SB Profiles
Executive Q&A: A Sense of Place
King County Executive runs an enterprise with a $9 billion biennial budget.
Raised in West Seattle, and with degrees in law and urban planning from the University of Washington, King County Executive Dow Constantine is intent on building a county government in which public employees think creatively to find ways to more efficiently take on such tough challenges as transportation, sustainability and early childhood development. EARLY YEARS:…
Executive Q&A: Brett Brinton of Zonar Systems
Brett Brinton studied premed in college, did coursework at Harvard and even cofounded his own company, but his prospects looked grim in 1989 after he turned 26. Thats when B & B Software Engineering, the Southern California business he founded with his brother, William, exploded quite literally. Authorities going through the wreckage learned the two…
Philanthropy: Transplants from South Asia Put a New Spin on Giving.
Indians and other South Asians make up a fast-growing segment of the Puget Sound regions population base. Census figures show the Indian population in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties totaled more than 52,000 in 2010 almost triple what it was a decade earlier. Many of these new arrivals are 30-somethings connected to a tech industry…
Executive Q&A with Michael Schutzler
An engineer, a fan of Roman history and an entrepreneur, Michael Schutzler is intent on making the WTIA a vital force in the regions tech sector. Family: My father was a geographer from Lithuania. He escaped to East Berlin, then over the wall to West Berlin. He worked for West Germanys mapping division, where he…
Executive Q&A: Growing Organically
As the new CEO of the nations largest grocery cooperative founded in 1953 as Puget Consumers Co-op Cate Hardy oversees an enterprise encompassing 10 stores, nearly 1,300 employees and more than $250 million in revenues this year. For the foreseeable future, she plans to add a new PCC Natural Markets store every year to promote…
Executive Q&A: Howard S. Wright III
Howard Wright bears the same name as his great-grandfather, who launched the eponymous construction company responsible for building such regional landmarks as the Grand Coulee Dam and Columbia Tower. He is a partner in multiple family businesses that own and operate such diverse assets as Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Seattle Space Needle and the…
Executive Q&A: Mike Metzger
Last year, the private equity firm Warburg Pincus recapitalized PayScale with a majority investment of up to $100 million. With that infusion, CEO Mike Metzger now sees PayScale poised to have an even greater impact in helping companies make transparent, well-informed salary decisions for millions of employees around the world. YOUTH: I grew up in…
Executive Q&A: Mark Anderson’s Predictable Behavior
During the past 20 years from his home on San Juan Island, Mark Anderson, founder and CEO of Strategic News Service, has built up a newsletter that is as respected for its high-octane subscribers they include the likes of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Michael Dell, Elon Musk and Paul Jacobs as it is for its…
Executive Q&A: The Turnaround Guy
Mark Mason is chairman, president and CEO of HomeStreet Bank. A turnaround wizard, he took control of the Seattle-based bank in 2009 and transformed it from an institution in danger of failing to the states largest provider of mortgages for homebuyers. EARLY YEARS: My father ran a series of funeral homes in Southern California, and…
Executive Q&A: The UW’s Ana Mari Cauce
Ana Mari Cauce was named interim president at the University of Washington after Michael Young abruptly departed for Texas A&M last winter. While her title may suggest impermanence, her devotion to the UW for nearly 30 years speaks to her long-standing dedication to making the UW accessible and exceptional. After a 28-year career at the…
Executive Q&A: Kimberly Harris, president and CEO, Puget Sound Energy
Kimberly Harris is President and CEO of a regional gas and electric utility with $3.1 billion in annual revenues. Shes a dynamic leader who navigates a changing technological and regulatory landscape with intelligence and precision. YOUTH: I grew up in Los Angeles. I was a Valley girl. My dad was an insurance man. When I…
Executive Q&A: Jim Hendricks, President, Seattle Childrens Research Institute
Jim Hendricks has presided over dramatic growth at Seattle Childrens Research Institute. The organization now has more than a thousand employees and Hendricks has an ambitious plan to develop a 2-million-square-foot campus in downtown Seattle. EARLY YEARS: I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but now I root for the Seahawks, much to my parents…
Profiles in giving: Roy Prosterman, Founder of Seattle-based Landesa
As Roy Prosterman turns 80-years-old, the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Landesa, a global non-profit that focuses on land rights for the rural poor, shows no signs of slowing down. On Friday March 13, 2015, more than 500 people will gather at Landesas annual luncheon in Seattle to celebrate Prosterman entering his 80th year. And…