2014 STARTUP PDX CHALLENGE SEPTEMBER 23, 2014...

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INSIDETHRIVING, NOT JUST SURVIVING

JAMA SOFTWARE HIRES A CFO

NEW RESTAURANTS

2014 STARTUP PDX CHALLENGE

SIX NEW UPSTARTS

2 BUSINESS TRIBUNE Tuesday, September 23, 2014

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Business news that’s closer to home.

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THE ECONOMICS OF FILMTHE DOWN AND DIRTY

ON PORTLAND’S BURGEONING FILM BUSINESSBY KENDRA HOUGE

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APRIL 1, 2014

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WHY FLEETS ARE TURNING TO

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

BY JOHN M. VINCENT

INSIDESHWOOD’S ERIC SINGER

UNITED GRAIN LOCKOUT

THE RETURN OF SMELT

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014 BUSINESS TRIBUNE 3

BY JOSEPH GALLIVAN T

he Portland Development Commission is in the startup game, encouraging little companies to make the most of its assets (mentors, real estate, taxpayers’ cash) and grow over the next year. Beginning Oct. 1, the winners

of 2014 Startup PDX Challenge will move into the high windowed, exposed brick space at 115 SW Ash St in Old Town/Chinatown.

Here are six fi rms whom you may soon be bragging about to your Portlandia-loving pals, or who may get caught up in the mincer of capitalism.

In selecting the companies, PDC favored minorities. So it’s fi tting that Yellow Scope, which makes science kits for girls, has one Asian, one redhead and one African American girl drawn on the packaging of its prototype chemistry set.

Yellow Scope is aimed at girls from grades four to six who have not yet hit the middle school STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) slump, when boys take over sci-ence class. Founders Marcie Colledge and Kelly McCollum found that most science toys are

aimed at boys — greens and blacks , explosives, derring do — while girls get stuck with pink kits for making lip balm and spa treatments.

Colledge says a classic exam-ple of pseudoscientifi c thinking was kids being asked to make bath salts and then record which one “felt the most relaxing.”

She adds that kits work be-cause “Research shows when parents are engaged with their daughters’ work, they are more likely to enjoy science and want to take part in it.”

Girls need context, and a

space to be creative, so there’s space in the lab notebook for customizing the experiments — what educators call open-ended play.

Like the American Girl toys, the three girls on the box have personalities and varied inter-ests. They are not just nerds. There’s also a friendly lab rat who handles safety.

“At fourth grade, boys and girls equally say they like math, but by eighth grade, the stereo-type that it’s not for girls has set in,” says McCollum. “There might be different learning style,

but there are no major differenc-es in the brain that make boys better at science.”

The $44 foundation chemistry kit has the real lab equipment — beakers, timers, thermometers, lab manual — and reagents. Ex-tension kits (new experiments, new chemicals) will be $20.

They changed their name from Science Girls to Yellow Scope so as not to infringe on the trademark of the PBS show SciGirls.

But these are trained scien-tists, not mommy bloggers with a cute idea for a home-based business. Colledge has a PHD in neuroscience, McCollum a Mas-ter of Public Health specializing in Epidemiology and Biostatis-tics.

With other parent volunteers they ran the Science Fair and family science night at their kids’ school, Alameda Elementa-ry. In one popular Crime Scene Investigation themed night, kids had to use techniques such as chromatography and fi nger-printing to fi nd out who stole the

CONTINUED / Page 4

ONES TO WATCHSIX STARTUPS WIN THE PDX CHALLENGE

COVER: Bow tie guy: Corey Cook, Marketing Director of NoAppFee.com, aims to make renting an apartment a lot easier. Breaking good: Portland moms Marcie Colledge (L) and Kelly McCollum make science kits to keep girls age 8 to 13 on track for STEM education.TRIBUNE: PHOTO JONATHAN HOUSE


Business Tribune

PRESIDENTJ. Mark Garber

EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERVance W. Tong

VICE PRESIDENTBrian Monihan

ADVERTISING DIRECTORChristine Moore

CIRCULATION MANAGERKim Stephens

CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGERCheryl DuVal

REPORTERJoseph Gallivan

DESIGNKeith Sheffi eld

PHOTOGRAPHERSJonathan House, Jaime Valdez

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PortlandTribune OFFICES6605 S.E. Lake RoadPortland, OR 97222 503-226-6397 (NEWS)

principal’s lunch. For now, they are assembling

kits at home but look forward to having an offi ce and a kitchen to test experiments. They are going the Kickstarter route this fall to produce 1,500 kits.

“We have lots of questions for lawyers, and other higher-level thinkers, but the amount of new information we need is huge so we’re looking for peer-to-peer communication. And we would love some help with social media.”

Yellow Scopeyellow-scope.com

Inger McDowell and Paige Hen-drix, the founders of Tique Box, will probably inevitably be re-ferred to as “Ladies” when they get on The View or Good Morning America, since what they do is so Pinterest-friendly. Nonetheless, they are still hardcore business people. Tique Box (as in boutique) is a subscription gift box that showcases unique Portland brands, a mixture of food and beauty products. Tique launched quarterly in July 2013 and is now monthly. The October 2014 box is themed “Spooky and Sweet Port-land.”

They hit upon the $25 subscrip-tion price (free shipping) after considerable testing. $19 sounded too cheap and $30 was prohibitive-ly pricey.

It showcases Portland brands not found in mainstream stores, including Shurky Jurky, Pinkel-ton’s Curious Caramel Corn, and Wee Mindings (goats milk laven-der bath sachets from). It’s like a cross between the Powell’s Books’ Indispensable (powells.com/indis-pensable) and Conscious Box (green stuff for the home).

Their main task in the accelera-tor will be to learn how to scale: right now they pore over Etsy, sometimes personally deliver cus-tom boxes, and hand write notes. Hendrix once taught grade school, so she has excellent handwriting. They also do a business version targeting harried executive assis-tants and schmoozy realtors.

“The people at Conscious Box have been like big sisters to us, very supportive,” says Hendrix. A

fall-themed box, Nesting in Port-land, has things like linen spray, bath soap, a cute towel and a cof-fee cozy.

The accelerator is also the per-fect place to get opinions from oth-er millennials on likely products. But they want more marketing help, legal support and offi ce sup-port.

“We’re pretty high touch with our customers,” says McDowell, “And we want to stay high touch in a way that doesn’t tear us apart.”

Tique Boxtiquebox.com

Corey Cook met with the Tri-

bune to talk about NoAppFee.com, since the CEO, Tyson Poole was laid up sick. Cook, who was know as the Bow Tie guy when he moved here from Arizona for a medical marketing job, knows all about making a good fi rst impres-sion.

