Seattle Business Magazine honors family businesses at the 2013 Washington Family Business Awards
SEATTLE (November 20, 2012) – Seattle Business magazine honored the impact and legacy of Washington state’s top family-run companies at the 2013 Washington Family Business Awards Tuesday evening at Bell Harbor International Conference Center. Thirteen firms from around the state were honored for outstanding achievements in family business. The event received the generous support of presenting sponsor Cascadia Capital and signature sponsors Bader Martin, Chase Commercial Banking and Perkins Coie LLP.
Local family owned business by the Trieu family Evergreen Beauty College won the Small Business Firm category. Back when Vietnamese immigrant Thi Trieu and her husband, Hoa, settled in the Seattle area and opened their first beauty salon, they made ends meet by cleaning restaurants and schools at night. One of them was a beauty college in Lynnwood. Years later, in 1996, after their salon had prospered and they had opened a second, Thi went back to school to become an instructor. The owners of the beauty school made her an offer. And so she became owner of the beauty school she and her husband used to clean.
Today, Evergreen Beauty College operates three cosmetology schools in the greater Seattle area, training 200 to 300 students at a time in the fine art of cutting and curling, styling and coloring, facials, nail care and, just as important, the business of running a salon. “We have a real entrepreneurial spirit at the school and that is what we try to encourage among our students,” says Ambassador Frank Trieu, who has run the school with siblings Theresa and Joe since the death of their father in 2007.
When they were kids, Frank says none of the five Trieu children contemplated joining the family business. They had their own careers. But when their father took ill, Frank says they recognized they had the opportunity to create something larger than they could on their own. Under their management, Evergreen added campuses in Bellevue and Renton. “Sometimes, you don’t pick the industry,” Frank Trieu says. “The industry picks you.”
Keynote speaker Jamey Power, former senior vice president of J.D. Power and Associates, told the story of his own family business and treated guests to a copy of his book, Power: How J.D. Power III Became the Auto Industry’s Adviser, Confessor, and Eyewitness to History.
The 2013 Family Business Awards Recipients
Small Companies
Winner: Evergreen Beauty College, Everett/Bellevue/Renton
Silver Award: Canopy Tours Northwest, Camano Island
Silver Award: Threshold Group, Gig Harbor
Midsize Companies
Winner: B.E. Meyers & Co., Redmond
Silver Award: Goodfellow Bros., Wenatchee
Silver Award: Peninsula Truck Lines, Federal Way
Large Companies
Winner: Uwajimaya, Seattle/Bellevue/Renton
Silver Award: Village Concepts, Federal Way
Silver Award: Ostrom Mushroom Farms, Lacey
Succession Award: Exercising a clear vision for family continuity
Winner: Windermere Real Estate, Seattle
Transformation Award: Identifying and embracing new opportunities
Winner: Dennis Company, Raymond
Growth Award: Encouraging and fostering a steady rise in new business
Winner: North Coast Electric, Seattle
Legacy Award: Honoring multiple generations of progressive, thoughtful management
Winner: Wilcox Family Farms, Roy
2013 Washington Family Business Awards judging panel:
Clarence Barnes, Dean, School of Business Administration | Gonzaga University
Dori Brewer, Partner | Perkins Coie LLP
Steve Brilling, Family Business Director, Albers School of Business and Economics | Seattle University
Ron Dohr, President | Dohr Family Business Consulting
Craig Nelson, President | Washington Employers
Catherine Pratt, Director, Family Enterprise Institute | Pacific Lutheran University
Christian Schiller, Managing Director | Cascadia Capital
Rich Simmonds, Managing Partner | Pacific Family Business Institute
Bart Wilson, Principal | Bader Martin
Complete coverage of the 2013 Washington Family Business Awards is featured in the December issue of Seattle Business magazine and at seattlebusinessmag.com.
ABOUT SEATTLE BUSINESS: Seattle Business is a monthly magazine read by thousands of business executives across the state. Annual events tied to its editorial coverage include the Executive Excellence Awards, Leaders in Health Care, the Washington Manufacturing Awards, Washington’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, the Green Washington Awards, Tech Impact Awards and Washington’s Family Business Awards. Seattle Business is owned by Minneapolis-based Tiger Oak Publications, which also publishes Seattle magazine, Seattle Bride magazine and more than 20 other leading regional publications.
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