State's new commerce director shares his business principles

The first thing I did after meeting Rogers Weed was to make fun of his name.

You don't often meet a man with two last names and I just couldn't help myself from remarking on it. It's a good thing for both of us that I didn't discover until I looked him up on Google later that his real name is Alonzo Rogers Weed IV.

I mention that not to poke fun at Weed, but to note that this is a guy you don't usually see in Washington state politics.

Weed has a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, which describes itself as "the most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world." Established in 1881, it was the first collegiate school of business and continues to be among the best.

When Weed got engaged in 1992, it was mentioned in the New York Times. A former publisher of Slate, an online magazine, Weed worked his way up at Microsoft to vice president. The original Alonzo Rogers Weed, by the way, was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1867, graduated from Harvard in 1887, was a director of Boston University School of Law and wrote an early book on business law titled "Business Law: a Manual for Schools and Colleges and for Every Day Use," which appeared in 1892.

Suffice it to say that Weed IV has a pretty good resume and a business pedigree, if you will.

He will need it in his new job as director of the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, soon to be shortened to the state Commerce Department.

Weed, appointed in March, dropped by The Herald last week while road tripping back from Bellingham. He brought along a document containing his mission statement, his vision and his plan for moving his new department forward. Being a man with a clearly defined plan is something else that distinguishes him from many state department heads.

His mission is a simple one: "Retain the jobs we have in Washington state and attract new ones."

I didn't mention that the true, unwritten mission of any department head is to get the governor re-elected, but I'm sure Weed is smart enough to have known that before he agreed to take the job.

Weed said that among the first things he will need to do is to stay knowledgeable about federal stimulus programs, especially as they relate to new energy programs, which he views as a real opportunity for the Northwest.

"There are different stimulus buckets on energy and we need to stay on top of it and be as organized and as competitive as we can be," he said.

He said the federal government has $30 billion to $40 billion to spend on investments in clean energy and that Washington needs "to be opportunistic" to get the programs and jobs that make sense here.

Opportunity and innovation are among Weed's themes, as are the Recovery Act, the recession and clusters. He's hoping the downturn will help reshape government and the way we work with business. What he means about clusters is that there are a variety of businesses in different stages and with different needs and that the state needs to tailor its offerings to meet them rather than coming up with a one-size-fits-all business plan.

Weed said it's pretty clear to him that people in the business community feel disconnected from state government. He said one of his first tasks has been to talk to business leaders about their needs and concerns and to make sure legislators know that the things they do affect business.

He's still doing that, so he didn't have a lot of specific plans for reshaping his new agency that he wanted to talk about. He does have his list of principles, however, and here are a few of them:

Acknowledging that governments don't create jobs, businesses do.

Reminding people that strong economies require strong communities with adequate social services.

Noting that a strong business community benefits all.

Remembering that government shouldn't try to pick winners and losers.

Making the retention of existing businesses and promoting their growth a first priority.

I was glad to hear that Weed wants to focus on existing businesses, because it would be easy to say we should mostly dip into the federal stimulus bucket for some new energy jobs.

But he noted that going after more business from existing customers is a fundamental rule of effective and efficient businesses, and he'd like to see the state adopt the idea.

That fits with Weed's other new role as chairman of the government's group to make the state more attractive to aerospace businesses. Boeing is the big dog in that hunt, but there are a lot of other aerospace companies in Snohomish County, clusters if you will, that the state can help continue to grow with the right college training, tax help and government policies.

I didn't get a chance to talk much with Weed about his thoughts about aerospace, but I'd like to as they continue to develop.

It's just nice to hear that we have someone in state government with some business savvy and a new approach on how to pursue jobs in Washington.



Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459, benbow@heraldnet.com.