NoAppFee.com is an online plat-form that does background checks and matches renters with the properties for which they qualify. At $25 to $40 per application fee, Cook says he knows from experi-ence that looking for an apartment can be expensive and frustrating.

Users pay a one time $35 fee, which is refunded (via the land-lord) when they fi nd an apart-ment. The app populates the on-line form used by many different property management companies, and immediately shows where you could be looking.

“So if your FICA score of 656 means you can’t get into that place that wants a 670, it will show you places nearby that are available,” he says.

Cook says the app is not espe-cially aimed at minorities, who might have a harder time than others fi nding a place. There are plenty of requirements, such as

pets or recent work history, that can trip up an applicant.

He won’t be in the new offi ce much, he’ll be pounding the streets looking for big landlords who can save time dealing with applicants by just providing a QR code on a sign. He will also be forging links with local businesses who will pay to get their coupons in a welcome gift basket for new renters: maid services, movers and pizza shops.

Property managers will be billed $2 to $3 per unit for the ser-vice, so a 300-unit complex could bring in $900 a month to NoAp-pFee.

The ambitious goal is to hit 70 per cent of the Portland rental market in 90 days, expanding to Seattle and Houston, where the founders have contacts with Mobi-soft.

The sort of legal help he’s look-ing for is around subjects such as converting from an LLC to an S-Corp. Cook says he is willing to share his marketing experience with the other accelerator compa-nies for free.

“I got my start at age 14 distrib-uting the Journal Sentinel in Mil-waukee. My round was 50 papers, so I’d buy an extra fi ve for pennies on the dollar, knock on doors and give them away free until they signed up.”

That kind of hustle, he believes, will get the company far, knocking on doors, so others don’t have to.

noappfee.com

RAFT Syrups is a classic arti-sanal play. Organic cane sugar plus brewed botanicals (e.g. vanil-la, ginger) equals instant hand-crafted cocktail chic — or at least a healthier glass of pop for the lucky child.

Sook Goh, originally from Ma-laysia, is the food scientist for the company, while Roslynn Tellvik handles the numbers. A former life coach, she also worked at M Fi-nancial in corporate benefi ts be-fore the itch to start her own com-pany grew too strong. Together they have been planning RAFT — the name has a sense of adventure — since fall 2012. They launched three fl avors in April 2014: hibis-cus lavender, lemon ginger and smoked tea vanilla. (Goh used to

■ From page 3

Good things: Paige Hendrix (L) and Inger McDowell package up cute and weird local products in a monthly gift box called Tique Box.

Roslynn Tellvik and Sook Goh cook up artisanal mixers at RAFT Syrups.TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE


blend teas for Tazo.) A bottle with 24 one-ta-blespoon servings costs $19.

The botanicals are brewed nights and weekends at the Three little Figs jam kitch-en in Parkrose, using tall, 25-gallon kettles from brew supplier F.H. Steinbart. It takes two to carry them.

“Syrups take manpower,” says Goh, de-tailing the precise chemistry of extracting phytonutrients.

Customers such as Tasty and Sons, Clar-kLewis and Dick’s Kitchen like the product because with its perfect pH it will keep in the fridge for two to three months, whereas home made syrups only last about ten days. It also retails at Hollywood Liquor and Beam and Anchor.

“We’re looking forward to being in prox-imity with other businesses in similar stag-es to us,” says Roslynn Tellvik.

They plan to use the space to host tast-ings, instead of driving all over town, hitting people up at their bars and stores. Then there’s the strange allure of cube life. The computer work — planning events, manag-ing orders — could be done anywhere, but Tellvik says she prefers to be in a profes-sional setting with other people around.

“I’ve always felt there’s a lot of value to having colleagues, you might overhear things that give you ideas. It’s different from being in a coffee shop, or in your base-ment.”

They produce recipes for social media: Twitter (the busiest), Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, and sometimes Vine. Look for a six-second lesson in muddling.

Scaling is the challenge they hope to face in the accelerator.

“Seth Godin talks about the ‘the dip’, how to get from 10 customers to 100 and to 1,000,” says Tellvik. “And then you don’t want to grow too fast and lose customers.”

“We grew up in a world before the Inter-net was everywhere,” says Tellvik. “It’s nice that we can share physical products around the world. We had a bar owner from Japan who saw our stuff at Bull Run Distillers.

And loved it. Went sent some to them by USPS, and there it is on Facebook.”

RAFT Syrupsraftsyrups.com

Society Nine boss Lynne Le is a badass — as she will tell you. She teaches Krav Maga, the Israeli martial art which is all about taking oneself out of danger by dis-arming and disabling attackers. She teach-es it and kickboxing as a fi tness class. But with a keen interest in in women’s mixed martial arts (cage fi ghting), she couldn’t fi nd workout apparel for her crowd that was suffi ciently badass. That is, tough and mostly black.

“Brands usually take the men’s line and shrink it and pink it,” she scoffs.

So in 2013 Le launched Society Nine (a take on the female athlete law Title Nine) to e-tail other brands and her own designs, such as hooded vests, training leggings and boxing gloves.

“Most women’s fashion activewear shows a certain type: Nike it’s the runner, Lululemon someone doing yoga or Pilates,” says Le. “The real female athlete is not a size four to six who’s perfectly tan and reg-imented to eat 600 to 800 calories a day. It’s

the mom, it’s the daughter, it’s the hustler, the girl working three jobs to pay for her college degree.”

It’s this stereotype she’s kicking against. As the mission statement puts it, “Society Nine is a combat sports brand for ‚¬¨ba-dass women. A badass woman is a fi ghter in life: in sport, society and culture.”

While the messaging is heavy on inspira-tional quotes in all caps (imagine a Wieden + Kennedy cross fi t team) Le already has a product to get out and is immersed in color-ways, line plans, factory visits and market-ing trips the spiritual homes of MMA and entertainment: Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Whether being a badass will work in passive-aggressive Portland remains to be seen. She got a taste for accelerators work-ing at the Portland Seed Fund.

“I feel like it taught me to be a CEO, all the things no one talks about, the legal structure, stock agreements with found-ers,” says Le. “If you want to position your-self to be a high growth business, and get investment capital, there’s a lot of invest-ment management involved.”

She previously worked on Goldie Blox, the non-girlie girl’s toy, and learned about Kickstarter.

“That’s something you do when you have all your ducks in a row, not before. Otherwise you end up with ‘Why’s it tak-ing so long to get my hoodie?’ Transpar-ency is the key, more than the money.”

