Leslie Helm
Executive Q+A: PitchBook CEO John Gabbert
If this is the golden age of data mining, John Gabbert has PitchBook well positioned.
Since John Gabbert created PitchBook Data in 2007, the company’s database has become indispensable to venture capitalists, equity investors and a broadening base of customers that includes consultants and salespeople. EARLY DAYS: I grew up in a small town near the Bay Area but my family later moved to Redmond. I worked my way through…
Executive Q+A with Gene Duvernoy
Forterra president is intent on preserving what matters most.
Founded in 1989 as the Cascade Land Conservancy, Gene Duvernoys conservation and stewardship organization known as Forterra, now boasting a staff of 50, has managed more than 400 transactions on $500 million worth of real estate to conserve more than 250,000 acres of land. YOUTH: I grew up in New York. My father had a…
Editors Note: Home, Sweet Home?
Now isnt the time to emulate Berkeleys housing policies.
On a recent visit to Berkeley, where I attended the University of California in the late 1970s, I was struck by how little the city had changed. The neighborhoods are still lined with century-old houses. Still visible in the occasional garden amid a profusion of wild roses and sweet-smelling jasmine and wisteria are funky sculptures…
Editors Note: Toward Smart Urban Design
As Seattle grows more dense, its imperative that we do so intelligently.
During World War II, when accommodations were scarce, the house where Ive lived for the past 28 years was a flophouse for more than a dozen railroad workers. Beds were lined up six to a room. In the 60s and 70s, the house was home to a family with four daughters. My wife and I…
Executive Q+A: The Navigator
John Wolfe steers the Northwest Seaport Alliance through a challenging time for marine cargo handling.
Since taking over in 2015 as CEO of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which administers the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, CEO John Wolfe has navigated stormy seas while simultaneously improving the operations of the fourth-largest container gateway in North America. EARLY YEARS: I was raised in Tacoma and Puyallup. Dad was in the Air Force,…
Editors Note: Playing the Trump Card
Beware the pitfalls of an America First approach to trade.
With multinationals like nike capable of moving production from one cheap source to another shifting production from Japan to China and now to Vietnam and with uber-efficient importers like Costco, Walmart and Amazon bringing goods straight from factory to consumer, the United States has become the bargain basement of the world. Meanwhile, U.S. exporters often…
Executive Q+A: Boosting Biotech
Leslie Alexandres mission at Life Science Washington is truly a matter of life and death.
Leslie Alexandre, whose leadership of the state-funded North Carolina Biotechnology Center helped strengthen that states life sciences sector, hopes to revitalize Washingtons biotech sector as CEO and president of Life Science Washington, an industry trade organization formerly known as the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. Alexandre, a 30-year veteran of the life science and health…
Editor’s Note: Beware the Fire Dog
What the Chinese zodiac suggests about our new leader.
The end of January marks the Chinese New Year as well as the elevation of a volatile, capricious new leader to the highest office on the planet. Had we been more attuned to the finer points of Chinese astrology, we would have predicted the election-year peculiarities that produced this result. According to the Chinese zodiac,…
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,…
Editor’s Note: A Reason for Optimism
Donald Trump notwithstanding, 2017 in Seattle may be brighter than anticipated.
Its easy to be pessimistic about the outlook for 2017. After 90 months of growth, the economic expansion is aging and may not have much life left. Interest rates, which have fallen pretty steadily over the past 35 years, seem headed up again. If they reach anywhere near their 100-year average of 5 percent, that…
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…
Editor’s Note: Rule Weary in Seattle
City regulations may be well meaning, but small businesses are feeling put upon.
David Lee founded FareStart in Seattle to train chefs because he believed the homeless would benefit from the dignity of preparing food as a vocation. He launched Field Roast, a producer of vegan meats, because he considers the mass industrialization of animals as a blight on our culture. He has nurtured a caring culture at…
On Reflection: Corporate Game Changer
Gamification software from a UW startup makes biz-school case studies more authentic.
Imagine youre the CEO of an airline in crisis. Customers and shareholders are unhappy. Your employees have just gone on strike. What do you do? Give in to union demands? Hold your ground and negotiate? Fire all the employees? Its the first of a cascading set of decisions you must make in The Signature Case…
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