'Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve



Kevin, Troy, Sean, Ken, Katie, Renee, Cathi

















Troy & Sean



Renee

On Christmas Eve "Eve", we celebrated with the members of the Hatch family that were in town and available to join us for a family celebration.  This year our group was small since we had only the families of two out of our six children in town and able to join us; Ken's oldest son, Sean Hatch, with his partner Troy Clark and mom, Renee Newitt and my daughter, Katie Laramore with her husband, Kevin, and 1-1/2 year old son, Cutter.

It was a relaxed evening with lots of conversation, re-telling of old stories and food.  Cutter and ZiZi, our 6 month old Yorkshire Terrier puppy, kept us entertained with their antics.



The "reveal"



Cathi with the Nutcracker

Ken and I were intrigued with the VERY oversized beautiful, wrapped gift that appeared next to our Christmas tree from all of the children.  We guessed that it might be a refrigerator, but we couldn't imagine where we were going to put it.  After dinner when we opened gifts together, we were both astonished when the "reveal" occurred and we saw the incredible, 6 foot tall wooden Nutcracker emerge.  He is carved from head to toe and will be a fantastic addition to all of our Christmas celebrations in the future!  Thank you to Kevin, who saw him and arranged for everyone to participate in the gift.

Katie opens "white elephant" wedding ring

Cutter and ZiZi were the most spoiled with total number of gifts, but Katie was most surprised when during the white elephant gift exchange, she opened a gift bag that held a matching wedding ring for her finger!  Kevin is sneaky and a great gift selector!

At the end of the evening, we all retired (without nightcap or kerchief) with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Not a creature was stirring . . .



Patty Barrier & friends, ZiZi & Pepper



ZiZi dreaming of Santa Paws

At the end of the evening on Christmas Eve, 6 month old ZiZi was exhausted from all the celebration activities!  One of the guests brought Pepper, the Papipoo, and ZiZi was kept incredibly busy chasing Pepper around the house including up and over the guests sitting on the couch!  The dogs were a blur!

Ken with "mustache"

Nancy Wallace, Kjell Shei with
Shake Weight Dumbbells

Kevin & Katie Laramore

Mike Kunath pontificating

It was our year to host the Christmas Eve dinner at our home and we so enjoyed having friends and family join us.  We began early with "Elf" cocktails and champagne with JJ McKay joining us along with dinner guests, Katie & Kevin Laramore and little Cutter, Patty & Jimmy Barrier, Pat Wallace, Nancy Wallace, Kjell Schei, Mike Kunath & Kate Harrison.  We feasted (see menu below), sang Christmas carols and had a white elephant gift exchange.  Sumo Wrestler made his annual appearance and went home with Patty Barrier this year.  The big gift hit this year was the "Shake Weight Dumbbells" and they were stolen time and time again.  The gift I ended up with was "mustache bandaids" so I got Ken to model one for a photo.

Christmas Eve Dinner Menu 

Fresh Dungeness Crab Fry Legs with Canlis Mustard Dipping Sauce

Caviar Pie

Assorted Cheeses with Crackers

Fennel Vichysoisse with Crab Garnish

Homemade Bread with Christmas Tree Butter

Mustard Crusted Prime Rib with Roasted Balsalmic Onions

Dijon Horseradish Creme Fraiche

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Garlic and Fresh Thyme

Cauliflower Gratin with Mustard, Sage Cornbread Crumbs

Sauteed White Asparagus

Beet and Tangerine Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Persimmon Pudding with Brandy Creme Anglaise

Assorted Christmas Cookies

Grandma Lee's Christmas Fudge

Santa's Supper



Back row: Alicia, Spencer, Cutter, Katie, Kevin, Michael
Front row:  Jackson, Ken, Cathi



Spencer and "Grumpa" Ken



Today we celebrated Christmas early with Michael & Alicia Hatch and their sons, Jackson and Spencer in advance of their departure to Hawaii for Christmas. Following the celebration at our home, we all went to the Rainier Club for the annual Santa's Supper and were joined by Katie & Kevin Laramore and their son, Cutter. All three boys wore matching outfits to Santa's Supper and were fascinated with the life-size Snowman, Penguin and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer characters that were roaming the club. Santa Claus was not quite as popular with Cutter, though Jackson and Spencer were happy to sit on Santa's knee and have their photo taken. Other activities included a major buffet for adults and children, balloon animals, decorating Christmas cookies, henna tattoos, facepainting, lip reading, s'mores in the giant fireplace in the Rainier Room and arts and crafts.

