October, Q & A

A Q&A with Gov. Chris Gregoire

Washington CEO Magazine responses

1.      How will you balance the state budget?

The same way I did when I came into office. When I became governor, our state faced a $2.2 billion deficit. I cut red...

October, Q & A

A Q&A with Dino Rossi

Washington CEO Magazine responses

1.      How will you balance the state budget?

The Seattle Times recently detailed how the incumbent governor has increased spending by more than $8 billion, creating...

October, Q & A

A Q&A with Paul Wulff

Paul Wulff, 41, leads an organization where he's judged by one harsh metric every week: Did you win or not? Wulff took over as Washington State University's head football coach this year, after a successful eight-year run at...

Bookend, October

Bookend

Winner Take All: How Competitiveness Shapes the Fates of Nations

By Richard J. Elkus Jr.

(Basic Books, $27)

Are you sitting down? Because author Richard Elkus, a veteran Silicon Valley exec who introduced the first VCR and has...

October, Life & Style

CEO Scene

Important Faces in the Crowd Around the State

Life & Style, October

Chipping Away at the Clouds

Three fantastic Southwestern golf resorts are a welcome winter break

October, Snapshots

A Paper-Free Future

Three companies are pushing analog processes into the digital realm

October, Finance

A Pretty Good Year

CEO compensation - including stock options - rises despite new regulatory requirements

Made in Washington, October

The Golden Age of Beer

It's never been a better time to be a craft brewer, but new challenges face even the best

October, Policy

Tacoma Revisited

After a comeback in the 1990s, the City of Destiny faces new and lingering challenges

October

When Chopp Speaks

The man who pulls the strings in Olympia

October, Cover

The Politician

Gov. Chri Gregoire relies on her experience

Cover, October

The Salesman

Dino Rossi makes the pitch for change

October, Cover

Rematch

What does the Rossi-Gregoire showdown mean for Washington business

October, Law

Seeking Wise Counsel

Finding an attorney for your small business doesn't have to be hard, if you're careful

October, CEO Adviser

Clinching the Deal

How does a vice president of sales get results?

October, Outspoken

Finding Fault in Our Stars

We like to blame the boss when things go awry, but that is neither accurate nor helpful

October, Vital Signs

Washington Vital Signs

The long view is rosier than it seems

October, OutFront

Briefcase

DAYTON

The Port of Columbia is pursuing plans for what it's calling "the world's first organic food processing eco-industrial park" near the southeast Washington town of Dayton. Armed with a $50,000 state grant, the port is...

October, OutFront

Boeing Model Grounded

Alaska Airlines has retired the last of its MD-80s, grounding them in favor of Boeing 737s. The MD-80s were built by the former McDonnell Douglas Co. between 1985 and 1997, prior to its merger with Boeing. The airline says it...

OutFront, October

Freight Rail Grows

Freight rail traffic is growing across Washington state, spurred by growth in Asian imports, high truck-fuel prices and clogged roads.

The most recent study by the Department of Transportation shows that freight railroads moved...

October, OutFront

Biotechs Feel the Heat

It's not been a good year for many Seattle biotechnology companies. In the last weeks of August, grim announcements came out on a nearly daily basis. CellCyte Genetics stopped paying employees and could close. The merger of...

October, OutFront

Window Shopping

Luxury markdowns around the state

October, OutFront

State Gets a 'C' For Friendliness to Manufacturers

There is little doubt that manufacturing is an economic driver in Washington state, employing more than 293,000 people -- nearly 10 percent of all nonfarm employment in the state, according to the Employment Security...

OutFront, October

A Trucker's Guide to the Ports

Do business with the Port of Tacoma or Port of Seattle? Have jitters about your truck drivers setting off security alarms or being late because they ended up at Girard Custom Coaters in Tacoma instead of Terminal 4?

Have the...

October, OutFront

Taking the Needle to New Heights

The Space Needle isn't just a landmark attraction of the Pacific Northwest. It's also a private company named, not surprisingly, Space Needle Corp. The company hired a new CEO -- Ron Sevart, former president of several Six Flags...

October, OutFront

Recent Company Acquisitions

October, OutFront

WaMu's New Direction ... Straight Ahead

Is WaMu in play? CEO Kerry Killinger's forced retirement last month immediately opened speculation that Washington Mutual's board has decided to sell the Seattle-based savings and loan -- the nation's largest -- in hopes of...

October, OutFront

Executive Appointments

Russ Aldrich is named CEO of QL2, Seattle.Jones Soda Co., Seattle, appoints Michael O'Brien as CFO, replacing Hassan Natha. O'Brien is former CFO and vice president of finance for Seattle's Pyramid Breweries.Edward A. Whatley Jr....