Design + Culture Lab is probably the hardest company to get a handle on. Theo-ries of Urban Practice graduate student Renae Reynolds in New York and Joy Alise Davis, now here in Portland, call themselves “a social enterprise.” They are a research-based urban social lab ad-dressing issues of cultural, racial and eth-nic inequality within the built environ-ment.

For example, they are consulting in Cin-cinnati, Davis’s home town, on an outdoor fitness center.

“We’re working with the gym and the

parks department deciding which park to use,” says Davis. “We’re doing a lot of GIS (Geographic Information System), a lot of engagement, looking at data to see what works best with the community.”

Davis moved here in May. It may remain a bicoastal deal because of the useful con-trasts between Portland and New York.

“In New York City, as an African Ameri-can woman I can blend into the back-ground, but here I get noticed and I get smiles. But its nice, getting smiles, walk slower, get a little ‘Hi!’”

Davis and Reynolds use ArcGIS to look at the demographics of an area.

“(At the gym site) we’ll see if they are likely to use the gym, then have vision days where people can come and play games, use storytelling about the use of space, to find out what people want.”

“It’s a mix between city planning and architecture. We step out and look at the street and how the community functions as a whole.

They’re working on the east Portland Action Plan and sitting on the brownfield committee, looking at site cleanup and ways to get the community involved.

Right now they are looking for interns from environmental psychology, architec-ture and urban planning, because they cross so many different disciplines.

“For us we’re excited about the mentor-ship, the peer-to-peer monthly sessions and speakers every other month.” All they need is place for a camera, recorder and a computer for CAD, GIS and Google Sketch Up.

As consultants they will work with ar-chitecture firms and developers and plan-ning departments to “think critically about how they deal with the community, so it’s a little more focused on who’s set-ting the table rather than who’s going to be at the table,” says Davis.

Society Ninesocietynine.com

TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE

Soc it to ‘em: Self style Krav Maga and MMF trainer Lynne Le started Society Nine to sell tough workout wear to even tougher women. Design + Culture Lab’s Joy Alise Davis fi gures out how urban design can be more inclusive.


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By JOSEPH G ALLIV ANThe Tribune

Jama Software has hired its fi rst Chief Financial Offi cer.

The Portland company hired Barry Allen from Seattle’s Corbis, the image firm started by Bill Gates. Jama, which means “good code” in Chinese, makes collabor-ative software used to define, build and test products. Users can track their colleagues’ work and refine a product as it is made.

In Portland, when a startup gets a CFO it is usually the first sign the company is about to scale toward being acquired or going public.

Allen will lead Jama’s financial operations as the company con-tinues its period of rapid growth, according to a press release.

“Allen has a proven track re-cord of leadership in the technol-ogy industry, driving strategic growth initiatives, increased effi-ciencies, improved workflow and providing guidance to ensure companies scale effectively,” it

went on. “As a company starts to scale

and grow it will hit some road-blocks,” Allen told the Tribune. “With my background managing high-growth companies I’m here to take it to the next level.”

Jama secured $13 million in funding and has expanded its customer base to include more than 600 companies.

“Traditionally a CFO was a gatekeeper, but now you’re also a strategic advisor to the CEO.”

He says he will have three ar-eas of responsibility.

■ Controllership, recording the company’s historical financial in-formation so all stakeholders can rely on it to make decisions.

■ The treasury function, decid-ing how to invest, managing risk and liquidity, debt and equity.

■ Economic strategy and fore-casting, looking at the market and into the future.

“At a high growth company a great CFO must be a strategic thinker, a strong manager with excellent financial skills, common sense and an ability to predict the long term performance of the company.”

Allen says he leaped at the chance to work at Jama.

“I jumped on the bandwagon and moved down here on a day’s notice,” he said.

Of the company’s future, he predicted, “It’s going to come to a successful liquidity event. I’m not worried about today, but about

continuing our success, making sure top line revenue grows at ex-ponential rate. We have no target yet, we’re focused on growing this company and scaling it. We want to be a category killer.”

Looking at the traditional met-rics of a software as a service company (SaaS) Allen will work on efficiencies in churn rates, ex-pansion and the cost of acquiring new customers.

He praised the company’s cul-ture and said he looks forward to living in Portland, where he can

enjoy good wine, the outdoors and walking to work.

“Portland’s a wonderful city, healthy, clean city with lots of personality, and the tech world here is really expanding.”

Jama Chief Executive Officer Eric Winquist said in a statement, “This is a pivotal time in Jama Software’s growth, as the compa-ny continues to grow rapidly. In today’s complex development en-vironments, companies are turn-ing to Jama to manage product development and delivery across the entire process.”

Allen most recently was Presi-dent and Chief Operating Officer at Corbis working with Bill Gates. Previously he held the position of CFO at Corbis, where rebuilt fi-nancial operations to promote growth and increase efficiencies. He was also CFO at Market Lead-er, Move.com, Marketwave and Cascade Design Automation. Al-len spent six plus years at Coo-pers & Lybrand in Seattle, where he earned his degree in Business Administration from the Univer-sity of Washington.

Jama Software hires a Chief Financial Offi cer

COURTESY : JAMA SOFTW ARE

Barry Allen was recently named as the fi rst CFO for Jama Software.

“ As a comp any starts to scale and grow it will hit some roadblocks. W ith my background managing high- growth comp anies I’m here to take it to the nex t level.”

— Barry Allen, Jama Software’s new chief fi nancial offi cer

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POWERED BY

BUYING OR SELLING YOUR CAR IS ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT EASIER!


Every company by now knows the value of online video. People will sit through a 90 second car-

toon but they won’t struggle through a top left 200 word ex-plainer.

Are you still with me?Lindsay Nelson is CEO of

Theme Dragon (themedragon.com), a Portland company she and her Cofounder and Chief Technical Offi cer Jason Champi-on run out of their apartments. Theme Dragon makes it easy to produce a catchy animation for websites. Four years ago, the 27-year-old U of O graduate started Paper Krane, which made custom animated marketing videos for medium to large companies, charging from $6,500 to $20,000 each, but mostly in the $9,000 range. One example is a DEQ ex-plainer about Accessory Dwelling Units (vimeo.com/87717129).

She created Theme Dragon to streamline the Paper Krane pro-cess.

“I think Theme Dragon is a much larger market opportunity, it’s more disruptive,” Nelson buzzwords. “We’ve been listening to people’s pain points for four years and they wanted their quicker video turnaround and a lower price point.” That is, faster and cheaper. A typical company that has used Theme Dragon is Axial.

“They’re software. Software tends to have high level concepts that are hard to convey, so anima-tion is perfect for them.”

