Around The Table: Alaska Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Starbucks.

In ‘Around The Table,’ we highlight member news and share information on industry trends. This week, we shine the spotlight on Alaska Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, MicrosoftNordstromPacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Starbucks.


Top U.S. Companies and Foundations Announce Initiative to Connect Atlanta’s Youth to Jobs

The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ – a coalition of more than 50 U.S. companies including Roundtable member companies Alaska Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Starbucks – has picked Atlanta for its next Opportunity Hiring Fair on May 3 to connect thousands of youth to jobs. Job and resource fair will kick off a long-term effort with the City, State and more than 75 other regional stakeholders to help create economic opportunities for the estimated 110,000 Opportunity Youth – young people ages 16-24 who are not in school or employed. The national initiative has already helped more than 175,000 youth find jobs in communities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, Dallas and Washington DC, and has a goal to hire one million Opportunity Youth by 2021. Learn more here.


PNNL Receives Three Awards for Transferring Technologies to the Private Sector

New solutions for cybersecurity, energy and medical research are in the hands of companies who can use them to create new products and services, thanks to efforts to transfer them from the lab to industry. The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory received three awards for excellence in technology transfer from the Federal Laboratory Consortium. The technologies developed at PNNL include a trio of solutions that work together to detect, identify and neutralize cyberthreats to networks and industrial control systems; an analytical technology that may impact how medical professionals predict, diagnose and treat disease; and a system that concentrates solar energy to help produce electricity and liquids and gases for transportation. Learn more here.

Around The Table: Avista, Chateau Ste. Michelle, McKinstry, Retail Lockbox, Starbucks, TrueBlue

In ‘Around The Table,’ we highlight member news and share information on industry trends. This week, we shine the spotlight on Avista, Chateau Ste. Michelle, McKinstry, Retail Lockbox, Starbucks, and TrueBlue.


McKinstry Execs, Avista announce Catalyst project for Spokane’s U District

McKinstry executives, including Roundtable board member Dean Allen, are partnering with a subsidiary of Avista to build a new $50 million “Catalyst Building” in Spokane’s University district. The 150,000 square-foot development will be the first in a series of related projects and it will house Eastern Washington University’s computer science, electrical engineering, and visual communication design programs. As the Puget Sound Business Journal reports, “The Catalyst project aims to show the potential of the region’s legacy industries, like timber, and match them with innovations from the construction and education sectors.” Read more.


Roundtable Board Members Receive Executive Excellence Awards

Washington Roundtable board members and their organizations were well represented at the 2018 Seattle Business Executive Excellence Awards. The awards “recognize leaders for exemplary performance in the day-to-day operation of complex corporate ecosystems as well as in the larger context of providing a moral compass to the people whose lives they influence directly and indirectly.” Of the 13 winners, three currently serve on the Roundtable board: Ted Baseler, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates; Craig Dawson, Retail Lockbox; and the Board of Directors for TrueBlue, led by CEO and Roundtable member Steve Cooper. Former Starbucks executive Howard Behar also received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations, and thank you for your many contributions to our state!