2022 Regional Leadership Conference Recap: Regional Reset

Last week, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce welcomed 250 business and civic leaders to its 2022 Regional Leadership Conference at Suncadia Resort hosted by Presenting Sponsor Amazon.

The three-day conference explored our region’s priorities and recovery work and encouraged attendees to embrace a hard reset on the past way of doing things to ensure our regional economy is coming back stronger, more inclusive, and more equitable than before. The conference centred on three key topics integral to that work: regional economic recovery with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-owned businesses, homelessness, and transportation.

Roger Nyhus, Founder of Nyhus Communications, was our emcee for the conference and highlights included:

AN ENCOURAGING TEAM APPROACH: Chamber President and CEO Rachel Smith observed some important ways that things are getting better in our region. She is seeing elected and business leaders pick up the phone and call each other. She is seeing us embrace the scope and scale of the problem. “We are not tearing it down people,” Smith said. “We are build it up, but make it better for everyone people.”

HONORING THE BEST: The Senator Scott White Regional Leadership Award honours individuals who build bridges between competing interests, demonstrate a willingness to take on big problems and move policy issues from discussion to action. This year’s award recipient was the entire University of Washington. During the pandemic, UW became the research institution for our country and the medical backbone for our region, in addition to addressing the pandemic from many other angles including as a healthcare provider and an educational institution.

ONE SEATTLE: Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell described his vision of One Seattle. “Now I have the privilege and honour to redefine the Seattle region and that’s what we’re going to do together,” Harrell said.

STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY: Hydra Mendoza, VP and Chief of Strategic Relationships Office of the Chair and co-CEO at Salesforce, had a fireside chat with Chamber CEO Rachel Smith. Mendoza detailed her leadership journey to her current position and highlighted how the challenges of COVID-19 have revealed how much communities and governments can do. “One of the things COVID taught us though is government can actually move faster than they claim to move,” Mendoza said. “There are amazing people in government who champion when they need to.”

LET’S GET TO WORK: Gov. Jay Inslee highlighted accomplishments from the 2022 Legislative Session including passing the new transportation package and investing in housing and homelessness. He also spoke passionately on climate change and said we’ve got a lot of work to do. “Climate change is an economic development opportunity,” Inslee said. “We make our bread and butter off of innovation. And we know the world has to invent a new future – this is what we do in Washington state.”

ARTS & CULTURE SPOTLIGHT: Michael Greer, CEO at ArtsFund and Brian Carter, Executive Director at 4Culture described how the arts and culture industry was impacted over the past two years, how crucial this sector is for Washington’s recovery, and how our we can all invest in the future of the creative economy. “The cultural sector was undercapitalized on to begin with,” Carter said. “We realized the recovery of this sector was going to take longer than the recovery of other sectors.”

TOPIC 1: REGIONAL AND BIPOC BUSINESS RECOVERY

Two years after the start of COVID-19 shutdowns, our region’s recovery rate is still slow and markedly uneven, with some of the hardest hit industries and businesses showing the least progress bouncing back. In these sessions, we got a download of where our region’s business recovery currently stands, heard examples from leaders who are successfully building back, and discussed the plans and projects designed to create an equitable recovery for all.

Teresa Hutson, Vice President, Tech & Corporate Responsibility Group at Microsoft provided a level set with remarks incorporating national data and anecdotes. “When people decide to solve a hard problem, people can work together and bring ingenuity,” Hutson said. “Seattle has kept me an optimist.”

A public sector perspective on the topic was provided by Dow Constantine, Executive of King County. “We want to move forward to leave no one behind and to overcome the pandemic of racism,” he said.

Frilancy Hoyle, President of Rebecca Onassis Boutique, Joe Fugere, Founder & CEO of Tutta Bella, Margie Haywood, CEO of Work and Play Lounge and Kerri Schroeder, President of Bank of America – Seattle Market and Chamber Board Chair, discussed where our region and business community are currently in recovery efforts, and where we see alignment in goals and opportunities. As Black women who own and lead their businesses, Frilancy and Margie spoke frankly about the vastly different experiences they have had from their white counterparts in foundational parts of building and growing a business, such as commercial leasing and access to capital.

