Our Inaugural "Get Funded!" Workshop

Yesterday afternoon, ZINO Society hosted our inaugural “Get Funded!:  Winning Strategies for Courting Angel Investors” workshop in the stunning offices of our event and annual sponsor, Davis Wright Tremaine.  The four hour workshop followed by a wine and hors d’oeuvres networking reception was conducted by ZINO Society Coaching Member and principal of Business Plans Northwest, Bryan Brewer, and ZINO Society COO, Rob Brown.    

The workshop included “in the trenches” information on the angel funding process, courting angel investors, the investor pitch and angels in the Northwest.  The participants were a mix of entrepreneurs and a few angel investors who shared their passion, knowledge and challenges with one another.  The participant evaluations were very positive with requests for additional topics to be covered in the future.  When asked, which aspect of the session was most helpful, every participant had a different answer which speaks to the diversity of the entrepreneurial stages that each represented.  We did agree, however, that we would share everyone’s contact information so the dialog could be continued amongst the attendees.

I know that I look forward to working with Bryan and Rob to continue to further develop and tweak the curriculum for future sessions!

Copper River Salmon at the Harbor Club

Friday night, Ken and I attended the annual Copper River Salmon Winemaker Dinner at the Harbor Club in Bellevue.  We were seated with Harbor Club CEO, Tom Goodenow and his wife Sandie, along with Rochelle & Harry Alhadeff, Harbor Club Board member, Connie & Judd Marquardt, mayor of Yarrow Point, David Cooper and his wife.

We were treated to an excellent four-course gourmet dinner produced by Harbor Club Executive Chef, David Thierry, which featured fresh Copper River Salmon.  My favorite course was the First Course which included creative food flavors melded together highlighting the salmon:

Copper River Salmon Tartare, Rosemary Crisp, Rhubarb and Lemon Tyme Jam

House Cured Copper River King Gravlax, Shredded Fennel and Baby Dill Crème Fraiche

Copper River Salmon Rilette, Brioche Crouton, Apple Shallot Chutney

The featured winemaker was friend, John Bigelow of JM Cellars.  Ken and I have always loved JM Cellars wines since we were first introduced to them several years ago.  One of my fond memories is a winemaker dinner on the terrace at our home benefitting Seattle Children’s Hospital where John and his wife, Peggy, representing JM Cellars were one of several featured vintners.  Last night, as noted on the menu, he shared his 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Viognier, 2007 Merlot and 2007 Longevity red blend.  In addition, he surprised us with some Carmeniere and the first bottling of his new 2009 Rose made from 100% Mouvedre grapes.  Though John said he had just sold out within three hours of the release, ZINO Society member, Harry Alhadeff coaxed John to sell him any extra bottles of the 2009 Rose that he had left (see photo of Harry and John above).

At the end of the evening, CEO Tom, thanked all the guests for attending and reminded us of the Harbor Club Golden Jubilee 50^th Anniversary Gala Party coming up on June 18, 2010.   Please see top photo above of Tom showcasing the crystal memento which will be distributed to guests at the Golden Jubilee Gala party.    

Jenna Fischer needs "A Little Help"

Last evening we had the opportunity to soak up an incredible panoramic view of Lake Union on the 24^th floor of the WEST 8^TH building (along with a glass of wine or a martini) at JJ McKay’s cocktail party.  He invited friends to join him to meet friends, Joe Gressis and Dena Hysell, who were premiering their new indie movie, “A Little Help”, starring Jenna Fischer (see photo of Jenna Fischer above with Stacy Lill and me).

It was an intriguing place for a party which included a vast open, unfinished space with no walls, lighting or HVAC, but perfect for an afternoon party before the sun went down.  There were scores of friends and interesting people there to meet Jenna and wish Joe and Dena well including Piper & Billy O’Neill,  Heather & Michael Sandoval, Afshan Lakha, Betty Tong (see photo of Betty, JJ and me above), Kim Richter, Stacy and Greg Lill, Princess Lada and Larry Schuiski, Vanessa Strickland (see Vanessa & Betty 3^rd photo above) and Nancy Auer, recently retired from Swedish Medical Center.  Also attending were Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Ballet Dancers, Lucien Postlewaite, recovering from a recent operation and sporting hip new glasses and Olivier Wevers, who will be dancing the role of Dr. Coppelius in the upcoming new production of Coppelia which opens next week at McCaw Hall.

In addition to recognizing the party honorees, JJ also made a birthday toast to Marnie Rosen and we joined in a decidedly off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday” in her honor.  It’s the thought that counts!