That makes sense: Genera-tion Whiteboard has found its medium.

There are only two prices, $700 and $1,600.

It uses crowd-sourced tem-plates, based on a library of pre-li-censed assets. For instance there are “Whiteboard Style,” “Dy-namic Text,” and “Character Driven” options. Designers scat-tered around the world have come up with themes containing stock imagery - a man, a woman, a pet, a house, amounting to hun-dreds of items. Theme Dragon staff animate the stills in Adobe After Effects.

“Psychologically, it’s the way humans prefer to take in informa-tion, with the moving image, sounds and text. Video really con-verts.”

The website owner can add their logo, change the color

scheme, add music and submit a script, which is voiced by actors chosen by Theme Dragon. You check out on the site and in 10 days we deliver a fi nished video,” she says. “Humans edit it, be-

cause they catch things that soft-ware can’t.”

Informational/educational vid-eos can be longer, but usually 90 seconds is all people will sit through.

Like a lot of tech plays, Theme Dragon is really just the advance guard for the real play, which is a subscription service called Stat Dragon and launches this week. Stat Dragon scrapes your videos from all your sites, such as Face-book, LinkedIn, Twitter and Vimeo, and tells you if they are any good. Not whether the lighting is right and the faces are lovely, but whether they are tagged properly and Search En-gine Optimized (a transcript helps).

It shows how to optimize video

for major platforms such as You-Tube, Vimeo, and Wistia (used by small businesses). It looks for your particular videos all over the web. It uses social logins, it can tell if the video has been shared, embedded, and even commented on. It also measures the SEO of the blog it lands on.

“Our software tells them, ‘You got this many shares, here’s your customer demographics, here’s your most popular video.’”

Part of the pitch is that anyone trying to sell online should have multiple videos in their sales fun-nel. So brand awareness (just cap-turing attention) is best done with how to videos.

“You have to set yourself up as a thought leader,” she buzzes again. Later videos allow you to lure in and convert a customer, and harvest the customer data at-tached to the video, which is in-valuable.

“Video marketing is still the wild west, the tools are being de-fi ned.” Competitors include VidIQ (stats), PowToon (animations) and SmartShoot (a matchmaker)

Nelson is rather animated her-self — speaking quickly and us-ing her hands a lot. She has that entrepreneurial drive and surety you don’t see every day in laid-back Portland. She comes from brains rather than money: her parents are a marketer/realtor and a Wilsonville K-8 teacher. She credits not her degree in In-ternational Studies and Econom-ics, but her time in the UO En-trepreneurs Club in Eugene as helping her realize she wanted

to be in business for herself. She was in the Nine Mile Labs acceler-ator in Seattle from January though May of 2014, but couldn’t wait to bring the company home to

Portland for the startup scene. “I’m really excited to launch a

SaaS product,” she says, meaning Software as a Service. Buzzword or not, she could be a convert.

27-year-old talks about her most “disruptive” play yet, Stat Dragon, which launches this week

Third startup by 2 7 : Lindsay Nelson, CEO

and cofounder of Theme Dragon and Stat Dragon, which

allow p eop le to make web videos and

animations cheap ly and q uickly, then

minutely track the viewers with the

goal of converting them to a sale.

COURTESY : THEME DRAG ON

Theme Dragon, along with Stat Dragon, is Lindsay Nelson’s third startup .

Portland startup offers web cartoons and the stats that underpin them

BY JOSEPH GALLIVAN

TechTonicNEWS ABOUT THE TECH INDUSTRY


Auto dealers are enjoying their highest sales since before the start of the Great Recession — welcome news for those who survived the

economic turmoil that shook up the industry just a few years ago.

During the worst of it, the U.S. govern-ment pushed Chrysler and General Motors into bankruptcies, resulting in the closures of hundreds of dealerships, including sever-al in the Portland area. Among them were Timberline Dodge in Portland, Russ Chevro-let in Tigard, and Alan Webb Dodge in Van-couver. Additionally, all the Hummer, Ponti-ac, Saab, and Saturn dealerships in the country closed when General Motors

dropped the brands. Now, however, personal vehicle sales are

on the rise. According to researcher Autoda-ta Corp., total sales could reach 17.5 million this year, the most since 2006, the year be-fore the U.S. economy started to tank.

The increasing sales are especially impor-tant to those dealers who invested in new and remodeled buildings during the eco-nomic downtown, a gamble that is paying off with improved showrooms and service cen-ters that are helping to sell more and more vehicles.

For Russ Humberston Jr., the risks mounted as he invested around $13 million in his Beaverton Toyota-Scion dealership

during the past fi ve years. Planning for the complete renovation began in 2008 and work started in 2010, about the time its Pontiac and Saturn dealerships were being phased out.

“We had some nervous moments,” Hum-berston admits.

But seeing the Beaverton Toyota project through is paying off with a state-of-the-art dealership that customers appreciate. Its new service center is LEED certifi ed, and the new showroom and waiting room will be soon. It also includes a new car wash that recycles most of its water.

“The environmental features are impor-tant to our customers, especially those buy-

ing and services Toyota Prius hybrids,” says Humberston.

The waiting room also features a comfort-able coffee shop and deli, with an espresso machine, sandwiches, salads and pastries. If also has free wifi to help pass the time.

“Like Starbucks, we wanted to create a third space between home and work where people won’t mind waiting,” says Humbert-son.

A grand opening for the renovated dealer-ship at 4300 S.W. Murray Blvd. in Beaverton will be scheduled soon.

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships didn’t lose any of their 17 franchises during the recession. But the company had to

TRIBUNE PHOTO JOHN M. V INCENT

Brad Tonkin talks about bringing Ferrari and Maserati’s corp orate identity to the new W ilsonville dealership . The sp ace is much larger, lighter and brighter than their former location on Portland’s 1 2 2 nd Avenue.

THRIV ING ,NOT JUST SURVIVINGLocal car dealers are seeing a signifi cant

increase in salesBY JIM REDDEN

“ W e’re hap p y to see all

dealership s doing well again. It

stimulates the market, it’s good for the country, it’s good for everyone.”- Ed Tonkin

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 BUSINESS TRIBUNE 9tighten its belt and work closely with its bank to achieve the top priority of vice pres-idents Ed and Brad Tonkin — not laying off any employees as sales plunged and reve-nues dropped. Decisions included reducing truck and SUV inventories in favor of lower-priced economy cars, moving janitorial and other services in-house, and cutting back but not eliminating advertising buys.

“Our employees are like family to us. That’s why we named the company the Ron Tonkin Family of dealerships,” says Ed. He and Brad are the sons of company founder Ron Tonkin, who passed away in January.