October, OutFront

A Glass Half Full

Washington looks past a gloomy summer to a brighter future

October, Where We Stand

The More Things Change?

Regardless of who gets elected, it'll still be about the economy

Policy, October

Jeb Bush Audio Slideshow

Technology, October

The Temple Will Not Fall

Microsoft, Nintendo and a specialty college make Washington a capital for video games

Technology, October

Puget Sound counts 15,000 jobs among benefits of rising video-game industry

A "clustering of talent" is driving Puget Sound to the top of the U.S. video-game development industry, generating nearly $5 billion in revenues and more than 15,000 jobs, and elevating the average salary of a local game...

Technology, October

Microsoft Finds New Opportunities in Japan

While China is hot, Microsoft makes a lot more money in Japan. Over half of Microsoft's Asian revenues come from Japan. Maybe that's why the company is putting a renewed focus on the country, plowing money into developing markets...

Policy, October

Ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush talks about politics and healthcare

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was in Seattle Thursday (Sept 27) to receive the 2007 Columbia Award from the Washington Policy Center. Bush also gave the keynote speech before the Seattle-based think tank's annual dinner, which...

OutFront, October

Executive Appointments

·Aegis Living, Redmond, promotes Jerry Meyer from chief operating officer to president.

·Lindal Cedar Homes, Seattle, names Michael Harris president and COO.

·QL2 Software, Seattle, appoints Glenn Hasen president...

OutFront, October

Lab racks up cutting-edge research awards

The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has garnered three of R&D Magazine's prestigious R&D 100 Awards this year, including for a technology that allows researchers to test water for virtually every...

OutFront, October, Agriculture

Wheat prices continue to soar

Prices for soft white wheat are at their highest levels in decades, the result of falling global production and increased demand for grain. That's got retailers east of the Cascades hoping for a surge in buying this fall, Greater...

OutFront, October

Port of Tacoma goes after land

The pressure is on for a dozen property owners in the way of the Port of Tacoma's plans for a new $300 million, 168-acre shipping container terminal on the Blair Waterway. The port recently filed condemnation actions against...

OutFront, October, Agriculture

Farm labor shortage may worsen

A Bush administration plan for combating illegal immigration will exacerbate a shortage of farm workers in the Northwest, agricultural groups are complaining.

"Right now, there's an immense level of fear – panic – in...

OutFront, October

Revisiting Washington good for business?

In hopes of boosting present-day tourism, Washington has updated a 1941 guidebook, A Guide to the Evergreen State, one of 48 produced by the Works Project Administration during the war years to employ writers, promote tourism and...

OutFront, October

Walla Walla mall growing fast

The Blue Mountain Mall in Walla Walla is headed for a massive renovation.

California-based Western Development Partners is expected to close a deal this month to buy the mall and spend $60 million redeveloping it.

The purchase...

OutFront, October, Agriculture

Buying fresh from a farmer's (or city's) backyard

Buoyed by increasing consumer interest in fresh local foods, farmers markets are sprouting across Washington state, doubling from 60 in 1998 to 120 in operation today, according to state and local agricultural...

OutFront, October

Biz school gets cash

Seattle's Foster Foundation has given $36.5 million to the University of Washington business school, which has changed its name to the Michael G. Foster School of Business.

Foster, who died in 2003, was a one-time UW student who...

Trade Winds, Cover, October, Agriculture

Cultivating foreign Soil

A growing hunger in developing nations for Western-style cuisine is supersizing farm exports from the state of Washington.

The state's farmers and food processors sold more than $2.2 billion worth of fruit, vegetables, wheat and...

Trade Winds, Media, Cover, October

Mobile media for the masses

To Vidiator Technology Inc., text messaging is so five minutes ago. And it's testimony to the Bellevue software company's good business sense that it initially decided to carry that attitude to just about everywhere in the world...

Trade Winds, Manufacturing, Cover, October, Agriculture

No rust belt here

Back in the late 1950s, dairy farmers in Grays Harbor would haul their malfunctioning pumps from their fields to Jim Vaughan's welding shop. The pumps typically would clog with twine and straw, and word soon spread that Jim could...

Trade Winds, Cover, October

White collar Exports

If you know about student loans, credit cards, microfinance or crop insurance, you might give Liu Mingkang a call.  Liu is former chairman of the stateowned Bank of China. Now, as the man in charge of China's Banking...

Trade Winds, October, Cover, Agriculture

A culture of trade

In this epoch of globalization, when so much depends on successful trading strategies – and with so many cities, states and provinces marketing themselves as international business centers, just how secure is Washington's...

