Last week, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce welcomed 220 business and civic leaders to its 2023 Regional Leadership Conference at Tulalip Resort hosted by Presenting Sponsor Alaska Airlines.
Attendees collaborated on plans for the future to solve building up new regional assets, generating equitable economic activity, ensuring the government is making progress on major issues, and continuously improving operational processes. We talked through how to capitalize on the opportunities coming from major events and new assets coming online in our region and how to build relationships and alignment with regional leaders during informal networking and formal office hours.
Chairwoman Teri Gobin of the Tulalip Tribe Board of Directors, Chamber Board Chair Ada Healey, and Mayor Bruce Harrell opened the conference with warm welcomes.
Jaebadiah Gardner of GardnerGlobal, Inc. was our emcee, and highlights included:
UPWARD TOGETHER
Chamber President and CEO Rachel Smith and Diana Birkett-Rakow, senior vice president of Public Affairs & Sustainability at Alaska Airlines, had a fireside chat and shared how the next 10 years have the potential to be the best we’ve seen in a long time in our region, despite still navigating challenges, but we have to be intentional, play our cards right, and make sure the outcomes work for everyone. Now is a moment to solve problems and seize opportunities, Smith said. It is time to give 100% and leave it all on the field the conditions are not going to be better than they are right now.
HONORING THE BEST
The winner of the Sen. Scott White Regional Leadership Award in 2023 is Rep. Jessica Bateman for her work on middle housing legislation. It’s really essential that we act with urgency to address our housing crisis, which is why I’m so glad to be here today acknowledging and celebrating our partnership because we need to continue this work in 2024 and beyond,? Bateman said.
COLLABORATION
We ended the day with a fireside chat sponsored by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health with Birkett-Rakow and The Boeing Company’s Stan Deal. The deal discussed fleet renewal and sustainable aviation fuel in the company’s focus on environmental sustainability, which will change the industry and aviation’s carbon footprint by a significant level. I am a collaborator, Deal said. I like to get out and see from the top to the bottom what’s happening.
RLC TALKS – THE MAKINGS OF A REGIONAL SUCCESS STORY
Bill Finkbeiner, Community Leader & Business Owner with EasTrail, Joy Shigaki, President & CEO, of Friends of Waterfront Seattle, and Peter Tomozawa, CEO, of SeattleFWC26 highlighted three projects or events showing the progress of our region in RLC Talks, sponsored by Amazon. From EasTrail to the Waterfront Project to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, speakers set the stage for these projects. Something big is going to happen to our city in 2026, Tomozawa said. Winning the FIFA World Cup assignment – I was more elated than winning the Olympics.
ECONOMIC LEVEL SET
Chris Mefford, president & CEO of Community Attributes Inc., shared numerous data points giving us insight into our region’s economy. There are some strengths of our economy that we can feel good about and build upon, Mefford said.
THE FUTURE OF AVIATION – MOVING PEOPLE AND IDEAS
We kicked off our panels to get a view of the future of aviation with Alaska Airlines’ Pasha Saleh and The Boeing Company’s Sheila Remes, sponsored by Premera Blue Cross and then brainstormed the future of the aviation industry in our region, including how the industry can use artificial intelligence. We’re just scratching the surface of what AI can do for aviation, Saleh said. We’ve shrunk routes from 3-5 minutes, which is great for our carbon footprint.
NAVIGATING AHEAD – PAVING THE WAY FOR OUR REGION TRANSIT
For the second panel and brainstorm session sponsored by Microsoft, we heard from Cascade Bicycle Club’s Lee Lambert, Sen. Marko Liias & Washington Roundtable’s Steve Mullin on our current and long-term needs for all modes of transportation. We agree that having folks in person has a lot of benefits, but you also do have other options, Mullin said. It’s an interesting time to think about quality of life, and how transportation is going to be impacted.
AI ERA OF TRANSFORMATION
Our lunch keynote sponsored by Boeing was a fascinating look into how artificial intelligence is transforming work with Microsoft’s Director of Data and AI Robert Fannon. Our tools are meant to augment human capabilities, not replace Fannon said. We do not think AI will replace humans. They’re tools to help us get the job done more efficiently.
BUILDING A VISION – PLACEMAKING
Back to building our vision together, in a panel sponsored by Google, we heard about regional examples of placemaking that are currently in the works and how we can leverage creative ideas and public-private partnerships to build the region we want to live in with Dow Constantine, King County Executive, Seattle Kraken’s Mari Horita, and Seattle Sounders FC’s Maya Mendoza-Exstrom. Placemaking has huge economic impacts on the region, Horita said. The Kraken supports 10,000 jobs and has a huge ripple effect on the businesses in Queen Anne.
ELECTRIFYING THE FUTURE
For our final collaborative project, our panel sponsored by Comcast looked at the future of electrification and how we can support the needs of the future with McKinstry’s Ash Awad, Puget Sound Energy’s Troy Huston, and Seattle Latino Chamber of Commerce’s Marcos Wanless. It’s one thing to say this is what we need to have happen, it’s another thing to work with the communities to make it happen, Huston said. We’re here today because all of us need to be partners in how we get there.
INDEX 5 REPORT
Chamber President and CEO Rachel Smith and Andrew Thibault, senior principal at EMC Research, provided an overview of the latest Seattle voter data collected in The Index. Our latest polling revealed that public safety as a top concern is 10 points higher than in March, in a statistical dead heat with homelessness, and 20 points higher than when we started The Index in August of 2021, Smith said. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed Seattle’s hands-off approach to people using fentanyl and meth contributed to street crime and hampered economic recovery.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all the sponsors, speakers, attendees, and steering committee for this year’s Regional Leadership Conference. We hope to see you at the Regional Leadership Conference in October 2024.
Photos by Alabastro Photography
SPONSORS
Thank you again to our Presenting Sponsor Alaska Airlines and Event Sponsors Advanced Professionals Insurance & Benefit Solutions, Amazon.com, Bank of America, The Boeing Company, Comcast, CLIA – Cruise Lines International Association, Delta Dental of Washington, DoorDash, Edelman, Fred Hutch, Google, Kaiser Permanente Washington, King County Library System, Microsoft, Premera Blue Cross, Puget Sound Energy, Regence BlueShield, Sea-Tac International Airport, Snohomish County Government, Starbucks, Symetra, T-Mobile, University of Washington, Verizon, Vigor, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, WSU Cougars, and Zillow.