We saw many friends and their children at this fun, family event including Kathleen & Tom Schafer, Trudi & Dave Syferd, Susan & Gary Neumann, Carol & Spike Anderson, Suzy & Moe Krabbe, Joyce & Doug McCallum, Annette & Bob Parks, Bill Knudsen, plus a score of others. It was actually bedlam with all the children screaming and running everywhere and their parents and grandparents chasing them, but it definitely gets me in the holiday spirit!



Cutter and Katie



Jackson



 

More Holiday Cheer!



Cathi, Julia Rindlaub, CK Coles, Patty Barrier


Last night we went to one of our favorite holiday parties at the Rindlaub home. We always love to catch up with John and Sarah and their three beautiful daughters, Alison, Susan and Julia.  We were not able to stay long since we had a 70th birthday party for a friend to attend also.  We were able to see Alison & Dan Chester, and Julia Rindlaub and her boyfriend Mike Carson, but missed seeing Susan and her fiance who had not yet arrived when we had to leave.

This year they planned a small non-traditional holiday party and included just a few close friends. Alison was having a great time trying out her new camera.

Dan & Alison Chester, Ken Hatch, Mike Carson

She and Dan had just returned from Hawaii within the past hour and were looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays with John and Sarah.

Following the too brief stop at the Rindlaub home, we headed downtown to Canlis Restaurant where we helped Jan Rogers and 35 close friends celebrate her 70th birthday.  There were many toasts to Jan.  My toast recognized that she is very inclusive and is always adding new friends to her circle as she generously hosts beautiful party after party at her elegant home.

Mike Carson, Cathi, Dan Chester, Jimmy Barrier

Counting Down! Only One Week Until Christmas!

Ken, Cathi & ZiZi

The stockings are hung, the Nutcrackers are standing at attention and the tree sparkles with lights and ornaments.  The Christmas countdown is on . . . 

It has been a very busy week for Ken and ZiZi and me!  ZiZi missed her doggie adventure camp this week because she was so busy staying home to "help" Laura wrap the presents.  Ken and I were busy attending parties and dinner parties, plus I was able to squeeze in several business meetings with potential sponsors and a two-day retreat with the ZINO Society Executive Management Team plus an all-day bank board meeting for Pacific Continental Bank.  More parties are coming up this weekend!

This year, we are not able to get our entire family to come at the same time to celebrate, so we are doing Christmas in shifts.  First shift is this Sunday when we will celebrate with Michael & Alicia Hatch and their two sons Jackson and Spencer before they depart for Hawaii the next day.  For the next shift, we have a mid-week celebration night scheduled with Katie & Kevin Laramore and their son Cutter along with Renee Newitt, Sean Hatch and Troy Clark.  And then finally for the last shift, we have a bigger celebration planned for Christmas Eve when a few more friends will join us too.

If you are reading my blog, I wish YOU the happiest holiday season full of magic and wonder!

ZINO Team and Birthday Celebration at the Needle

Robin, Mary, Kristie, Cathi, Jamee, Alex

Following an all-day strategic planning retreat today, we ended the day with a ZINO Society Team holiday dinner at the Sky City Restaurant at the Space Needle.  Most of us had not been to the Space Needle for dinner in many years, but we were very pleasantly surprised with the incredible food and service!

