washington business
editorial staff
Don C. Brunell, Publisher
Jocelyn A. McCabe, APR, Executive Editor
Jason Hagey, Communications Manager
Daniel C. Brunell, Photo Editor
J-Anne Nepomuceno, Editorial Assistant
awb officers
Tom Hosea, Chair of the Board
KeyBank, Tacoma
Doug Bayne, Vice Chair
Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla
Mel Russell, Secretary/Treasurer
Aldercreek Vineyards, Vancouver
Lynn Townsend-White, Immediate Past Chair
Western Polymer, Moses Lake
Don C. Brunell, President
The late C. David Gordon, Honorary President
awb executive team
Don C. Brunell, President
Gary Chandler, VP, Government Affairs
Kris Johnson, VP, Operations
Jocelyn A. McCabe, APR, VP, Communications
What’s Ahead
Optimism Takes Root (in Poland)
Jocelyn A. McCabe, APR, Executive Editor
It was, of course, the great philosopher Clint Eastwood who once said, “I don’t
believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge
ahead. If you think it’s going to rain, it will.”
OK, so maybe philosopher isn’t the right title for Mr. Eastwood — though his
Harry Callahan character did occasionally deliver some insightful life lessons.
But Eastwood’s words do give us pause in this, the worst U.S. recession on
record. Negativity is seemingly everywhere these days. That’s why we’ve tried
to bring you some positive news in this issue of Washington Business.
Take this year’s Policy Summit for example. Our theme — Looking Ahead to
Prosperity — took the long view that better times are ahead. As Jason Hagey
notes in his recap story, several of this year’s speakers offered reasons to believe
in a recovery, including our panel of CEOs. Pollster Scott Rasmussen offered a
sobering take on things at the national level, but even he remains optimistic.
Our cover story, conceived and written well before this fall’s nationwide
public protests, attempts to explore how lenders, particularly smaller
institutions like AWB members Sterling Savings and Heritage Bank, are faring
in the current climate, given months of economic unrest. AWB guest writer
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credit, should they be in a position to expand or even retool to capitalize on new
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