Ed also had a front row seat to the chal-lenges confronting all dealerships across the country. During the Chrysler and General Motor bankruptcies, he was chair of the Na-tional Auto Dealers Association, which rep-resents new car and truck dealers across the country.

As a result, Ed spent much of his time in Washington D.C. negotiating on behalf of the dealerships with the Obama Administra-tion. He could not understand why the gov-ernment pushed hard for Chrysler and Gen-eral Motors to reduce the number of their dealers, which were not costing the manu-facturers anything because of the structure of their franchise agreements.

“The government simply didn’t under-stand how the business worked. When the lists of dealerships to be closed came out, we were all shocked. Many people lost every-thing they had with a stroke of a pen,” says Ed.

During the economic downturn, the Tonkin brothers also had to decide whether to open a new Audi dealership in Wilson-ville. They did, even as the business land-scape was shifting under them. Brad remem-bers going before the Wilsonville City Coun-cil to get fi nal approval for construction of the dealership and being the only person on the agenda.

“They approved it unanimously and after the vote, several councilors came up to me and asked if we really wanted to be building it then,” says Brad.

Since the economy has begun to approve, the company has remodeled almost all of its dealerships along 122nd Avenue in Portland, including the Chevy dealership at Burnside with the iconic Ron Tonkin sign. The dealer-ship is managed by Ed’s son Adam, one of several Tonkin younger family members working for the company.

The brothers also moved forward on a long held dream, the recent move of the company’s Gran Turismo dealership into larger facilities in a renovated building at 25300 S.W. Parkway Ave. in Wilsonville. Brad says the new location honors his late father, who fi rst began selling Ferraris in Or-egon in 1966. He declined to say how much it cost, but noted that manufacturers like Fer-rari and Maserati require a lot of their fran-chise holders.

Although the car business is highly com-petitive, the Tonkins are glad to see sales increasing across the board.

“We’re happy to see all dealerships doing well again. It stimulates the market, it’s good for the country, it’s good for every-one,” says Ed.

Russ Humberston with his family, below and bottom, at his Toyota-Scion dealership in Beaverton.COURTESY BEAVERTON TOYOTA-SCION

TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ

Ed Tonkin stands with his son, Adam, in front of the iconic Ron Tonkin Chevrolet sign at the dealership on SE 122nd Avenue.


YOURBUSINESSEmail your business briefs to:[email protected]

MBank names Felix V P/ Manager of G resham Branch

MBank has announced that banking industry veteran and Gresham native Brenda Felix has joined MBank as Vice President and Manager of the Gresham Branch.

Felix comes to MBank with a background in banking manage-ment at US Bank, Unitus Commu-nity Credit Union and Key Bank.

MBank President/CEO Jef Baker said, “Brenda Felix is a great addi-tion to the talented MBank team. She has proven expertise in Small Business banking and that is a cor-nerstone of community banking. That experience is reinforced by her personal connection as her parents are small business owners in the Gresham area.”

“Of the many great skills Brenda brings to MBank,” said MBank Se-nior Vice-President Casey Ryan, “is her connection to the communi-ty. That is vital for a community bank. She has been an active mem-ber of the Gresham Chamber of Commerce, the West Columbia Gorge Chamber of Commerce, as well as numerous community non- profi t groups.”

Ambre Energy fi les ap p eal of Morrow Pacifi c denial

Ambre Energy, the Port of Mor-row and the state of Wyoming are all appealing the Oregon Depart-ment of State Lands’ decision last month to deny a permit Ambre sought for a coal export terminal it wants to build near Boardman.

The Morrow Pacifi c project, as

envisioned by Ambre, would center around two facilities it wants to build: the proposed Coyote Island Terminal in Morrow County, and a terminal at the Port Westward in-dustrial park in north Columbia County. Coal would be barged downriver from Boardman to Port Westward, where it would be trans-loaded onto oceangoing vessels for export. But the project faces opposi-tion from Gov. John Kitzhaber and many environmental and tribal groups, and DSL announced its de-nial of a removal-fi ll permit for the Coyote Island Terminal on Aug. 18.

Ambre and the Port of Morrow’s decision to appeal was announced Monday afternoon, Sept. 8.

“We disagree with DSL’s deci-sion. We designed the project to protect the environment while sup-porting the economy,” said John Thomas, a vice president at Ambre Energy, in a written statement jointly released by Ambre and the port. “We’ve done that, and we will prove that again through the ap-peals process.”

Ambre Energy North America’s executive director, president and chief executive offi cer, Everett King, suggested the permit was denied because it was for a coal export project.

“It’s pretty clear the politics of coal overshadowed this process from the beginning,” King said in the statement Ambre and the port released.

The port fi led a separate appeal. In the joint release announcing the appeals, the port’s general manag-er, Gary Neal, decried the “new reg-ulatory precedent” he said the DSL denial created.

“We are appealing so that this political decision does not limit eco-nomic opportunity in rural Ore-gon,” Neal added.

Wyoming, where the coal that would be exported through Oregon is mined in the Powder River Basin, also lodged its own appeal of the de-cision.

“Coal is the fastest growing fuel source in the world and this deci-sion by the State of Oregon pre-vents Wyoming coal producers from competing in that market-place,” said Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, in a written statement from his offi ce. Mead added that Wyo-ming intends to “stand up” for the coal industry.

The three appeals received the support of the Alliance for North-west Jobs & Exports, a trade group that backs industrial development in the region. Spokeswoman

Kathryn Stenger said the proposed terminals “meet the high environ-mental standards our region expects.”

Senior care with a sp iritual twist in W ilsonville

Mark Turnbull’s background is in the ministry. Today, the Wilson-ville resident brings an element of spirituality to his senior care busi-ness, ComForcare Portland South.

“I still treat this as a ministry,” Turnbull said. “You’re helping peo-ple — you’re essentially walking people through the aging process, and through that aging process there’s the spiritual side, but, more importantly, the physical side.”

Turnbull and partner Christina Myers, also a Wilsonville resident, purchased the ComForcare fran-chise about a year ago. Their offi ce is located on Willamette Drive in West Linn. From that offi ce, Com-Forcare enlists an array of health care professionals to provide cus-tom care for patients and their families.

“We provide in-home care,” said Myers. “We try to keep mom and dad independent in their home. We do provide nursing services — we can do medication administration and things like that, but we just want to keep mom and dad inde-pendent at home and help them with the activities of daily living.”

Using a collaborative process in-volving the entire family, ComFor-care does that by designing and implementing a unique plan for each client.

“Usually the kids approach us,” Myers said. “And we just fi ll in the gap ... where the kids can’t.”