Chips off the same Block

Yesterday afternoon, I attended a cocktail reception at the WAC hosted by John Meisenbach and Dennis Bassford to welcome Idaho Governor, C.L. “Butch” Otter, to Seattle.  Governor Otter was inspiring as he talked about how he has been able to pare $1 billion out of his state’s $3 billion budget this past year without raising taxes and without cutting essential services.  He is very concerned about some of the current challenges to the US Constitution impacting states’ rights and in his opinion destroying the country that we have so proudly built over the past couple of centuries.

Governor Otter was articulate and energetic in sharing his message with the approximately 40 people in attendance.  His son, John Otter, a member of ZINO Society and friend that I so admire, was instrumental in organizing his father’s whirlwind campaign visit to Seattle.  John kept his dad busy over the course of his three day trip, but was also able to arrange for a special piece of glass art as a gift from Dale Chihuly, which he presented at the cocktail reception in recognition of the service and leadership his father has provided to our country.

Governor Otter was obviously very proud of his son and John was obviously very proud of his father.  It was a treat to see them together.  They are both so friendly, charming and people-oriented that it is safe to say that they are chips off the same block.

       

Salsa Dance Lessons Reward

Following our Beginning Salsa I class at Century Ballroom on Monday evening, JJ McKay and Steve & Fredda Goldfarb and I visited Molly Moon for an ice cream treat to reward ourselves after a sweaty class of practicing four different right-hand turns.  We are having fun along with around 50 other people learning to dance the salsa.  Of course, Steve is a little (a lot?) ahead of the rest of us, since he danced the salsa in the Plymouth Housing Group Seattle Dances competition a couple of months ago!

ARCS Annual Celebration

Ken and I attended a beautiful ARCS party and Annual Meeting at the home of Chap & Eve Alvord last week.  Seattle Chapter Development VP, Zan Brookshire and President, Mickey Flowers (top photo) announced the exciting news about the record number of scholarships ARCS has funded this year for both University of Washington and Washington State University.

The mission of the ARCS Foundation is to provide scholarship awards to academically outstanding United States citizens studying to complete graduate degrees in science, medicine and engineering, thereby contributing to the advancement of science and technology.

Chap and Eve have an incredible art collection including stunning pieces by artists Dennis Evans and Nancy Mee (who is also an ARCS member).  See photo of Dennis, Nancy and Eve above.  A beautiful evening surrounded by beautiful art and beautiful people, all for a good cause!

A Bevy of Junior League Past Presidents

Today I attended the annual Junior League of Seattle Past Presidents’ Luncheon hosted by Elizabeth Reilly, the outgoing JLS President to welcome Natalie Bow, the incoming JLS President (see 2^nd photo of Natalie and me).  I served as JLS President in 1991-92 and it is always a real treat to reconnect with so many amazing, dynamic women each spring when we welcome the incoming President.

The President who served furthest in the past is Iola Groth and she served in 1952-54.  She is the woman in purple in the middle front row of the top photo.  Iola is such an inspiration to each of us.  We all hope to be just like her when we grow up!

Other JLS Past Presidents attending today were Clair Jenkins (’67-’68), Barbee Crutcher (’68-’69), Anne Farrell (’72-’73), Colleen Willoughby (’74-’75), Marli Iverson (’78-’79), Anne Blair (’84-’85), Judy Holder (’86-’87), Sue Mecklenburg (’88-’89), Shari Hardy (’90-’91), Dot Fuller (’93-’94), JP Brigham (’95-’96), Marilyn Leck (’02-’03), JoAnne Jones (’03-’04), Evelyn Zabo (’04-’05), Rhonda Neben (’05-’06), Crissey Miller (’06-’07), Heather Giacoletto (’07-’08) and Joanne Pettito (’08-’09).  Also attending were four Past Presidents from other Junior Leagues including two from Santa Barbara, one from Milwaukee (Andrea Mann), and one from Atlanta.

In addition to having the opportunity to hear an update on what is going on in each of our lives during the past year (and you would be amazed at the number of boards, task forces, advisory committees, etc. in which this group is involved), we heard from Vicki Clark, an AJLI Volunteer Consultant (see 3^rd photo above), who shared messages from the book, The Eleven Commandments of Wildly Successful Women by Pam Gilberd.  I look forward to reading the book soon, but in the meantime, I am pretty sure that ALL the women at the luncheon today can be deemed “wildly successful women”!

 

Seattle University Business Plan Competition-Drum Roll Please!

Yesterday I served as a finalist judge for the Seattle University Albers School of Business & Economics Entrepreneurship Center 12^th Annual Business Plan Competition.  Steve Brilling, Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Center, gathered a stellar group of finalist judges to review the written business plans and sit through the pitches of the final four business plan presenters and vote on a grand prize winner and a second place winner.  See photo above with several of the judges pictured.

