement strategy, delivery-method evaluation, contractor coordination, project controls, risk management, permitting, and construction execution.
His experience includes leading multidisciplinary capital programs exceeding $100 million, developing procurement and construction documents, managing contractors and consultants, coordinating with regulators and operators, resolving project issues, and supporting executive-level capital planning.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage and is licensed as a Professional Engineer in Alaska, Washington, and Indiana. Through YCC, he provides experienced infrastructure judgment for owners navigating complex civil, transportation, marine, and industrial work.
Gary Richardson
Senior Advisor | Rural Construction & Field Delivery
Gary Richardson is the owner of Richardson Quality Construction and brings more than four decades of hands-on construction experience across rural Alaska. His work has included homes, clinics, tribal facilities, community buildings, stores, utility-related infrastructure, and other essential projects serving Alaska communities.
Gary’s experience is grounded in complete field delivery. He has built projects from initial site preparation, clearing, and grubbing through foundations, structural construction, building systems, finishes, utilities, and final turnover of functioning facilities. That firsthand experience gives him a practical understanding of what it takes to turn plans and materials into durable buildings in rural Alaska.
Throughout his career, Gary has worked in environments where weather, freight, seasonal access, workforce availability, material lead times, and limited local resources directly affect construction planning and execution. He understands the importance of sequencing work correctly, making sound field decisions, and selecting systems and methods that can be maintained over time.
Gary is credentialed in Alaska for residential general contracting and septic-system installation, bringing direct experience in rural building construction, onsite utilities, constructability, and field delivery. His perspective is particularly valuable on projects where site conditions, logistics, and contractor performance can affect cost, schedule, quality, and future operations.
As an independent senior advisor to Yukon Construction Consulting, Gary supports selected assignments involving rural constructability, site development, construction sequencing, contractor performance, building systems, and practical delivery planning. He remains the independent owner of Richardson Quality Construction.
Our Approach
Owner-Focused
We start with the owner’s business case, operating needs, risk tolerance, and intended outcome. We help keep decisions tied to the long-term value of the asset.
Integrated
We work collaboratively across design, construction, operations, and stakeholder groups, identifying issues early and moving decisions forward with clear accountability.
Practical
YCC brings hands-on delivery experience across planning, estimating, procurement, contracts, project controls, construction coordination, change management, closeout, and operational turnover.
Scalable
YCC provides direct principal-level involvement and brings in trusted technical advisors when specialized expertise will strengthen an owner’s decision-making or reduce delivery risk.