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EVERETT—Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson (D) met with Wendy Poischbeg, CEO of Greater Everett Chamber of Commerce, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, and Snohomish County business owners on Thursday, March 20, to hear how the State can better address their needs in an era of economic uncertainty.

The roundtable discussion was held at the Port of Everett’s Blue Heron room, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., where participants took turns discussing some of the barriers their companies face when conducting business in the region.

First to speak was Tom Bugert, Deputy Director, State and Local Public Affairs, for Helion Energy – an Everett-based fusion research company – who thanked the Governer’s team for their support in helping the company site its first fusion power plant in Washington state.

Many other panelists expressed a need for funding. Gov. Ferguson recognized this need but reminded all that the state is in a current $15 billion shortfall – which he inherited – stating “it will be a tough year,” especially amidst the uncertainty of the Trump Administration’s federal spending cuts.

Bugert’s idea was to potentially have state matching, an idea that was echoed by next speaker Mike DeRosa, Co-Founder and CEO of Gravitics – a Marysville-based space spacecraft manufacturing startup.

Gov. Ferguson asked if Gravitics has held conversations with the legislature on existing options, but DeRosa replied both state and federal partners seem to be more interested in aerospace and not necessarily investments in space crafts.

“FAA regulations are a hurdle that were not designed for startups,” Paul Murphy, Chief Information Officer with ZeroAvia, an Everett-based company set on developing full hydrogen-electric engines for commercial aircrafts, agreed regarding federal support.  

Rich White, Chair Board of Directors at Everett Chamber and Boeing Senior Manager of Local and Government Operations, had a different concern: workforce, both in regard to recruiting and retaining.

Boeing announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 10%, or roughly 17,000 jobs, last fall amidst a IAM machinist strike demanding higher wages.

Back in January The Boeing Company delivered its fourth quarter results clocking a 31% decrease in revenue from 2023 which it says was driven by that strike and other factors.

Governor Ferguson reminded White that Washington State has one of the nation’s “most generous” packages and programs for workforce investments, including the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Workforce Education Investment Account (WEIA), and the Talent and Prosperity for All (TAP) plan, all aimed at helping residents obtain and succeed in family-wage jobs and meeting employer needs.

Representing the education sector Dr. Chemene Crawford, President of Everett Community College, who shared that investments in education will ultimately benefit the workforce market in the long run.

“Keeping us whole will allow us to keep advocating,” said Dr. Crawford. “Let us continue the momentum.”

Gov. Ferguson, whose wife Colleen works at Shoreline Community College, thanked Dr. Crawford for her comments stating that investments in education are top priorities for him and his family.

Matt Poischbeg, Director of Edmonds College Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace Training Center, built on these points by requesting more support for apprenticeship programs statewide.

“Let’s make Washington the leading state in the union for apprenticeship programs,” said Poischbeg.

Nathanael Engen, Founder and Owner of Black Forest Mushrooms, circled back the conversation on access to financial resources as it relates to local farmers noting that “access to capital doesn’t necessarily mean handing us a check.”

In Engen’s experience the State will often issue a grant to local farmers, but farmers will often lose that grant because they lack the cash flow to spend it and get reimbursed.

Engen continued that the statistics nationwide for new businesses failing within the first year of operation is 20%. However, in Washington State 40.8% of new businesses fail within the first year – which he attributes to lack of financial resources.

“If forty percent of our bridges collapsed, we would have a state of emergency,” said Engen.

Both Lydia Herrera, small business owner of Los 3 Beautiful, and Eric Jimenez, small business owner and CEO of Reyes Events, spoke out about diversity with Herrera championing for more languages being offered for licenses and Jimenez speaking about outreach opportunities, particularly for people of color, to inform them that certain career opportunities exist.

Speaking on behalf of the City of Everett, Mayor Cassie Franklin was happy to report that Everett tripled the number of business licenses distributed last year and was optimistic about the development of Everett’s downtown core.

However, she noted that she was weary of the current Presidential administration stating that she just returned from a trip to Washington D.C. and it was “the worst trip” she had ever had there, and she had visited several times during Trump’s previous administration.

In line with redevelopment, Adam LeMieux, Port of Everett Government Affairs Manager, and Glen Bachman, Port of Everett Commissioner, spoke about the developments at the Port of Everett placing emphasis on the Port’s plan to reduce its carbon footprint by swapping to battery-operated machinery.

Ray Stephanson, President and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County (EASC), complimented Gov. Ferguson’s pragmatic approach to balancing the state’s budget, discussed the need to invest in nuclear energy and spoke of Paine Field expanding its commercial air service, all of which, he said, can assist in balancing the budget by growing the job market.

“We can help balance the budget by growing jobs,” said Stephanson.

Doug Purcell, Chairman of the EASC, Daniel Tappana, Director of Economic Development for EASC, Ryan Umstattd, VP of Product and Partnerships for Zap Energy, and Eli Vazquez, Hispanic Business Outreach Coordinator, Greater Everett Chamber, also spoke at Thursday’s roundtable discussion, sharing their institutions unique developments and obstacles.

After hearing from the panelists, Gov. Ferguson committed to lowering barriers for new businesses by streamlining the permitting process.

When asked by the Lynnwood Times how he plans to attract more businesses to Washington State Ferguson emphasized creating a framework that makes it easier for new businesses to open in Washington.

“We got a lot of progress to make, we have a lot of challenges coming from the federal government, but we got to make sure we’re streamlining our regulatory process so we’re not making it harder for new businesses to open, we’re making it easier,” Ferguson told the Lynnwood Times.

Author: Kienan Briscoe