We decided to choose a restaurant that would honor our ZINO Society Passport Unlimited Cards and the Space Needle was one that we knew would feel festive.  Celebrating were ZINO Society Elite Roundtable Member, Alex Camara, who led our retreat, Mary Holmes, Chief Marketing Officer, Kristie Lanum, Chief Dealflow Officer, Robin Moore, Director of Marketing & Events, and our newest team member, Jamee Nunnelee, Vice President of Membershiip.  Barbara was our waitress ("Babs" as Alex addressed her) and did a fantastic job of taking care of our table, even bringing a plate of assorted wine corks so we could play the "cork game".

Akex & "Babs"

We ended the dinner with a birthday dessert for me which came to the table billowing magical clouds of dry ice gas.  Following dinner, I came home to dozens of birthday wishes on email, voice mail and Facebook!  I certainly feel appreciated and celebrated! 

Multiple Choice - What Were We Doing?

Kathleen Shoup. Kathleen Kosmos, Dorothy Fluke,
Cathi Hatch, SaSa Kirkpatrick

During this season of celebration and holiday cheer, I thought you would enjoy a new blog format. Because the group in the photo are all such serious and sophisticated women, you will have no trouble guessing what we were doing in this photo.  This is a multiple choice, interactive blog posting.  Please choose one of the choices below:

1. We are auditioning for the Rockettes.
2. We are gathering for a rugby scrum.
3. There is a flood and we are trying to save our shoes from getting wet.
4. We are singing Christmas carols.
5. We are trying out for the Sea Gals cheer squad.
6. There are a lot of spiders on the floor that we are attempting to eradicate.

Ladies' Holiday Luncheon

Cathi with Hostess Carol Anderson, and her daughter,
Molly Salazar

Yesterday I attended the annual Rainier Club Ladies' Holiday Luncheon as a guest of Carol Anderson.   We were greeted with Pomegranate Sparklers and gathered near the gigantic (roast-an-ox-size) fireplace in the Rainier Room before heading upstairs for the luncheon itself.  As always, Chef Bill Curtis, provided an inventive,  interesting and flavorful lunch featuring "Pomegranate Glazed Salmon with Chilean Carica Fruit "Salsa", Hearts of Palm, Brown Butter Potatoes, Gingered Thumbelina Carrots, and a Champagne-Chervil Sauce".  The most unusual accompaniment on the entree plate was a small white, bulbous, tuber-looking vegetable called a "crone" which I have seen only at the Rainier Club.

Clockwise from 1 o'clock Ann Gores, Jan Sinegal,
Arlene Wright, Kathie Price, Jan Rogers,
Carol Anderson, Molly Salazar, Susan Neumann

Over lunch, Susan Neumann entertained us with a few seasonal jokes and Jan Sinegal with the story of the craft project she and her grandchildren are working on for Christmas.  Remind me to tell you Susan's "fireman" joke.  Following lunch, we were entertained with holiday music by the Snohomish County Children's Choir led by Shelley Lagen.  It was fun to watch Shelley, with her big, animated smile leading the 14 festively dressed children in song.  When we departed from the luncheon, we each took a little of the Christmas spirit with us.

Snohomish County Children's Choir

Prostate Cancer Survivors Celebration Breakfast

This morning was the 2010 Cancer Survivors Celebration Breakfast and the first year I have attended.  It was a fundraiser for the IPCR also known as the Institute for Prostate Cancer Research which is a collaboration of UW Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  There were around 1,000 people attending; more men than women, but a substantial number of women and a few children as well.  Friend and prostate cancer survivor, John Rudolf, invited Ken and me to join him at his tables this year.  Ken was already slated to sit at another table, so I invited Alex Camara, to join me at John's table.  Also seated next to me was Bruce Hosford.

I, along with all the other guests in the room, was transfixed when the morning was kicked-off with musical performances by The Canadian Tenors and Kenny G along with Walter Afanasieff.  What a special treat and emotionally moving; especially the song, Hallelujah, as requested by event chair and founder of the annual breakfast, Steve Fleishmann.  The tenors' voices blended with the melodic riffs of Kenny G's saxophone making me want a CD that would have just that content included.