The Finalist Judges included:

Dave Anastasi, eDocument Sciences

Janis Anderson, Niviera Corporation

Paul Bialek, Frazier Technology

Frank Clement, Redhook Brewery Board of Directors

Cathi Hatch, ZINO Society

Rebecca Lovell, NWEN

John Meisenbach, MCM

Bill Monkman, Precision Aerospace

Teresa Russell, West Coast Paper

Adrian Smith, Ignition Partners

Ruth Tressel, Ruth Tressel, LLC

Ben Straughn, Perkins Coie

Mark Yates, T-Mobile

The four business plan finalists included:

Broadspeak Inc.:  A design and intellectual property company that will develop, market, and sell language translation solutions consisting of software and online services.

Greenstone International:  founded to commercialize Estradero, a product that when applied to clay, creates low cost, long-lasting and virtually maintenance free green roads, worldwide.

Safety Innovation:  Inventor of CleanCoat, an innovative garment to reduce spread of infections in healthcare delivery

Sweet Stache Brewery & Alehouse:  an on-site brewery located in Seattle’s upper Queen Anne neighborhood dedicated to providing great beer, quality food and a relaxing atmosphere where neighbors can find their third place.

Finalist Judge, Adrian Smith, was responsible for facilitating our discussion.  I’m pretty sure if asked that he would liken it to herding cats.  There were lots of smart people in the room who had definite opinions and they were not all the same.  Drum roll please!  Ultimately, the First Place winner we selected that received a check for $10,000 was Greenstone International and the Second Place $2,500 prize winner was Safety Innovation.  All of the would-be entrepreneurs did a great job with their pitches and the visual slides and embedded videos were well done.

I won’t be surprised to see at least a couple of these companies being presented at a ZINO Society Roundtable Investment meeting within the next few months.

Fisher Communications Celebrates 100 Years!

On Tuesday evening, husband Ken and I attended the Fisher Communications Century of Service and Innovation Celebration Dinner at the Museum of History and Industry.  We ran into many people with whom Ken worked over the years when he was CEO and President of KIRO Broadcast Corporation.  See photo above of Ken and Bob Boyd, who worked for Ken for many years and is now General Sales Manager for Fisher Radio Seattle.  Also attending were old friends and KOMO associates, John & Sarah Rindlaub, Patti Payne, Dave & Trudi Syferd and JJ McKay.

Fisher Communications President and CEO, Colleen Brown and husband, Guy, welcomed us to this special private dinner to celebrate 100 years of involvement in the community in broadcast and other Fisher businesses including the original flour mill.  See photo of Colleen and me above.  There is an interesting installation of Fisher memorabilia, the Fisher Centennial Exhibit, at MOHAI that will be there for a few months.

KOMO television news anchors, Kathi Goertzen and Dan Lewis served as emcees for the event reminiscing about some of the funny stories and garbled phrases that they had experienced over the years.

Accolades were given by Fisher family member, Phelps Fisher,  Secretary of State, Sam Reed and a highlight video.  Though he retired from broadcast around 15 years ago, since KOMO was his arch-competitor in the past, Ken regressed to his aggressive broadcast competitor mentality and was sure that their glowing facts couldn’t possibly be correct.  When he felt compelled to share his opinion with our table mates, I had to remind him none-too-gently that this was a night to celebrate KOMO’s achievements!

Happy 100^th to Colleen (she looks amazingly good for a 100 year old!) and Fisher Communications!  

Mothers' Day

This past weekend could not have been better!  The entire weekend was sunny and beautiful.  I received cards and/or phone calls from each of my children and Ken’s children.  We celebrated Mothers’ Day with brunch at the Rainier Club.  Delicious!  See photo of Ken and me along with Alicia & Michael Hatch and their two sons, Jackson and Spencer above.   

 I received a new golf club for Mothers’ Day that I had been coveting – a #6 Burner Rescue club.  And then I had the chance to play golf at Overlake Golf and Country Club and played the best nine holes I have played in the past year.  Hooray!  My new Rescue club worked perfectly in several situations!  Now, who can I find to play golf with this weekend??  

IslandWood Dinner in the Woods

Last night Ken and I made the trek on the Bainbridge Island ferry to IslandWood’s annual “Dinner in the Woods” Gala. IslandWood’s mission is to provide exceptional learning experiences and to inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship and this event is one of the primary fundraising opportunities each year. The really good news is that we were encouraged to wear jeans and fleece, so after the black tie event of the previous evening, this party was very comfortable and casual. For those of us that don’t take the ferry very often, it always seems like such an exotic adventure to find the right ferry line and buy tickets to the intended destination. Somehow we managed to do this successfully and were met on Bainbridge Island with a promised private shuttle ~ an old yellow school bus.

On the way, we ran into friends also traveling to the party including Will Poole & Janet Levinger, Ken Bunting, Ken & Laurie Myer, Bob & Cindy Blais, and Sally & Paul Kassab. Once there, Ken and I were transported by an IslandWood docent via golf cart throughout the beautiful IslandWood campus to the cocktail party area between the main visitor center and just outside the dinner and auction tent. At the cocktail party we connected with more friends including Lauren Selig, Colleen & Byron McCann, Ruby Love, and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins. See photo of Ken at cocktail party (2^nd photo above).