Turnbull and Myers’ ComFor-care franchise serves the south Portland metro area. For their fi rst year, they offered only the most ba-sic level of care, known as compan-ion care. Recently, though, the company received its comprehen-sive in-home care license from the state.

Gaining the license was a big ac-complishment.

“It’s hard to get in Oregon,” My-ers said. “It’s an ordeal.”

Now, ComForcare Portland South can offer an entire range of in-home services, and has added a pair of full-time registered nurses to the staff.

“We’re both CSAs, or certifi ed senior advisers, which is impor-tant,” Myers said. “We can go into a home and sit down with the en-tire family and take a broad brush-stroke of what mom and dad’s

needs are.”From there, a custom plan is de-

veloped.“It’s a web of interrelated activi-

ties that seniors and families are faced with,” Myers said. “I call my-self a connector; I’m constantly thinking how I can connect people to solutions to their needs.”

W orkers’ comp ensation costs to drop for second- straight year

The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) an-nounced that workers’ compensa-tion costs will decrease an average 5.3 percent in 2015.

The department approved the average decrease in “pure premi-um,” which is the portion of the premium employers pay insurers to cover anticipated claims costs for job-related injuries and deaths.

Workers’ compensation pays in-jured workers for lost wages and medical care for job-related inju-ries. Lower average costs in both of those areas are driving down the pure premium for the second-straight year.

“Oregon’s strong commitment to workplace safety and health con-tinues to keep costs low for busi-nesses,” said Patrick Allen, DCBS director. “Efforts to control medi-cal costs and get workers back to work faster also have contributed to rate decreases in the past two years.”

The decrease is based on a rec-ommendation from the Florida-based National Council on Com-pensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI), which analyzes industry trends and prepares rate recommenda-tions for the majority of states.

Pure premium refl ects only a portion of workers’ compensation

costs but is the key factor behind annual cost changes. The decrease is an average, so an individual em-ployer may see a larger decrease, no change, or even an increase de-pending on the employer’s own in-dustry, claims experience, and pay-roll. Also, pure premium doesn’t take into account the varying ex-penses and profi t of insurance companies.

The rate decrease is effective Jan. 1, 2015, but employers will see the changes when they renew their policies in 2015.

Oregon’s workers’ compensation premium rates have ranked low nationally for many years. Only 11 states and the District of Columbia had average rates lower than Ore-gon at the beginning of 2012, ac-cording to a biennial study con-ducted by DCBS. The department will release a new study ranking states’ 2014 worker’s compensation costs in October.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit comes to Portland

Todd Saperstein grew up in Gresham and moved to Beaverton more than 20 years ago. After working in the mortgage industry, Saperstein wanted to be his own boss leading him to open the fi rst Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in the Port-land area. Last week, Beaverton’s newest fast-casual option opened with a three-day grand opening celebration.

“The Portland area has nothing like Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and ev-eryone is getting excited about try-ing our authentic barbecue,” said fi rst time franchise owner, Todd Saperstein. “Our location is near Southridge High School, so we’re looking forward to catering their

COURTESY : MBANK

Brenda Felix has been named V ice President and Manager of the G resham branch of MBank.

TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME V ALDEZ

Todd Sap erstein, owner of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, op ened his franchise last week at Murray Scholls Town Center.


events and giving back to the students.”Saperstein hopes to open more locations

in the Portland area. He resides in Beaver-ton with his wife and child. The new Dick-ey’s Barbecue Pit in Beaverton is located at 14700 SW Murray Scholls Drive, Suite.

Oregon State Chamber of Commerce hires ex ecutive director

The Oregon State Chamber of Commerce (OSCC) has announced its hiring of Brenda Turner as Executive Director and its reten-tion of Salem lobbying fi rm Public Affairs Counsel for business advocacy efforts in the State Capitol.

OSCC represents 66 local chambers of commerce — and their members — in ev-ery corner of the state.

Turner brings with her a wealth of experience in her new role as Executive Di-rector. She has a strong Chamber background with her experience as the past Chamber Executive Director of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, a Past Hermiston Chamber Board Chair and cur-rent consultant working with chambers on goal-setting and strategic planning. Public Affairs Counsel, headed by longtime busi-ness lobbyists J.L. Wilson and Mark Nelson, is one of Oregon’s most infl uential lobbying fi rms charged with helping OSCC increase its effectiveness in the state legislature.

TigerLogic p resident retires, new p resident named

TigerLogic Corporation has announced senior leadership changes, further strength-ening the company’s executive team. Brad Timchuk has been promoted to Chief Exec-utive Offi cer and Justin Garrity to the posi-tion of President, effective immediately, fol-lowing the retirement of Richard W. Koe, who has served as the company’s CEO and President since 2009. Timchuk previously served as the company’s Senior Managing Director of Strategy and Garrity served as the company’s Senior Vice President of Postano. Koe will continue to serve as Chairman of TigerLogic’s Board of Direc-tors.

“I am delighted that TigerLogic is in the position to capitalize on the strength and experience of a highly capable leadership team to continue the company’s transforma-tion and our commitment to our customers and shareholders,” said Koe. “Brad and Jus-tin have been instrumental in driving our new customer acquisitions, products, and partnerships. With the accelerating adop-tion of the Postano platform, and the rejuve-nation of the Omnis business, this is the perfect time to pass the baton to Brad and Justin to take TigerLogic to new heights.”

TigerLogic Corporation is a global provid-er in engagement solutions including the Omnis mobile development platform, Story-code full service app development agency,

and Postano, a social media aggregation and display platform.

HFO continues ex p ansion, adding new staff and broker

The apartment-investment fi rm HFO In-vestment Real Estate has added three staff positions and one broker. Already the larg-est apartment-only commercial real estate brokerage in Oregon and SW Wash-ington, the company’s expansion is a refl ection of the com-pany’s goal to constantly improve the HFO experi-ence coupled with the growth in apartment develop-ment.

Recently added are Spencer Ma-rona, Man-aging Direc-tor; Lee Fehrenbacher, Analyst; and Brian Kincaid, Underwriter. Meanwhile, Jack Ste-phens has been promoted to Broker, bring-ing the number of licensed brokers in the offi ce to nine — its high water mark.

Kart race raises $ 4 ,0 0 0 for charity The Lake Oswego branch of Guild Mort-

gage Company recently sponsored a Can-Am Charity Karting event, which they plan on making an annual occurrence.

The event raised more than $4,000 for Children’s Cancer Association (CCA) to aid ill children, teens and their families.

Presented by M Realty, the event took place at Pat’s Acres Racing Complex. Each

kart racing team raised funds from friends and colleagues to sponsor its entry in the race and support CCA.

