SB Profiles
Executive Q+A: Seattle Mayor Ed Murray
He wants the city's strong-mayor system to have a more robust organizational structure.
Under Ed Murray, Seattle has become recognized nationally for promoting progressive policies like the $15 minimum wage, but he also sees the need for more centralization in the mayors office to implement better controls over the citys large bureaucracy. EARLY YEARS: My father was a logger. Two of my uncles died in logging accidents. Later,…
Executive Q+A: Cougar Goals
The dean of WSUs Carson College of Business is intent on creating new undergraduate opportunities.
Larry W. Chip Hunter, a scholar of human resource management and industrial relations, became dean of Washington State Universitys Carson College of Business in March 2015. He aims to make Carson College the premier place in the Northwest for an undergraduate business education. EARLY YEARS: I was born in Kansas, lived in Minnesota during grade…
Off the Clock Profile #2: Karl Bischoff
Chairman & COO, Phinney Bischoff
EDITORS NOTE: This is one in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives off the clock. EXECUTIVE’S NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Karl Bischoff, Chairman & COO, Phinney Bischoff, Seattle. TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.For over 30 years, weve created innovative solutions for both global and local…
Executive Q+A: A-P Hurds Urban Expression
Touchstone president leads it through a delicate transition and toward national recognition.
Two years ago, when Urban Renaissance Group acquired Seattles Touchstone Corporation in a billion-dollar deal, Touchstones founders began transitioning out of the firm and installed A-P Hurd as president and chief development officer. Getting through the sale of Touchstone was a huge technical and emotional challenge for everyone on the team, says Hurd, who joined…
Community Impact Awards to Honor Harriet Bullitt
Celebrating a lifetime of giving back to the arts and the environment.
Philanthropist Harriet Bullitt will receive the Lifetime Achievement honor at this year’s Community Impact Awards presented by Seattle Business magazine on October 26 at the Museum of History & Industry. A longtime supporter of the arts and environmental conservation in the Pacific Northwest, Bullitt has created a legacy of achievements throughout the state of Washington….
Off the Clock Profile #1: Joe Fugere
Founder and CEO, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives “off the clock.” EXECUTIVE’S NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Joe Fugere, founder & CEO, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.Tutta Bella takes great pride in enriching neighborhoods and nourishing lives…
Executive Q+A with Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader
His European upbringing helps to inform his American approach.
Mark Mader developed a passion for technology by observing how businesses make choices based on many variables. In nearly 11 years at Smartsheet, Mader has directed that passion toward making the ubiquitous spreadsheet less of a loathsome tool and more of a friendly facilitator via work collaboration software. The idea, Mader says, is to address…
Architects on the Leading Edge
Some are trying to give Seattle an exciting, distinctive flavor.
A close-up of one of the three Amazon “biospheres” in downtown Seattle. Image Credit: Alexander Crook. Seattle attracts talented architects, even more so as the region continues to enjoy an unprecedented construction boom. Yet its rare to come across the distinctive new development that is not only visually stunning but also manages to add something…
Executive Q+A with Benson Porter
As BECU approaches some significant milestones, the credit union's CEO keeps his eye on a community-centered mission.
BECU, formerly the Boeing Employees Credit Union, was founded in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression. As CEO Benson Porter tells it, Boeing was still hiring at the time but workers were expected to provide their own tools. Scraping together enough money for new or replacement tools was difficult, Porter says, and most…
Executive Q&A with Gus Simonds: Building Resilience
The president and CEO of MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions likes adventure. His background in selling (and sailing) has helped him steer a confident course.
Gus Simonds and his management team took the helm at MacDonald-Miller in 2006. The Great Recession hit two years later. By focusing on services and increasingly complex projects, the mechanical contractor survived, then thrived, doubling business since 2012. The company now has 1,000 employees and boasts $260 million in annual revenue. EARLY YEARS: I grew…
The Outsiders Perspective at Bartell Drugs
Brian Unmacht, the first non-Bartell to run Bartell Drugs, knows his mission is to keep the family-owned business relevant in the face of stiff competition.
Brian Unmacht spent six years working at his fathers drugstore company and, after college, 27 years at REI, before becoming only the fourth CEO in Bartell Drugs 126-year history. Now hes intent on using local partnerships to make Bartell a strong competitor to the national drugstore chains. FAMILY: My father had been an executive at…
Three Investors Who Believe in the Innovative Capabilities of Local Entrepreneurs
Meet Matt McIlwain, Nick Hanauer and Dan Levitan.
As much as wed like to think otherwise, Seattle is not yet a hotbed of venture capital activity. Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff said as much in an interview earlier this year with The Seattle Times. While discussing the healthy state of the regions tech business, Rascoff observed, From a technology landscape standpoint, Im pleased with…
Executive Q&A: The Brand Manager
Rob Harris, founder and CEO of Pacific Market International.
The founder and CEO of Pacific Market International has transformed PMI from a trading company into a product development and manufacturing business with more than 150 corporate employees in offices around the globe. Rob Harris has always been entrepreneurial. In grade school, he set up a retail store in his parents garage. In high school,…