The 2017 Executive Excellence Awards: Budd Gould

Staying close to home has worked pretty well for Budd Gould, who founded his first restaurant in Bellevue in 1969. That steak and lobster house, The Fox, isnt around anymore, but his third restaurant, Anthonys Home Port in Kirkland, has grown into a popular seafood destination with 29 locations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Its spiritual, not just physical, closeness to home that distinguishes Gould, a Queen Anne High School graduate. Returning from earning an M.B.A. at Harvard, Gould wanted to raise his own family in Seattle and enjoy the fishing, clamming and hunting of his youth. What the restaurant industry gives you, he says, is a platform to be involved in your local community. Its an approach Gould maintained as he has opened restaurants in new cities. In Anacortes, the company partnered with the local Rotary Club to raise money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Skagit County. In Everett, Anthonys has been the longtime host of an annual event to raise money for the citys hospitals. The Spokane restaurant partners with Gonzaga University for area outreach. Helping to fuel the chains growth is a wholesale seafood company Gould founded in 1984 to assure his restaurants a supply of quality ingredients through direct relationships with the fishing industry. Gould has shown his gratitude for 28 years by hosting an annual dinner benefiting the Seattle Fishermens Memorial, which supports children of families who have lost a loved one at sea. These days, Gould says he is kind of on the back nine right now while two of his four offspring help run the company. And hes bullish about the future. Its just fabulous to have your children working in the business and be excited about carrying on the vision and mission, he says.