John Oppenheimer, CEO, Columbia Hospitality
As founder and CEO of Seattle-based Columbia Hospitality, John Oppenheimer has built a business that operates 28 hotels and conference centers, employs more than 1,000 people and has a strong reputation for providing exceptional service.
FIRST JOB: In Boise, Idaho, where I grew up, they didn’t have skycaps. I thought it would be a neat thing to do, so in the summer between eighth and ninth grade I went to the airport terminal with a friend and asked if they would hire us. They wouldn’t pay us, but they gave us uniforms. You were only tipped if you were gracious and nice and fast. That’s when I realized I loved hospitality.
MARRIAGE: My wife [Deanna Oppenheimer, CEO of UK and Western Europe retail banking for Barclays] and I both grew up in Idaho. Our dads were good friends, so we always knew each other. She always ignored me, but we both ended up at the University of Puget Sound. It took me seven years to persuade her to marry me. We’ve been married for 28 years.
HOSPITALITY: After college, I worked in Washington, D.C., for a company that planned events like town hall meetings for congressmen and senators. My wife and I wanted to live in the Northwest, so we moved to Seattle and started a company that organized corporate events. When the Port of Seattle was thinking of building the Bell Harbor Conference Center, they asked us for advice. When they completed it, we submitted a proposal to operate the center even though we had no experience. We said, “Nobody knows the customer like we do.” They chose us partly because we were local and they liked that we were entrepreneurial. That’s when I formed Columbia Hospitality [in 1995].
THE CONFERENCE CENTER: We can do almost anything with any budget, whether it’s lobster and caviar or pasta and sandwiches, and make it an incredible experience. We are also decisive and quick. I’m an event planner and I know people want quick decisions. Hopefully, we get back to people faster than other venues. The conference center was intended to be subsidized, but it never was. We have had enough revenues every year. We got all our other business by reputation and word of mouth. Today we manage [a total of] 28 properties in Washington, California and Montana.
OPERATIONS: We are not trying to be Marriott. We don’t want people to
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