The keynote address was fascinating by Dr. Mitchell Gold, CEO and President of Dendreon Corporation.  He has overseen the growth of Dendreon from a $40 million dollar market cap to over $6 billion dollars today.  He talked about how the loss of his mother to breast cancer when she was only 26 years old and when he was five years old has driven his focus toward his life's work of finding a cure for cancer.

After the call to donate generously to the cause, the morning ended with another musical performance again by The Canadian Tenors and Kenny G.  Though it was pouring rain by the bucket outside, it was truly a beautiful day inside the Seattle Sheraton this morning!

Omega Watch Store Opening

JJ McKay, Ken, Alex Camara

Last night, Ken and I attended the opening celebration of the new Omega Watch store on the corner of University Street and Fifth Avenue in the Fairmont Hotel.  It is located in a portion of the space that was previously Jeri Rice, once my favorite clothing store in all of Seattle.  We walked the red carpet and were greeted with a glass of champagne and saw lots of friends including JJ McKay, Alex Camara, Bob Diercks, Colette Courtion, Vicki Griffin, Eleanor Nolan, Barbara Malone and Elizabeth Roberts.

The December Birthday Celebration

Back row: Denise Nielsen, Suzy Krabbe, Cathi,
Susan Neumann, Diane Kuenster
Front row:  Londi Burnett, Jan Rogers

Earlier this week along with friends, we celebrated the December birthdays for three of us; Londi Burnett, Jan Rogers and me.  We have had the tradition for several years of celebrating birthdays on a quarterly basis together over lunch.  The rules are that the non-birthday girls buy lunch and the birthday girls bring gifts for everyone else.

This time, with three of celebrating at one time, the gift haul was substantial! Londi brought beautiful wine stoppers, Jan brought fizzy bath soap and I brought fancy presentation cupcake sleeves. In addition, Suzy Krabbe had forgotten to bring her gifts during her birthday celebration in the fall and we had all made it quite clear that we did expect a gift from her this time; so she arrived bearing boxes of chocolates for everyone.  Also Diane Kuenster came with homemade cheese breadsticks (yum!!) along with pickled beets and Denise Nielsen brought a Tully's card for each of us.

Happy Birthday Londi, Jan and Cathi!

The Chaine Christmas Party

Ken and James.  The knees have it!

Last night Ken and I attended the annual Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs Christmas Party at the home of our friends, Sherry & James Raisbeck.  Their home and property was completely decorated from the moment we turned into the winding driveway, it felt like a festive event; from the nutcrackers marching up their front steps, to the three-story Christmas tree that just fits in their entryway to the glorious decorations throughout their fascinating home!

In competition with the Christmas decorations, it is always fun to attend Chaine events and see the eye-catching ribbons and medals that the members wear.  It is a little bit like a Boy Scout or Girl Scout sash with badges, but the "badges" are much more colorful and interesting looking.  The sashes that I would give an award to as the "Best Eye Candy" last night are the ones that Mel Sturman and Bertrand de Boutray wore.  As usual, I forgot my regalia at home.

When we first arrived, James and Ken took turns rolling up their pant legs and showing each other their knees!  Ken recently had knee replacement surgery and James is ready to have knee surgery soon.  If was a little like the game, "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours!"  Jan Condit and Susan Lindsay were also eager to talk "knees" with Ken.

Sue Raschella & Ken

We saw and visited with many other friends including Michele & Dan Heidt, Lynn & Frank Lindsay, Phil Lindsay, Sue & Tom Raschella, Linda & Toby Warson, Bob Arnold and his fiance, Anne-Marie & Tom Hedges, Christopher Chan (whom Ken continues inexplicably to refer to as "Matt"), Laura Peterson, and Paul Birkeland and his fiance, Diane Roberts.

Fred Hutch 35th Annual Gala

Ken and Rose Dennis

On Saturday evening, Ken and I attended the 35th Annual Hutch Holiday Gala at the Sheraton Seattle.  We were guests of Citi Private Bank at Nancy & Mark Pellegrino's table and had fun being seated with old friends, Debi & Len Giannola and Rose & Frank Dennis plus some new friends as well.

