Family Business Awards 2013: Small Firms

WINNER: Evergreen Beauty College

Everett/Bellevue/Renton | 35 employees | evergreenbeauty.edu

Back when Vietnamese immigrant Thi Trieu and her husband, Hoa, settled in the Seattle area and opened their first beauty salon, they made ends meet by cleaning restaurants and schools at night. One of them was a beauty college in Lynnwood. Years later, in 1996, after their salon had prospered and they had opened a second, Thi went back to school to become an instructor. The owners of the beauty school made her an offer. And so she became owner of the beauty school she and her husband used to clean.

Today, Evergreen Beauty College operates three cosmetology schools in the greater Seattle area, training 200 to 300 students at a time in the fine art of cutting and curling, styling and coloring, facials, nail care and, just as important, the business of running a salon. We have a real entrepreneurial spirit at the school and that is what we try to encourage among our students, says CEO Frank Trieu, who has run the school with siblings Theresa and Joe since the death of their father in 2007.

When they were kids, Frank says none of the five Trieu children contemplated joining the family business. They had their own careers. But when their father took ill, Frank says they recognized they had the opportunity to create something larger than they could on their own. Under their management, Evergreen added campuses in Bellevue and Renton. Last year, sales totaled $4.3 million. Sometimes, you dont pick the industry, Frank Trieu says. The industry picks you.

SILVER: Threshold Group

Gig Harbor | 22 employees | thresholdgroup.com

When the Russell family of Russell Investments sold its global asset management firm to Northwestern Mutual in 1998, the family retained access to the companys research to manage its own funds. That privilege blossomed into a business catering to high-net-worth individuals and family foundations with a minimum account size of $10 million. Together, the Threshold Groups 50 customers have $3 billion in assets to manage and they have particular needs. Think of it as if youre going to buy a suit, says President Ed Lazar. You can pick something off the rack at JCPenney, or you can go to a tailor and have a custom suit made. And the average size of the client we work with they dont buy their suits off the rack.

SILVER: Canopy Tours Northwest

Camano Island | 40 employees | canopytoursnw.com

The Kristoferson family, owner since 1912 of a farm on Camano Island, faced a financial challenge in 2009: How could it continue to maintain the roads, fences, a historic barn and a thriving forest on a 231-acre spread? Its organic hay and lavender werent enough. The familys unusual solution was a zipline tour, a thrill ride of cables and pulleys and snap-on harnesses. Some 13,000 zipliners paying $95 per tour for adults, $65 for children have soared since the tour opened in 2011, turning the farm into a tourist attraction featuring six ziplines, two short trail walks, a log bridge and a 47-foot rappel. From wedding proposals to bucket-list wishes, the family has seen it all at Canopy Tours Northwest. I have just been astounded at all of the sorts of life events that have been shared with us on the tour, marvels Marketing Director Mona Kristoferson Campbell.