Teams were able to “rent a pro” by con-tributing donations to have some of the country’s best competitive kart racers on their teams. Teams also raised donations by securing funds per lap raced.

In addition to dozens of patients and their families, members of the Chemo Pal program joined the fun and visited with pro racers.

“It was a great experience for the kids and a lot of fun for all of the participants,” Brent Lucas, business development manag-er of Guild Mortgage’s Lake Oswego branch

said. “What a great way to be involved in the community. Everyone enjoyed having the kids and their families come out, visit with our team and meet the racers. We’re already working on plans to be involved next year.”

CCA delivers resources, friendship and the healing power of music to kids and teens facing life-threatening illnesses through MusicRX, FriendshipRX and PlayRX initiatives.

As part of the Guild Giving Program, Guild employees donate their time and money to worthy causes in their communi-ties.

By KENDRA HOG UEThe Tribune

Tim Williams has been named execu-tive director of the Oregon Governor’s Of-fi ce of Film & TV, based in Portland. He offi cially starts the job Oct. 1.

Previously based in London and New York, most recently of Los Angeles, Williams has been an executive and independent pro-ducer for more than 25 years. He has a long history in fi lm and TV production and fi -nance throughout the U.S. and international-ly.

He recently worked for Fox Searchlight during preparations for the fi lm “Wild,” which shot on more locations throughout Or-egon than any other feature fi lm.

“I’m excited about the people, the talent and the infrastructure that I have met and seen in Oregon,” said Williams. “I can’t wait to help build on what is already a thriving creative community through a program which seeks to invest in a diverse pattern of both local and outside projects.”

Williams was hired after an extensive search, following the March appointment of former Executive Director Vince Porter as Gov. Kitzhaber’s Policy Advisor on Jobs and the Economy.

“I am pleased that Oregon was able to at-tract someone of Tim’s caliber and experi-ence to join us and build upon Vince Porter’s great work over the past years,” said Oregon Film Board Chairman, Gordon Sondland. “Gov. Kitzhaber and I are looking forward to being able to work with Tim to continue to create a robust and stable fi lm and television employment base in Oregon.”

The fi lm and TV business in Oregon has grown dramatically over the last six years. “Qualifi ed spending” that the offi ce recruits and retains jumped to $110.7 million in 2013

from $49 million in 2008, said outgoing direc-tor Porter in March. At that time, Porter ex-pected 2014 to be a record year.

“This is a state I’ve always admired, hav-ing family who live and were born here,” said Williams, “but it wasn’t until working on “Wild” that I saw the strength of the Oregon production community and the diversity of locations that make this such a great fi lming destination.”

“Wild,” based on an autobiography by Portland author Cheryl Strayed, stars Reese Witherspoon. Its world premiere was Aug. 29 at the Telluride Film Festival.

Kendra Hogue can be reached at [email protected].

W illiam s nam ed as new d irect o r o f st at e’ s o ffi ce o f fi lm and T V

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Tim W illiams has been named ex ecutive director of the G overnor’s offi ce of Film and TV .

Y OU R BUSINESSEmail your business briefs to:[email protected]

TURNER

MARONA

KINCAID

FEHRENBACHER

STEPHENS

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

G uild Mortgage recently sp onsored a Can- Am Charity Karting event, which was p resented by M Realty. Pictured from left are M Realty emp loyee Jeff Brooks, owners G arron and Alicia Selliken, and front, the Sellikens daughter, Emma.


Lake Oswego resident Eric Mann has opened Aji Tram, a restaurant serving Asian fusion foods served in an

American modernistic manner. “Aji means ‘fl avor’ in Japanese,”

Mann said. “And tram is Vietnam-ese for ‘station.’” Mann’s fl avor sta-tion is picking up steam in the neighborhood.

Mann brings a lifelong passion for food to the business. Cooking — especially Asian foods — is a passion for the whole family. His fi rst foray into the food industry was to manage Lucero, a retail store which sold olive oils and oth-er products from his mother’s fam-ily’s California olive orchards. The experience was valuable but Mann was ready for a bigger challenge.

“I’ve known I wanted to have my own restaurant since I was 12,”

he said. “We toured Vietnam and Thailand. When we traveled to Vietnam I took cooking classes and discovered that the foods of South and North Vietnam are dif-ferent from each other.”

The menu Mann has created fea-tures a variety of small plates. Try bahn mi sliders, Korean street noo-dles, tempura popcorn shrimp, General Tso chicken wings and the weekly specials. It’s not food served in a hurry; “when it is ready it comes out,” Mann said.

“My vision is to make this an in-viting vibrant place,” Mann said. “It’s a place where people can come and be themselves. It’s casu-al.”

You won’t see servers in uni-forms or white tablecloths. You will see hip wood décor with red and black accents, designed by Todd Conger of Shelter NW, a for-mer classmate of Mann’s.

Aji Tram is located at 4477 Lakeview Blvd.

The restaurant is closed Mon-days and open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thurs-day; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday; 11 a.m. to mid-night Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Visit ajitram.com or the Aji Tram Facebook page for more in-formation.

Just a few blocks away is Sabro-zon Fresh Mexican Restaurant and Catering. According to owner Raul De La Torre sabrozon means “deli-cious.” He ought to have named the restaurant “Mucho Sabrozon” as delicious falls short of describ-ing the food. Sabrozon serves au-thentic Mexican dishes using reci-pes developed by generations of the De La Torre family.

“Our recipes are family tradi-tions for over 25 years,” De La Torre said. “This is a family res-taurant. My daughters, my moth-

er-in-law, my wife and I are work-ing here.” Partner Luis Millan and his family also pitch in.

This is the fi rst restaurant for Sabrozon, which began as a cater-ing company two years ago.

“My wife and I have more than 20 years’ experience working in restaurants,” De La Torre said. “We aim to make different items, and the most authentic as possi-ble. The food tastes different and people like it.”

De La Torre said they use tra-ditional Mexican ingredients such as queso fresco cheese and nopales, the pads of the prickly pear cactus. They serve home-made corn tortillas and will soon be making flour tortillas daily. All food is prepared fresh daily.

Menu items of special note in-clude the street tacos made of a variety of meats, the Baja taco plate, featuring lettuce wrapped fish tacos, chile relleno burrito, Sonora fresh wraps, tostada sal-

ad, queso fundido, an appetizer made of melted cheese with cho-rizo and strips of roasted green pepper served with homemade corn tortillas. And don’t forget the sweets; fried ice cream, grilled plantains, flan and sopap-illas are at the top of the dessert menu.

