Washington Business Summer 2017 | Washington Business | Page 43

business backgrounder | economy
The Place for Jobs
New coalition aims to promote South Sound’s shared values.
Malia Jacobson
A newly formed coalition hopes to preserve and promote the South Sound’s
rich economic opportunities and breathtaking natural landscapes.
For decades, Tacoma was little more than a blip on Liz Emberlin’s GPS. The Portland
native barely glimpsed Thea Foss Waterway, the slender Commencement Bay inlet
between Tacoma’s downtown and its port, during freeway drives to and from Seattle.
When she was recruited for a business development position with local plastic fabricator
KelTech, a family-owned company with a 75-year history at its site on South Pine Street,
she’d never set foot in Tacoma.
A former partner in a Portland-based digital marketing firm, Emberlin had her
sights set on a job in Seattle. But the team at KelTech, along with Tacoma’s sparkling
waterfront, dedicated workforce and deeply connected business community, quickly
won her over. She moved into a sought-after apartment building on the waterway last
October and now spends her free time boating, jogging and enjoying dockside meals at
trendy new restaurants. It’s a life she couldn’t have imagined a year ago.
“Tacoma is a fantastic place to live and work, and I’m thrilled to be here,” she says.
“If KelTech hadn’t recruited me, I would never have known.” At A Glance
creating conversation health care, and manufacturing.
Launched on May 10, The Place
for Jobs coalition is built around the
belief that the South Sound region
is strengthened when residents
unite around the shared values of
job creation and preserving the
natural environment.
The coalition includes a bipartisan
mix of elected officials as well as
leaders from education, labor, media,
Backers of a newly formed local coalition hope to both preserve and promote the South
Sound attributes that attracted Emberlin: rich economic opportunities and breathtaking
natural landscapes.
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