Talking Points: Rogers Weed

Rogers Weed, a Wharton MBA and former Microsoft vice president, was doing volunteer work for the nonprofit Climate Solutions when the governor appointed him director of the state Commerce Department (formerly the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development) with a mandate to maintain a “laser focus” on keeping jobs in the state.

On Moving to the Public Sector: In business school, there was a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of having an industrial policy. I found that fascinating. … Climate change is an area in which, if we get the policy right, the private sector can do a huge amount of the work for us.

On the Role of the Department of Commerce: I want to tighten the relationship between business and Olympia. My agency will be the place where policy makers go to understand how a policy is going to impact the business climate in the state. I want … to have a more coherent approach, either to maximize advantages we already have or minimize disadvantages.

On Taxes: Businesses pay over half of the taxes in this state, which is pretty unusual. Our B&O tax drives a significant percentage of our tax revenues. That tax is on revenue, not on profits. That hurts small companies because they often don’t have any profit, but are still paying taxes on their revenues. By contrast, if you are a big company like Boeing or Microsoft, you might prefer a small margin on your top line [revenues].

On the Business of Washington: The state’s economy is like a giant company that has lines of business. [The state] has an agricultural sector, an aerospace sector, an IT sector, a biosciences sector. It’s a portfolio of sectors in different stages of their life cycles. Each may have different needs in terms of policies or support from the state to thrive. I also want to look at things geographically because the needs of northeast Washington may be different from the Puget Sound.

On Future Policy: [I want] to develop a menu of things that would all be valuable to push forward and then talk to my various constituents [legislators, business] about where their interests lie and see where I can build consensus. There could be tax policy, infrastructure investment, higher education, workforce training, streamlining regulatory paper work.

On Energy and Boeing, the State’s Top Priorities: In energy, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attract federal investment to our state’s economy. What I am trying to do is get a very flexible investment fund that I can invest depending on the quality of the business plan purely based on the leverage that those funds could get from private capital. On Boeing, my approach is to start a dialogue with the unions, Boeing and the business community. Two hundred thousand direct and indirect jobs depend on Boeing and [the company] has a set of pretty important decisions coming up [on new production].

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