SB Profiles
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,…
![Have no Fear [and Other Helpful Suggestions from Successful Women]](https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai2/q_lossy+ret_img+to_webp/seattlebusinessmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/women_0616-web.jpg "Have no Fear [and Other Helpful Suggestions from Successful Women]")
Have no Fear [and Other Helpful Suggestions from Successful Women]
How these enterprising women defied the odds and achieved success.
Adriane Brown is comfortable being uncomfortable. Roxie Schescke gains more by letting go. Megan Meade doesnt believe asking for help is a shortcoming. These women have used those life lessons in their trajectories to the top of a competitive business world in which women have been characterized as being everywhere and nowhere. Its a male-dominated…
Executive Q+A: Concur President Elena Donio
Shepherding the Bellevue company from independent enterprise to corporate subsidiary while keeping an eye on growth.
Elena Donio became a Concur employee in 1998 when it acquired the company she was working for at the time. She became president of the Bellevue-based provider of travel-and-expense management solutions in 2014 when Concur was acquired by the multinational software firm, SAP. Since that acquisition, Donio has guided Concurs integration into SAP while maintaining…
Style: Tattoo Artist Is Drawn to Business
If Shannon Perry inks you, rest assured that your tattoo is an original.
Becoming a tattoo artist was an improbable choice for Shannon Perry, the owner of Valentines Tattoo Co. (valentinestattoo.com) on Capitol Hill. The funny thing is that I have a needle phobia, Perry says. Still to this day, if a doctor draws blood, I feel like Im going to pass out. Fortunately, she draws a distinction…
Ted Fick Is Making the Port of Seattle More Businesslike
The CEO is getting results in his bid to create more transparency.
Last summer, Norwegian Cruise Lines approached the Port of Seattle with a plan. The company wanted to expand its Alaska cruise business by using much larger ships and wanted the port to upgrade Pier 66 so the 5,500 people on board each ship and all their luggage could be quickly loaded and unloaded. The port…
Executive Q&A: Seller in Chief
Former Governor Christine Gregoire takes on new responsibilities as CEO of Challenge Seattle.
Since ending her term as governor of Washington in 2013, Christine Gregoire has lived a somewhat less public life taking care of grandchildren, chairing the 2015 advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and serving on the boards of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the William D. Ruckelshaus Center. She…
Executive Q&A: Concur President Elena Donio
Elena Donio became a Concur employee in 1998 when it acquired the company she was working for at the time. She became president of the Bellevue-based provider of travel-and-expense management solutions in 2014 when Concur was acquired by the multinational software firm, SAP. Since that acquisition, Donio has guided Concurs integration into SAP while maintaining…
Ted Fick Is Making the Port of Seattle More Transparent and Businesslike
Last summer, Norwegian Cruise Lines approached the Port of Seattle with a plan. The company wanted to expand its Alaska cruise business by using much larger ships and wanted the port to upgrade Pier 66 so the 5,500 people on board each ship and all their luggage could be quickly loaded and unloaded. The port…
Executive Q&A: Seller in Chief
Since ending her term as governor of Washington in 2013, Christine Gregoire has lived a somewhat less public life taking care of grandchildren, chairing the 2015 advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and serving on the boards of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the William D. Ruckelshaus Center. She…