April 2014
March 21, 2014
Ed Haag
To Pete Stanton, chairman and ceo of Washington Trust Bank, success is all about giving the customer something other banks cant. With customers in Seattle and Bellevue, it offers the same personalized private banking service that has garnered the institution almost a 30 percent share of Spokanes overall banking market. We have been in Spokane…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Drew Atkins
There were plenty of Google Glass competitors at this years Consumer Electronics Show, the annual expo and bellwether of tech trends. But the iOptik system from Bellevue-based Innovega stood out for its ambition. Where Google Glass offers a small digital display in a corner of the users vision, iOptik takes a different tack. Through a…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Sam Becker
Despite the apparent collapse in February of the worlds largest Bitcoin exchange, supporters and defenders of digital currency are hardly ready to cash in their virtual chips. In fact, Bitcoin is having a real-world impact in the Puget Sound region. The University of Puget Sound in Tacoma recently received a donation from alumnus Nicholas Cary,…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Bill Virgin
An already crowded Puget Sound-region retailing sector is about to become even more so.CVS Pharmacy is the largest drugstore chain in the United States when measuring by number of locations, but none of its 7,400 stores are situated in Washington state. That status will change in August when CVS opens a store in Renton. A…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Brangien Davis
Remembered for his declared intent to assassinate established painting methods, and recognized by the playful, primary-colored paintings that resulted, influential Barcelona-born artist Joan Miro believed he could be truly radical by way of sculpture. The Picasso contemporary and compatriot began experimenting with the medium in 1941. It is in sculpture that I will create a…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
John Levesque
When march turns to april, a sports fans thoughts inevitably turn to baseball. In Seattle, thats not necessarily a happy thing. So what can local businesses do to take our minds off another season of Mariners mediocrity? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you I.M. Ondaball, CEO of People Reliving Our Memorable Occasions (PROMO) and executive…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Leslie Helm
Kevin Baldwins background is in health care consulting, but since arriving in Seattle three years ago, he has become heavily involved in the citys civic life, serving on the board of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce as well as the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. EARLY LIFE: I was raised in Oklahoma City by…
- April 2014
March 21, 2014
Jim Rupp
ABC and NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts enjoys telling about her daughters involvement in a Seattle political campaign after working in Chicago politics. She called her mother and said, Mom, you wouldnt believe it out here. Theyre all honest! When former Seattle Police Chief Pat Fitzsimons first came to Seattle from New York for his…
- April 2014
March 19, 2014
Leslie Helm
Starbucks fortunes were fading six years ago when Howard Schultz, who years earlier had stepped away from day-to-day operations, took back the reins as CEO and engineered a dramatic turnaround. Now, Schultz is using the companys global coffee empire as a launching pad to push into a broad range of new product areas, from health…
- April 2014
Commentary
Virgin on Business: After a Fashion
March 21, 2014
Bill Virgin
San Francisco-based game maker Zynga, creator of the once popular social network game FarmVille, recently folded up its Seattle office, laying off dozens of workers and adding to the list of companies whose early bright promise rapidly faded to declining sales and disappointment. All of which goes to show how difficult it is to make…