When we arrived, we saw checking in at the same time, friends JJ McKay, Pamela Rolfe, Sally Behnke and Dottie Simpson.  Both Sally and Dottie, active, involved, community-minded women, are women whom I aspire to be like someday!  The hotel was decorated beautifully and other than a extremely long, tedious wait at the bar to get a drink before we were seated for dinner, the evening's service was excellent and the food delicious.

Once we sat down for dinner, we were entertained with a very funny actor and comedian, Kevin Nealon, widely known for his role on Saturday Night Live.  John Curley was the auctioneer, while Steve Raible, Denise Whitaker and Sharon Friel served as celebrity announcers.

Debi Giannola, Mark & Nancy Pellegrino, Frank Dennis

A highlight of the program was when Jackie Bezos made the plea to support raising matching funds for the $10 million gift their family gave last year to fuel immunotherapy research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  An extensive "Raise the Paddle" segment then occurred where at each gift level, a designated advocate and donor stood up to make the first gift at that level.  Sean Parker led the $250,000 level, Peter Horvitz led the $75,000, Carl & Sally Behnke led the $50,000 level (though later raised their donation to a total of $75,000), Karl & Carol Ege led the $25,000 level and Barbara & Bill Bryant led the $15,000 level.  Each level from $250,000 down to $500 had a designated advocate and donor.  I did my best to keep track of the donations at each level and I think the total was close to $2,700,000!

One of Ken's pet peeves at auctions is that the new normal is that every auction waits to serve the dinner entree until after the "Raise the Paddle" segment occurs.  When it took almost an hour to get the huge number of donations that were generously given last night, the entree still had not been served at 9:30 pm.  Though I know Ken was ready to leave before the entree was served, I was happy to see that he controlled his impatience and we actually stayed until just before dessert!

Since we missed the final auction items, I did not hear the total proceeds raised from the evening, but I was impressed with the bidding energy in the room so feel quite sure that the total amount raised was one that everyone involved can be proud of!

Entrepreneurship Education in Action

This quarter, I have been serving as a mentor to a class team participating in the University of Washington Entrepreneurship 370a: Introduction to Entrepreneurship course.  This course is designed to be approachable for undergraduates in all majors who seek to understand the entrepreneurial process.

My job as a mentor, has been to meet with my assigned team three or four times and assist them in thinking through their Opportunity Assessment and Opportunity Execution projects.  For the Opportunity Assessment project, students learned how to tell the difference between a good idea and a scalable business opportunity.  they had to identify and define a market opportunity and pitch the opportunity to their classmates.  For the Opportunity Execution project, though students were not required to write a full business plan, they explored how to actually assemble a company; thinking through how they would sell, distribute, create demand, attract a team, build and fund their project which then culminated in a 10 minutes pitch.   To help expand their vision, I invited them to attend one of the recent ZINO Society Roundtable Investment meetings where they got to see "real" entrepreneurs pitching.

"Find-a-Kid" - The Pitch

This morning, I attended my team's pitch along with other team pitches in front of their classmates and other mentors in the room.  The course was presented by Emily Cox, Assistant  Professor of Management and Organization, at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

My mentees participating in the development of their "Find-a-Kid" business were Hannah Jackowski, Daniel Matson, Ailyne Halim, Jessica Allison and Catherine Dubois-Boutet.  Great job of presenting! 

I must say that I was impressed with the quality of the presentations of these teams and look forward to seeing at least some of them in the Business Plan Competition later this school year!

Entrepreneur of the Week: Torrey Russell of Offers Network, Inc.

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur Member this week is Torrey Russell, Founder & CEO of Offers Network, Inc. Torrey presented his company at the recent ZINO Society Roundtable Investment meetings on October 19th and 20th. We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.