Wine, October

2007: A GREAT VINTAGE?

Ideal weather and an explosion of talent are leading to a good year for Washington wine.The state's grape harvest is in full swing this month, with a flurry of trucks gently transporting plastic bins filled to the brim with inky...

Sponsored Section, October

Washington's VIP Entrance

A Runway to Success

OutFront, October

Briefcase

SEATTLE ? Port Townsend Paper is set to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this fall, after a federal judge approved its reorganization plan in August. The plan cut $50 million in debt from the company's books, in return for...

OutFront, October

Vulcan boasts a different kind of urban renewal

Urban renewal is under way in South Lake Union, and it's not the highway-building, neighborhoodclearing kind you remember from the 1960s and '70s. Pay a visit to the Westlake/Terry Building, and you'll find the embodiment of New...

Technology, October

The Games We Play

Designing casual games for the time-pressed professional

October

Q & A with Swedish's Rodney Hochman

Rodney Hochman

Life & Style, October

Snowed In And Lovin' It

The Northwest's Après-Ski Scene

Manufacturing, October

From the editor

A strong global economy is turbochargingWashington state business. In the first half of 2007,Washington state?s exports climbed to more than $30 billion, a 20.3 percent increase over the first six months of 2006. That rapid pace...

Environment, October

Eco-Smart, Affordable & (Pre)Fabulous

FOR ARCHITECT and home builder Michelle Kaufmann, choosing to purchase a factory in the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood might not seem like an obvious decision; after all, her design firm ? and the office where all the marketing and...

Real Estate, October

Continental Touches

Russian brother-and-sister team shapes luxury condo market

Bookend, October

Bookend

FOR YOUR DESK

The Toothpick: Technology and Culture By Henry Petroski (Knopf, $27.95) This is at once a volume about cultural evolution and commercial acumen. Petroski (The Pencil) looks back at the prehistoric origins of the...

Law, October

Legal Eagles

Flush with casino cash, Indian tribes' legal needs are growing

October

From the Editor

WELCOME TO THE PREMIER ISSUE of a completely revamped Washington CEO Magazine. We’ve upgraded the content and given our pages a facelift. And, if you go to washingtonceo.com you’ll find a dynamic website that provides...

Real Estate, OutFront, October

Bellevue Rents Soar

BELLEVUE – Bellevue’s office rents for Class A office space have grown 11.6 percent over the past year, the highest growth in the nation, according to a study by Seattle-based real estate firm Grubb & Ellis Co....

Technology, OutFront, October

A Mouse Brain in 3D

SEATTLE – The Allen Institute for Brain Science has announced the completion of a genetic map of a mouse brain. The “Brain Atlas” identifies where and at what level each of approximately 21,000 genes are turned...

Technology, Trade Winds, OutFront, October

Vancouver Ventures

VANCOUVER – Electric Lightwave LLC, a communications network services provider, was sold to Portland-based Integra Telecom Inc. for $247 million and is moving most of its jobs to Portland. The combined company will employ...

Healthcare, OutFront, October

WorkStation Inflation

SEATTLE – The exercise ball is gaining popularity in offices as a replacement for chairs because they strengthen abs and build posture. At Core Fitness Center, which recently took over space in the Washington Mutual Tower...

Education, October

Town & Gown

Universities and companies are much more alike than they are different

Finance, OutFront, October

Oil Prices Hit The Pavement

WALLA WALLA – Price increases of 50 percent for asphalt, a consequence of higher oil prices, have caused delays in municipal construction projects from Spokane to Walla Walla.

The cost of repaving Spokane County’s...

Finance, OutFront, October

Executive Wages

SEATTLE – The highest-paid executives in the United States saw a 58.8 percent increase in their average annual cash bonus and were paid 38.21 percent more total cash compensation, according to figures released by the...

Sports Biz, OutFront, October

Shock Value

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – In its rookie year, the Spokane Shock became the first expansion team in arenafootball2 history to win the league’s ArenaCup championship by defeating the Green Bay Blizzard, 57-34 on August 26...

Made in Washington, Technology, OutFront, October

Boeing Closes Summer with Bag of Deals

EVERETT – Boeing appears well positioned to maintain its lead over Airbus in total orders. As of Sept. 13, Boeing has received 377 firm orders for its 787 Dreamliner, with another 43 commitments from 32 customers. There are...

OutFront, October

Spa Financed

SEATTLE – InSpa’s CEO Colleen Stone can relax along with clients of her massage, manicure and facial business now that investors have pumped $5 million into the company with the goal of taking it beyond...

Healthcare, OutFront, October

More Tea Anyone?

