Around the Table: Starbucks, Amazon, Windermere

Advancing racial equity

Starbucks committed to spending $1.5 billion with diverse suppliers by 2030 and announced the first recipients of its Community Resilience Fund to support small businesses and community development projects in BIPOC communities. In addition, the company will launch a mentorship program connecting BIPOC employees to senior leadership.

Assisting with COVID testing

Amazon will partner with the state to help deliver 3.5 million rapid COVID tests to families.

Giving back to the community

Windermere recently announced that its foundation raised more than $2.5 million in 2021 for low-income and homeless families.

Our 2022 Policy Agenda

Washingtonians have demonstrated tremendous resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses have responded to unprecedented disruption by transforming operations and reimagining the workplace. The underlying strength, diversity, and innovation of our state economy are evident and state revenue projections through 2025 now exceed pre-pandemic expectations by an astounding $8.6 billion.

Despite strong jobs growth, overall employment in Washington is still below the pre-pandemic peak. Employers are facing an alarming shortage of qualified talent while also shouldering the burden of state-imposed costs, inflation-related costs, and supply chain disruptions. Additionally, the pandemic exposed weaknesses in Washington’s transportation and other infrastructure, and our state continues to struggle with crises in educational equity and credential attainment.

During the 2022 legislative session, the Washington Roundtable will focus on supporting economic recovery, opportunity, and prosperity statewide. This includes advocating for prudent state fiscal policy, state transportation investment, an evidence-based approach to reduce chronic homelessness, and demonstrable progress toward ensuring Washington students are prepared to succeed in our state’s economy and future careers. Read more about our priorities in our 2022 Policy Agenda.

Washington Roundtable Announces 2022 Leadership & New Board Members

We are excited to announce our new board leadership team for 2022 and welcome four new members to the Washington Roundtable board. Betsy Cadwallader, Market President at U.S. Bank, will lead our organization as chair. A veteran banker with more than 30 years of commercial and investment banking experience, Cadwallader has held numerous business line and senior management roles. Thank you to Craig Dawson, president and CEO of Retail Lockbox, for leading our organization in 2021.

The new board members are Imelda Dacones, MD, president at Washington Optum Care; Robert Kershaw, CEO at Domex Superfresh Growers; Amadou Vattassaye, Executive Vice President of Market Growth at Cambia Health Solutions; and Eric Young, VP Engineering and Washington State Site Lead at Google. Learn more about them below.

Imelda Dacones, MD
President at Washington Optum Care

Imelda Dacones, MD, is the president of the Washington Optum Care market with oversight of The Everett Clinic, The Polyclinic, and the Optum Care Network of Washington. As a nationally recognized leader in driving value-based care innovation, Dr. Dacones is a long­time advocate of the Quadruple Aim. She also practiced as a primary care doctor and hospital­based internist for more than 22 years. Dr. Dacones has been recognized many times as a doctor and leader. In 2020, she was named one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Minority Leaders. In 2019, she received Portland Business Journal’s Health Care Leadership Award.

Robert Kershaw
CEO at Domex Superfresh Growers

Robert Kershaw is a fifth-generation grower, packer, shipper and marketer of apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, and kiwi berries. Superfresh Growers is one of the largest fresh produce companies in the United States, farming over 40,000 acres in the inland Pacific Northwest. Kershaw’s team supplies retailers in more than 50 countries and supports them with marketing and logistical services.

Amadou Vattassaye
Executive Vice President of Market Growth at Cambia Health Solutions

Amadou Yattassaye serves as the Executive Vice President of Market Growth for Cambia Health Solutions, a nonprofit total health solutions company dedicated to making health care simpler, better, and more affordable for people and their families. He is passionate about innovations that make a difference in people’s health and lives. Yattassaye is an industry leader with over 20 years of executive-level experience.

Eric Young
VP Engineering, Site Lead, Washington State at Google

Eric Young joined Google in February 2016 as Vice President of Engineering overseeing the company’s Cloud Capacity Planning function, as well as the engineering systems responsible for Google’s overall Supply Chain, Compute and Network Infrastructure delivery. Young and his team develop the software which optimizes the supply chain and management of deployed resources to optimally scale Google’s infrastructure across all product areas: Cloud, Search, Ads, YouTube, etc. He is also the Regional Leader for Google in Washington overseeing our Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland campuses.