What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . .  We provide solutions for Real Estate Brokers to attract and maintain agents through the use of Smartphone Real Estate Shopping services we offer at http://iznvu.com

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . .  After working with clients in the field and providing them Internet services it became clear to us that our clients, Real Estate owners, were struggling with providing services that keeps them relevant and useful in this fast moving Internet world. Our idea was to connect the Real Estate shopping customer with the Agent and have the service provided by the Broker, the owner. In this way, Customers are wedded to Agents and they to Brokers.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . .  Open to new ideas and honor and respect all players in the supply chain from customer to service providers to our company.

How are you different from your competition? . . . We are focused on helping the owners of Real Estate offices to recruit and maintain their sales staff (Agents)

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Making services easy and powerful enough for Agents to use and embrace our new and game changing technology.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . $250,000 in Friends and Family and Personally invested over $350,000

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . .  To build and develop a US and Canadian Sales and implementation/support team as fast as we can roll out the service

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . .  That it is not really about the Smartphone app. This is simply a tool to help the Broker (owner of the business) to link his business in a way to the end customer who buys a home and help to maintain and attract the players in-between (Agents).

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . Large overheads and fixed costs such as offices and warehouses. Our service is run in the crowd, we deliver nothing but data is already created in the industry and sell in on a platform the user already owns.

Why will your company be successful? . . . I have been responsible for starting or re-starting 9 computer companies, many of which are still in business. Our service on the surface appears to be something that many large organizations will create, and that may be true, few will have the history of creating value for their shareholders in the face of hundreds of competitors. We have a history of innovation and the ability to adapt faster than our competitors.

ZINO Marketplace - Founders' Funding, Foibles and Feats



Fund Finalists Dave Lefkow, Bob Mighell, Bill Kallman, Paul Hagen



Back-of-the-Napkin Pitch
 "Reveal"



Mike Almquist, Dan Gerrity, David Guiliani,

Jan Hendrickson, Tom T. O'Keefe



The entire ZINO Society team is very proud of our ZINO Marketplace Investment Forum held earlier this week at the beautiful Pan Pacific Hotel.  There were 17 entrepreneurs presenting; 12 ZINOpreneur members with 5-minute pitches and 5 2-minute Back-of-the-Napkin pitches.



Of the ZINOpreneur members' 5-minute presenters, four finalists were selected for consideration for the $50,000 ZINO Marketplace Investment Forum fund which included Dave Lefkow of J&D's Foods, Inc., Bob Mighell of Tilting Motor Works, Bill Kallman of Scayl, Inc., and Paul Hagen of VacuPractor.  ZINO Zenith (Peoples' Choice) Awards were awarded to Bob Mighell for Best Presenter and Bill Kallman of Scayl, Inc. for Best Investment Opportunity.  Joe Aboubakr of Cargozz LLC received the ZINO Zenith Award for Best Investment Opportunity among the Back-of-the-Napkin presenters.  Here is the press release with more details.    

In addition, there was a stellar panel of successful entrepreneur "founders" including Michael Almquist, Dan Gerrity, David Guiliani, Jan Hendrickson, and Tom T. O'Keefe who shared some of their "a-ha" lessons learned over the years with the entrepreneurs and investors present.  The expert panel also reviewed the "Back-of-the-Napkin-Pitches" and shared which company they would invest in with the very limited knowledge that they had about each company.  One of my favorite lines during the forum which drew a roar of laughter was Tom O'Keefe's comment as he was selecting a company and was able to give a call-out to each of the 2-minute presenters, "I can get a card for my wife on our anniversary from Thoughtful People, we can go celebrate at Cold Cold Heart where we can drink Mistica Wine and be protected by GunUp and then get home safely with Cargozz."

And the Winners are . . . Banshee Bungee and NanoIce!

Cathi Hatch & Kevin Veon of Banshee Bungee

Last week, the Fund Investors for the 2010 ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum Fund got together to make the final selection of which two companies that presented at ZZIF in September would receive the $100,000 co-investment fund.  The winners are ZINOpreneurs Kevin Veon of Banshee Bungee and Craig Rominger of NanoICE!  Both companies are now ready to close their investment rounds with all the attention they both received as a result of ZZIF.  We are thrilled for both of them and look forward to watching their growth and success.