BOTHELL – Organic compost “tea” is gaining ground among garden enthusiasts who prefer natural fertilizers to chemical products. In Harmony Organic Based Landscape Services has been making the product for years...

The Good Citizen, OutFront, October

Grande Giving

SEATTLE – Orin Smith, the former CEO of Starbucks Corp., has contributed $4.5 million toward the construction of a $130 million business school at the University of Washington.

Smith, a former UW student and current member...

OutFront, October

Prince Rupert Vies for Port Business

PRINCE RUPERT, British Columbia. – Prince Rupert is a rural port town in northern British Columbia where moose sightings hardly raise an eyebrow. But a New Jersey- based port operator, anticipating continued container...

OutFront, October

Casino Crisis

SPOKANE – Card rooms here are losing money and owners are blaming the statewide smoking ban and steady competition from tribal casinos.

In the last five years, four nontribal gaming establishments in Spokane County have...

OutFront, October

Estate Tax Repeal

OLYMPIA – Come Nov. 7, Washingtonians with estates of $2 million or more may see more of their wealth stay in the family if voters pass Initiative 920, repealing the state’s estate tax.

Dean Butler, an...

Real Estate, October

Rules of Engagement

Property Rights Initiative Breeds Uncertainty

Real Estate, October

Measured Growth?

Property Law Sews Confusion in Oregon

Media, October

Broadcasting Success

Colleen Brown is driving change at Fisher Communications

October

The New Improved McGavick

Former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick is being repackaged for the senate race

October

Cantwell and challenger Mike McGavick on selected issues

War in Iraq – Set a specific date for pull out?

Cantwell: Opposes specific date for a pullout, but did vote for a plan to start bringing troops home this year. McGavick: Opposes timetable for pullout of troops. It would...

Technology, October

The Good Fight

Judging by its long-stagnant stock price, Microsoft appears to be a lumbering monopoly, mired in the doldrums. The company is worth less than half its 1999 peak. It lags behind flashy companies such as Google and Apple in hip,...

Healthcare, October

Offshore Surgery

Corporations are looking overseas for big health care savings

Healthcare, October

Back to the Future

Old-fashioned house calls boost health service

Education, October

Washington's Big Brain Deficit

A weak education system is forcing businesses to import bright minds

Technology, October

Web 2.0

Six years after the tech crash and the collapse of high flying ventures like HomeGrocer.com, a new generation of Web-based companies is taking off.ZILLOW.COMLocation: SeattleKey Innovation: Using publicly available information to...

Real Estate, October

High on Hotels

Never mind astronomical prices, condos built above hotels are hot

Real Estate, October

Hotelier returns to Seattle with a flourish ? and a view

Four Seasons hotel is coming back to Seattle, this time attached to condominiums in a modernist glass, stone and oxidized metal sculpture that promises to transform the skyline.The 21-story building at First and Union streets...

Real Estate, October

Star Accommodations

With the economy strong, Seattle hoteliers adding thousands of luxury rooms

Real Estate, October

Tower a jewel in Davenport crown

When commercial real estate developer Walt Worthy and wife, Karen Worthy, purchased Spokane’s historic Davenport Hotel in 2000, their goal was to return the crumbling landmark to its original 1914 grandeur. The couple put...

Real Estate, October

Exhibit hall attracts new money to Spokane

Size matters in the convention industry. When planners scout locations to hold their meetings and events, one of their chief requirements is a large enough space to stage their exhibits and accommodate attendees.A new...

The Good Citizen, October

A Philanthropic Life

Seattle Foundation president Phyllis Campbell lives and leads by example

Made in Washington, October, Agriculture

Easy Pickings

Washington's apple industry considers mechanizing to compete internationally

Life & Style, October

Total Departure

Four Paths to Powder Pleasure

Life & Style, October

Powder in the Sky

Sun Valley, Idaho, is the first, most famous and, in the minds of many skiers, still the best destination ski resort in America. What is not as well known about Sun Valley is that it has the oldest commercial helicopter skiing...

Wine, October

Blessed Blend Va Piano Vineyards

Justin Wylie is a bit like the tortoise in the fable - he moves slowly and methodically, but in the end wins the race, or, as with his new Walla Walla winery, wins the appreciation of wine enthusiasts everywhere.

Wylie is the...

October

Bookend

FOR YOUR DESK

GREEN TO GOLD: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build a Competitive Advantage, by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston (Yale University Press, $25)

Who says economic...

Q & A, October

Q&A: GOVERNOR Christine Gregoire

What is your favorite place in Washington?

Stehekin. It is amazing up there! The landscape is breathtaking and it is so nice to be able to disconnect for a while. I also love Mt. Rainier.

What is your idea of happiness?

Time...