President Jan introduced our featured speaker, former Governor (as well as our state’s first woman Attorney General), Christine Gregoire who has been the CEO of Challenge Seattle for the last ten years.
Gov. Gregoire gave a passionate presentation on what our region needs to do to be competitive in a global economy and the importance of everyone in the room to be involved, “we can’t move backwards; our region needs you to get engaged. We need to be bold and united.”
She focused on three specific areas that need “bold thinking that will determine the future of our state”:
· Housing and streamlining the burdensome permitting process – people cannot afford to live here – we need to look at red tape to radically reduce time and costs – our current situation is actually disincentivizing new housing
· Improving our state’s unpredictable business climate – we are now ranked 48th out of the 50 states
· Transportation – congestion is getting worse/back to pre-pandemic levels
She used the example of the Seattle Waterfront that is officially opening this weekend of what can be accomplished for our region if we work together, overcome challenges and “bring that same determination.”
She challenged our leaders and all of us:
· Money is not always the answer
· Be honest about outcomes, are we getting what we hoped for?
· Work in Public Private Partnerships, across sectors
· We can’t leave it to others, we need to engage
Gov. Gregoire concluded with, “In 20 years we want to look back, that was the time that we created a legacy we can all be proud of.”
President Jan thanked Gov. Gregoire for her “extraordinary leadership and service.” She concluded the meeting highlighting the cards on each person’s chair that reflect the leadership practice of saying “thank you” and encouraged us to send them to the leader that you talked about during the Table Talk.
The meeting at the Washington Athletic Club on a beautiful summer day started with a few minutes of Table Talk: sharing one piece of advice we have received from a leader that we admire.
President Jan reminded us that the theme for her first few meetings as president continues today: Leadership and Building Healthy Communities. And to “think tall and step up” per her new step stool she is using at the podium.
Don Murphy with Burr Stewart on piano provided the history behind our National Anthem before leading us in The Star Spangled Banner.
We welcomed two new members: President Jan introduced us to Tracy Brown and Mark Wright introduced Andrew Lewis. Learn more about them elsewhere in the weekly newsletter.