Marianne Bichsel, Vice President of External Affairs at Comcast, KD Hall, Principal Chief Executive Officer at KD Hall Communications, Brian Surratt, CEO at Greater Seattle Partners and Dave Somers, Executive at Snohomish County discussed how local leaders are setting the stage for an equitable business recovery – by identifying disadvantages, fostering opportunity, and creating long-term resiliency for BIPOC businesses in our region. KD noted the challenges that come with using BIPOC as an umbrella term for people of colour, including the lack of specificity it offers for the ongoing inequities Black and Indigenous businesses face.

Craig Dawson, President & CEO of Retail Lockbox and a board member of the Washington Roundtable, Michelle Merriweather, President & CEO of Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Joe Sky Tucker, President & CEO of Business Impact NW, and Hamdi Mohamed, Commissioner – Position 3 at Port of Seattle described successes our regional leaders have had in addressing business recovery and how attendees can take action. Craig encouraged businesses to challenge themselves to take 4% of their annual expenses and spend that with Black-owned businesses – a percentage reflective of Washington state’s Black population. Michelle offered attendees a personal goal: once a week, spend $25 at a Black-owned business.

TOPIC 2: HOMELESSNESS

For more than six years, King County has been in a homelessness state of emergency, and as of 2021, Seattle has the third-largest population of people experiencing homelessness in the nation. This issue is frustrating and heartbreaking – and has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. In these sessions, we heard what organizations both big and small are doing to address housing needs in our region.

Leo Flor, Director of the Department of Community and Human Services for King County, Felicia Salcedo, Executive Director for We Are In, Anne Martens, Director of External Affairs & Communications at King County Regional Homelessness Authority and Chamber CEO Rachel Smith discussed where our region is at currently with homeless initiatives. The panel specifically highlighted the work of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority as the agency centralizing the county’s services and data on homelessness, and We Are In playing a similar centralizing role in community, private sector, and philanthropic support for evidence-based practices to reduce homelessness.

Amy King, CEO of Pallet Shelter, Cassie Franklin, Mayor of the city of Everett, Sharmila Swenson, the Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs at Symetra and Tricia Raikes, Co-Founder of the Raikes Foundation described how local leaders are partnering to work on housing solutions and what opportunities there are going forward.

TOPIC 3: TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY

From locally expanded light rail stations to federal framework proposals, the way we build and move around is changing rapidly. In these sessions, we heard from state and local leaders on how we can continue to grow our existing infrastructure, address challenges and roadblocks both literal and figurative, and keep our region moving.

Michelle Allison, Deputy General Manager at King County Metro Transit, Kevin Collins, Office Leader at HNTB, Brad Miyake, City Manager for the city of Bellevue and Peter Rogoff, CEO of Sound Transit described where Washington state and our region are in transportation and mobility efforts and get a glimpse at the priorities our leaders are focused on. A major theme in their remarks was the importance of collaboration throughout the region, as well as across sectors, in keeping major initiatives running smoothly.

Manager at HDR Engineering, Sam Cho, Commissioner – Position 2 at the Port of Seattle, Richard de Sam Lazaro, Senior Manager – Government & Community at Expedia Group and Alex Hudson, Executive Director at Transportation Choices Coalition described how regional leaders envision a transportation future that expands economic opportunity and supports our communities’ mobility and infrastructure needs.

Justin Clark, Lead Bridge Engineer/Project Manager, WSP, Nancy Backus, Mayor of the city of Auburn and Charles Knutson, Senior Manager of Public Policy at Amazon took a look at the work we need to do to create an environment where transportation and mobility needs are prioritized and everyone in our community has equitable access to this infrastructure.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER