SB Profiles
Coffee with Guppy: Drawing Fire
Cartoonist David Horseys job is to elicit a reaction.
Editorial cartoonist David Horsey spent 30 years at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes for his biting political commentary. He has worked as a cartoonist and columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2012. What is the job of a political cartoonist? Its similar to a columnist or an editorial writer: Observe…
Executive Q+A: PitchBook CEO John Gabbert
If this is the golden age of data mining, John Gabbert has PitchBook well positioned.
Since John Gabbert created PitchBook Data in 2007, the company’s database has become indispensable to venture capitalists, equity investors and a broadening base of customers that includes consultants and salespeople. EARLY DAYS: I grew up in a small town near the Bay Area but my family later moved to Redmond. I worked my way through…
Coffee with Guppy: Rich Komen’s Unlimited Determination
The longtime entrepreneur dishes with Nancy Guppy on restaurants, running a business and hiring the right people.
Restaurateur Rich Komen began his extraordinary career in 1961 by securing the sports concessions contract at the University of Washington. In the ensuing 56 years, Komen opened more than 40 restaurants, founded and sold Restaurants Unlimited (think Cutters, Palomino, Palisade) and, with his crack executive team, created Cinnabon. When did you become interested in the…
Coffee with Guppy: Raising the Bar
A chat with musician/restaurateur Val Kiossovski.
Val Kiossovski co-owns the Solo Bar on Lower Queen Anne and Saint Johns Bar and Eatery on Capitol Hill. Since 2000, he has played lead guitar in the gypsy punk band Kultur Shock, which mixes rock, metal and punk with traditional music of the Balkans. Nancy: Describe your philosophy of running a bar. Val: My…
Coffee with Guppy: Taking Care of Artists
Nancy sits down with gallery owner Gail Gibson.
Gail Gibson owns G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle. Initially specializing in 20th century photography, Gibson has since expanded to include contemporary artists working in a variety of media. After 25 years in Pioneer Square, she relocated to a new space in Lower Queen Anne (104 W Roy St.) last fall. Whats the most important thing…
Executive Q+A with Gene Duvernoy
Forterra president is intent on preserving what matters most.
Founded in 1989 as the Cascade Land Conservancy, Gene Duvernoys conservation and stewardship organization known as Forterra, now boasting a staff of 50, has managed more than 400 transactions on $500 million worth of real estate to conserve more than 250,000 acres of land. YOUTH: I grew up in New York. My father had a…
Executive Q+A: The Navigator
John Wolfe steers the Northwest Seaport Alliance through a challenging time for marine cargo handling.
Since taking over in 2015 as CEO of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which administers the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, CEO John Wolfe has navigated stormy seas while simultaneously improving the operations of the fourth-largest container gateway in North America. EARLY YEARS: I was raised in Tacoma and Puyallup. Dad was in the Air Force,…
Executive Q+A With Harvey Kanter
CEO has put Blue Nile back in the diamond lane.
Harvey Kanter has taken Blue Nile, a struggling online jeweler, and returned it to a growth trajectory. In November, the publicly traded company with 350 employees reached a $500 million agreement to be taken private by an investor group composed of funds managed by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC. EARLY DAYS: Dad…
Off the Clock Profile #4: Wendy Cruz
Cofounder and VP, Double Eagle Annual Reports
EDITORS NOTE: This is one in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives off the clock. EXECUTIVES NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Wendy Cruz, cofounder and VP, Double Eagle Annual Reports LLC TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.I am one of the founders of a compliance management firm…
Coffee with Guppy: Seeking Authenticity with Tom Kundig
A chat with the celebrated Seattle architect.
Tom Kundig is a principal and owner at Olson Kundig, the Seattle architecture firm and design practice founded on the idea that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture and people. Nancy: What does an architect do? Tom: An architect solves problems. We observe whats going on culturally, both historically and currently, and…
Executive Q+A: Boosting Biotech
Leslie Alexandres mission at Life Science Washington is truly a matter of life and death.
Leslie Alexandre, whose leadership of the state-funded North Carolina Biotechnology Center helped strengthen that states life sciences sector, hopes to revitalize Washingtons biotech sector as CEO and president of Life Science Washington, an industry trade organization formerly known as the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. Alexandre, a 30-year veteran of the life science and health…
The 2017 Executive Excellence Awards: Governance Award
Board of Directors, Alaska Air Group
Governing a company is different from running one, notes Alaska Air Group board member Phyllis J. Campbell. An effective board asks the right questions, and one thats diverse makes that possibility more likely. Its sometimes messier, Campbell says of the gender and racial mix of Alaskas board. We dont always agree, by definition. Thats what…
Off the Clock Profile #3: Kevin Marcus
Cofounder and CTO, Versium Analytics
EDITORS NOTE: This is one in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives off the clock. EXECUTIVE’S NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Kevin Marcus, cofounder and CTO, Versium Analytics TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.I started working with data in the early 1990s and discovered that I really…