When it was time to move into the tent for dinner, as guests of Honorary Chairs, Phil & Geda Condit, we were seated front and center at a table right in front of the podium. We were delighted to see that in addition to Phil & Geda, we were also seated with Patti Payne, Mike & Lee Keller and Kappie & Joe Ayers. Lee and Patti immediately reorganized the seating so we could sit together and were scolded only slightly by Geda who had planned to trade seats later during the evening. You can see that no grudges were held however by the photo of Geda, Patti and Phil (4^th photo above).

Phil kicked off the auction dinner part of the evening with some background about how he had come to be such a staunch supporter of IslandWood when he was Chairman and CEO of Boeing (see 3^rd photo above). He also noted that although Boeing, as the title sponsor of the evening, has continued to be a proud sponsor of IslandWood, that the current sponsorship is not because of his influence but because of the quality programs that IslandWood has offered to over 25,000 school children since it was launched in 2002 and to over 4,000 children from 70 schools this year alone.

The Master of Ceremonies and auctioneer for the evening was Kevin Joyce, who is an IslandWood enthusiast, parent and lover of the environment. Kevin expertly auctioned off fifteen Live Auction items and led the ubiquitous “Raise the Paddle” segment. One of the quirky announcements of the evening was that this Gala was serving as the wedding rehearsal dinner for IslandWood Board member, Dennis Madsen and his bride, Debbie Mahan, since they were being married the following day.

Included in the evening’s program were several poems written by children who have visited IslandWood. This one was my favorite by Carly from Greenwood Elementary:

GRATITUDE POEM

The pine trees teach me how to keep my ground.

The rain helps me wash away my bad feelings.

The blue sky shows me how to be happy.

The moon teaches me how to light the way.

The maple trees show me how to let go of my hatred like leaves in the fall.

The mountains teach me how to stand strong and be patient.

The thunder and lightning teach me how to be afraid.

The animals help me find new discoveries, and the sun shines all day long so that I can see.

Lights Up! Wine, Dine & Shine at Seattle Rep

Friday evening, Ken and I attended the “Lights Up! Wine, Dine & Shine at Seattle Rep” fundraiser to benefit the Seattle Repertory Theatre. We followed a long red carpet to enter the festivities where almost every woman was wearing at least one flashing, lighted ring to denote the purchase of a raffle ticket. Our neighbor, Debbie Killinger, however took the prize for most flashing rings, wearing ten; one on each finger! It was a lovely black-tie party with dinner onstage in the Bagley Wright Theatre. Once we entered the auditorium, the stage looked fantastic with three crystal chandeliers hovering overhead and tall multi-arm candelabras lighting up each table.

We were guests of Seattle Repertory Theatre chairman, Toni Hoffman and her husband, Rod (see photo above). It was great fun to catch up with so many friends including Joan & Bob Cremin, Pat Wallace, Marco, Paul Birkeland, Stacy Lill, Alta & Stan Barer, Deborah & Doug Rosen, Jane & Dave Davis, Elizabeth Rudolf, Jan Hendrickson, Kathleen & Mike Mitrovich, Deb & Larry Doran, Kate & Larry Anderson, Stewart Parker, Debbie Killinger, Sherry & James Raisbeck plus scores of others.

The program included a brief original play, Yosemite, written by Seattle Roosevelt High School sophomore, Maddie Daviss, one of four youth playwrights who took part in Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 2010 Playwriting Project. Her play, performed by four professional equity actors, was charming and very well-received by the gala audience. The evenings’ “Raise the Paddle” was directly targeted to Seattle Rep’s Initiative for Young Audiences and began with a generous $1,000,000 leadership gift from longtime theatre subscriber and patron, Matthew Clapp Jr. His generosity was acknowledged with a standing ovation from all in attendance. Others followed his lead and a total of an additional $130,000 was raised through the “Raise the Paddle”. Including that, a brief auction and ticket sales, the gross raised was $370,000.

The auction included round trip airfare for two people to Puerta Vallarta and a one week stay at Toni & Rod Hoffman’s beautiful, beach front condominium home. The item went well above the published $5,000 value, so Toni and Rod offered a second package on the spot and were able to double the funds raised for the Seattle Rep.

Nothing to do with the theatre, but a cultural phenomenon I noticed Friday night is that several of us have decided at the same time to grow our hair longer. I know I have been doing so and noticed that Pat Wallace, Elizabeth Rudolf and Jan Hendrickson have been doing the same thing. I’m not totally sure what the driving force is on this, but am guessing that we are all trying to look a bit younger once again!