SB Profiles
The 2017 Executive Excellence Awards: Ardine Williams
VP of Talent Acquisition, Amazon Web Services
When Ardine Williams was hired to recruit the people who would help build out Amazons Web Services division, she didnt have to think too hard about an underrecognized source for talent. She had struggled herself once, as a former captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps trying to reenter the civilian workforce. In the military,…
The 2017 Executive Excellence Awards: Stein Kruse
CEO, Holland America Group
He may be at the helm, but Stein Kruse feels more like a steward of the 143-year-old cruise ship franchise. Im here on a semi-temporary basis, he says with perspective, aiming to take over something good, make it better and hand it over to somebody else. That modesty belies his lengthy tenure with Holland America…
The 2017 Executive Excellence Awards: Ada M. Healey
Vice president, Vulcan Real Estate
Its not hard to see the impact Ada Healey has had on Seattle in the past 15 years. Just take a stroll down Westlake Avenue or Mercer Street in the heart of South Lake Union. As the director of all real estate investment activities for Paul Allens Vulcan Inc., Healey has helped drive that neighborhoods…
Coffee with Guppy: Cynthia Lair’s Recipe for Living
Nancy Guppy chats with the educator/actor/author.
Nutritionist Cynthia Lair (cynthialair.com) is a faculty member at Bastyr University, an actor and improviser, star of the web series Cookus Interruptus (cookusinterruptus.com) and author of two cookbooks: Feeding the Young Athlete and Feeding the Whole Family, whose fourth edition came out last November. Nancy: The fourth edition of Feeding the Whole Family just came…
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,…
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…
Off the Clock Profile #2: Karl Bischoff
Chairman & COO, Phinney Bischoff
EDITORS NOTE: This is one in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives off the clock. EXECUTIVE’S NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Karl Bischoff, Chairman & COO, Phinney Bischoff, Seattle. TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.For over 30 years, weve created innovative solutions for both global and local…
Executive Q+A: A-P Hurds Urban Expression
Touchstone president leads it through a delicate transition and toward national recognition.
Two years ago, when Urban Renaissance Group acquired Seattles Touchstone Corporation in a billion-dollar deal, Touchstones founders began transitioning out of the firm and installed A-P Hurd as president and chief development officer. Getting through the sale of Touchstone was a huge technical and emotional challenge for everyone on the team, says Hurd, who joined…
Community Impact Awards to Honor Harriet Bullitt
Celebrating a lifetime of giving back to the arts and the environment.
Philanthropist Harriet Bullitt will receive the Lifetime Achievement honor at this year’s Community Impact Awards presented by Seattle Business magazine on October 26 at the Museum of History & Industry. A longtime supporter of the arts and environmental conservation in the Pacific Northwest, Bullitt has created a legacy of achievements throughout the state of Washington….
Off the Clock Profile #1: Joe Fugere
Founder and CEO, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a monthly series of miniprofiles featuring local executives “off the clock.” EXECUTIVE’S NAME, TITLE AND COMPANY NAME.Joe Fugere, founder & CEO, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria TELL US WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BUSINESS.Tutta Bella takes great pride in enriching neighborhoods and nourishing lives…
Executive Q+A with Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader
His European upbringing helps to inform his American approach.
Mark Mader developed a passion for technology by observing how businesses make choices based on many variables. In nearly 11 years at Smartsheet, Mader has directed that passion toward making the ubiquitous spreadsheet less of a loathsome tool and more of a friendly facilitator via work collaboration software. The idea, Mader says, is to address…
Architects on the Leading Edge
Some are trying to give Seattle an exciting, distinctive flavor.
A close-up of one of the three Amazon “biospheres” in downtown Seattle. Image Credit: Alexander Crook. Seattle attracts talented architects, even more so as the region continues to enjoy an unprecedented construction boom. Yet its rare to come across the distinctive new development that is not only visually stunning but also manages to add something…
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…