Here is the press release with more interesting details.

"Ladies Who Lead"

Cathi Hatch, Sunny Kobe Cook, Katie Kelley, Cindy Tortorici

The title of the panel discussion in which I was involved earlier this week was "Ladies Who Lead", a segment of the two-day boutique Global Conference for Women Entrepreneurs event being produced simultaneously in New York and Seattle, entitled "Dream It!  Launch It!  Live It!"  by the organization, Ladies Who Launch.  It was billed as a chance to connect and network with the largest worldwide community of women who are reinventing what it means to be the entrepreneur of your life.

My fellow panelists were Cindy Tortorici of The Link for Women and Sunny Kobe Cook of Kobe Foundation.  Our moderator was Katie Kelley, representing Ladies Who Launch from Portland.  The three areas we were asked to speak to were clarifying one's vision, developing an influential voice and creating one's own community of peers and mentors.

One of Sunny's comments related to the size of my Rolodex.  (In actuality, I use Microsoft Outlook, not a Rolodex.)  The comment was something to the effect that my Rolodex is so large that I have a direct line to God in it.  It made me smile and also made me realize once again how important all of my friends and acquaintances have been in helping make ZINO Society successful!

Candlelight Dinner to benefit Tateuchi Center

Marilyn Herzberg, Cathi Hatch, Kathy Surace-Smith, Karen Lytle

Last night, Ken was happy to stay home with his knee elevated while I joined Chuck & Karen Lytle, who are Tateuchi Center Capital Campaign Co-Chairs at their table at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency for the 2010 Candlelight Dinner presented by the ACT One Guild to benefit the Tateuchi Center.  The ACT One Guild was proud to add to their already raised $1 million funding during the past few years to support the Endowment Fund.

We were welcomed by Melanie Bruch, President of the ACT One Guild.  The tables were a-blaze with votive candles in oversized candle towers and floating candles and orchids in tall vases. The Lytle's other table guests included Marilyn Herzberg, Patti Payne, Kathy & Brad Smith, Ann & Tom Gores, and Lynn & Craig Schrontz.  Being a guest at the Lytle table is always a treat because Chuck brought some special wine from his cellar.  My favorite was the 1996 Napa Valley Pahlmeyer Merlot which had received a 98 point Robert Parker rating.  At our table, we referred to it as "Ten Buck Chuck"!



Lizabeth Morrow-Nold & Cathi Hatch

 I ran into Joan & Bob Wallace when I first arrived and later had the chance to meet their son, Kevin Wallace, who serves as a Bellevue City Council Member. Some of the other attendees included Tateuchi Center Board President, Peter Horvitz, Capital Campaign Co-Chairs, Betty & Kemper Freeman, newest Board member, Patti Edwards, Board member Ed Springman and his wife, Jane Hague, King County Coucil Member. There was also a contngent attending from the Tateuchi Center ACT Two Guild leadership including three from the Corporate Sponsorship Committee; Vice President, Michele Phillips-Baransky, Secretary Lizabeth Morrow-Nold, and 2010 Artist Mozelle Spencer. Joining them at their table were Stacy & Greg Lill, Columba McGlynn, Stacy & Geoff Chambers, Carri & Sean Miller, and Mark Allison.

Suzuki Method Musicians, PNW School of Music

As part of the dinner program in addition to the Deems Tsutakawa Trio, we had the opportunity to hear from the Suzuki Method Musicians from the Pacific Northwest School of Music including the tiniest young violinists I have ever seen that were maybe five or six years old.  During dessert, we also had the opportunity to hear from two accomplished pianists, Timothy Beuca and Natalya Ageyeva, and were serenaded by Marcus Shelton, tenor.  Each artist was really outstanding, but it was Marcus, the tenor, who brought tears to my eyes when he sang Nessun Dorma from "Turandot" and finished with a song from "Les Miserables".

Following the entertainment, David Silverman did a masterful job as Emcee of picking up the pace and helped raise another $135,000 during the Fund-A-Need to benefit the Tateuchi Center Endowment Fund.

Entrepreneur of the Week: Dwight Miles of Whirly Golf

Dwight Miles of Whirly Golf

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur Member this week is Dwight Miles, President/ & General Manager of Whirly Golf Limited.   Dwight presented his company at the ZINO Society Roundtable meetings on October 19th and 20th . We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.


What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . .  The fun short-game chipping and putting device focused on bringing kids to the game of golf through game improvement

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . .  While talking with golf instructors, representatives with The First Tee and golf retailers, we found that kids love hitting golf balls...they love hitting the ball hard, seeing the ball in flight, but they did not like working on their short game - which is, arguably, the most important facet of their game. So we thought, how do we make chipping and putting fun and allow them to practice in their own back yard with family and friends.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Family

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . .  By focusing on kids and partnering with kid focused charities, we have an established relationship with our target consumer and thereby established a unique and differentiated position in the marketplace.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . .  We have successfully produced a prototype that we are testing. Our biggest challenge is raising the final capital to get us to full launch for the PGA show in January 2011.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . We have raised approximately $800K

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . .

• Make the final payment for product molds
• Finalize product packaging
• PGA Show - January
• Product samples for the show
• Product seeding for charitable partners
• Website
• Advertising and PR
• Road show to see key customers
•  Full worldwide launch
• Displays/Merchandisers for retailers

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . Huge worldwide potential with unique focus on captive kids audience that is expandable beyond golfers.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . .The one thing missing from our company is final funding to have product launch for the January 2011 PGA Golf Show.

Why will your company be successful? . . .We will be successful because we have a unique position in the marketplace by partnering with key charitable groups that touch 5M kids. Our leadership team has extensive experience in start-up businesses and global sales and marketing experience in consumer packaged goods. We have a business model that provides tremendous profit margin while meeting retailer target margin from inception. And lastly, we also have experience in the golf industry and have received sincere interest from the top 10 retailers buying departments.

25th Annual MOHAI History Makers Gala

Prince Charming, Ian, charms
Doug and Joyce 

Tonight Ken and I attended the Museum of History and Industry History Makers Gala at the Fremont Studios.  (The last time I was in the Fremont Studios was last March when I was one of the featured "Seattle Dance" dancers to raise funds for Plymouth Housing Group.  Here is a previous blog post that talks about that.)

We were delighted to be guests of Susan & Gary Neumann.  Gary is currently the President of the MOHAI Board of Trustees. We saw many friends and MOHAI supporters including Herb Bridge & Edie Hilliard, Lynn & Frank Lindsay, Susan Lindsay, Barbara Gessing & Jay Rockey, Sue & Bill Vitatoe, Laura & Ian McNeill, William Justen, Joyce & Doug McCallum, Sandi & Tim Premsalaar, Sue & Tom Raschella, Nancy & Van Strom, and Carol & Spike Anderson.


Ian McNeill aka Prince Charming



Cathi, Ian, Ken

We were able to stay long enough to hear the exciting announcement from Patty Stonesifer about the partnership between MOHAI and the Smithsonian Museum.  We also enjoyed dinner and were able to fix a dessert inequity by involving Ian McNeil, who inexplicably was dressed as Prince Charming, in procuring some additional  Strawberry Rhubarb Tarts in exchange for a surfeit of Chocolate Decadence for our table. 

We were also impressed with the presentation of the MOHAI Educators of the Year award by Gary Neumann to teachers, Sara Williams, Margaret Lang, and Lisa Stroud who between them had 40 years of teacher experience and are using the educational materials available from MOHAI as part of their curriculum. 

Gary Neumann, President of MOHAI Board

Following the presentation, Ken and I slipped out because Ken was in so much pain from his recent knee replacement surgery.  It is still difficult for him to attend events with any level of comfort.  So, unfortunately, we missed the keynote address by Tom Skerritt about The Film School which I know would have been very interesting.

But, it was a lovely celebration.  Congratulations to President of the Board, Gary Neumann and the entire leadership of MOHAI!