De La Torre said catering con-tinues to be a big part of their business and he offers delivery of lunches to area businesses. Soon the Sabrozon taco cart will be ready to book for parties at your home or business.

“The taco cart will be great fun,” De La Torre said. “You can have a fiesta party right in your own driveway.”

Sabrozon is located at 17770 SW Pilkington Road in Lake Os-wego. It is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The phone number is 503-908-8488. Learn more and view the menu online: sabrozoncatering.com.

STAFF PHOTOS: VERN UYETAKE

Sabrozon owners Maggie and Raul De La Torre and their daughter, Amber Rago, show off some of the items on their menu.

BY BARB RANDALL

NEW RESTAURANTS OPEN IN LAKE GROVE

Aji Tram and Sabrozon serving up specialty cuisines

Eric Mann has opened Aji Tram, which offers Asian fusion foods served in an American modernistic way.


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Sometimes a dog owner looks at his dog and thinks, “Rover is just not as good a dog as I would

like him to be.”But has a dog owner ever

thought the dog might be think-ing the same thing about him?

This paradox has provided an opening for a new kind of dog training business called Lucid Dog Training of Lake Oswego. Chris Wojda and Katie Brower have combined their unique tal-ents to offer a service dedicated to developing richer relation-ships between dogs and the men and women who love them. Dogs become man’s best friend in fact as well as in cliché.

“In working with dogs I’ve been able to get them to do some amazing things,” Wojda said. “Not just dog tricks but showing owners and dogs how to relate. Our entire curriculum is to help people understand their dogs better. It’s a lifetime learning ex-perience. Dog training is not something you do for six weeks and it’s over.”

Wojda graduated from Lak-eridge High School and recently moved back to Lake Oswego. He

had a 16-year career in advertis-ing before he decided he liked training dogs better than mak-ing business deals. He has long been deeply involved in the in-tellectual side of dog training.

“It has always been my per-sonal passion to work with dogs,” Wojda said. “I’ve always studied it.”

But Lucid Dog Training would not have come about if Wojda had not met Brower a year ago.

Brower did not have Wojda’s ex-pertise with dogs, but she was an expert with people after six years as an elementary school teacher and earning a master’s degree in adult education. Her meeting with Wojda was a match made in dog training heaven.

“I’ve gotten out of public edu-cation, and I’ve switched to crit-ters,” said Brower, who also trains horses. “Chris is very

skilled and knowledgeable about dogs, and I’m catching up with him. But my specialty is people.”

Together, Brower and Wojda are creating golden futures for owners and their dogs.

“Families can do a lot more with dogs than they ever imag-ined,” Wojda said. “Once they can get their dogs to really want to do things, the training is easy. The dog can be made to see the person as the center of all things good, the source of everything it likes.”

Wojda and Brower can teach dogs to walk nicely on a leash instead of jerking you all over the neighborhood and how to play catch, play recall (training your dog to come when it is called), attain impulse control and much more.

“People see a highly trained dog and say, ‘If only my dog could do that,’” Wojda said. “It can. You can set up your dog for success.”

A dog owner can’t ask for more than for their dog to do a lot of tricks and to idolize them.

Just like Brower’s dog, Annie, a canine of boundless good na-ture and a role model for other dogs on how to act in a park.

For more about Lucid Dog Training, go to luciddogtraining.com or call 503-702-3690.

Lucid Dog Training makes dogs better dogs, masters better masters

Training pooches and the people who love them

REV IEW , TIDING S PHOTO: V ERN UY ETAKE

Katie Brower and Chris W odj a want owners and dogs to see each other in an entirely new way. They are sup p orted in this goal by Brower’s dog, Annie.

BY CLIFF NEWELL

1 4 BUSINESS TRIBUNE Tuesday, September 23, 2014

As the mercury steadily reaches toward the 80s in Hillsboro on a bright, sunny morning, the tem-

perature inside a hulking, silver spaceship-like geodesic dome keeps things in the cool and comfy neighborhood of 70 degrees.

There would be little wrong with this picture but for the fact that — unlike at most digital data storage facilities — there is nary an air-conditioning unit to be found.

Through an inherently basic, yet ingeniously designed “ambient” louver and fan system, the dome housing Oregon Health & Science University’s new Data Center West in Aloha keeps it cool through varying velocities of circulated outside air. As the mild interior breeze cools the pods of digital da-

ta servers, storage units and con-trols, the warm air naturally rises and wafts out through louvers around the dome’s perimeter.

“This is one of the most effi cient ambient air-cooling systems in the country,” said Perry Gliessman, southwest Portland-based OHSU’s director of advanced technology. “Most data centers use classic air conditioning. This one has no A/C or ductwork. You can get rid of those systems and have very high effi ciency.”

The continuous airfl ow cycle — which is essentially reversed to heat the building during winter months — saves thousands of dol-lars in equipment costs, while sav-ing power for the structure’s pri-mary purpose: storing millions of electronic gigabytes of invaluable medical and research data.

Gliessman, a seven-year OHSU veteran, designed the cooling sys-

tem, along with the rest of the domed storage facility located on its West Campus. Construction of the $22 million facility, designed to augment the medical center’s smaller downtown Portland data-bank for years to come, started in May 2013. The dome operation was brought online July 1.

Wired to channel up to 3.8 mega-watts of computing power, the data center comprises modular pods de-signed to accommodate more com-puter servers as OHSU’s medical and teaching facility’s data needs increase.

At full capacity, Data Center West could house thousands of servers and millions of gigabytes (measured as a “petabyte”) of data.

Scientists and physicians in-creasingly use computer technolo-gies to analyze a patient’s genetic profi le, use advanced medical im-aging and other research tech-niques in an effort to examine the

human body more precisely to bet-ter treat and cure disease.

“What we’re trying to do with cancer, for instance, is to under-stand it at many levels of resolu-tion — to help individual patients and to search for cures,” said Dr. Joe Gray, associate director for translational research at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute. “But the technologies we use to do that gen-erate tremendous amounts of data. We need the capability of storing and analyzing that data in ways far beyond traditional technology.”

Gliessman, a 25-year resident of unincorporated Washington Coun-ty, started plan and design work on the dome in 2010 with OHSU’s In-formation Technology Group.

A better way“After being very familiar with

how data centers were designed and built, I simply believed there was a better way,” Gliessman said. “I believed we could build a data center designed in a way that made it more effi cient and more easily expandable to meet OHSU’s vision.”

The building features large air-intake louvers toward the bottom and an array of air vents near the top. Below the cavernous space be-

neath the dome, 10 computer serv-er “pods” are arranged, like a large wagon wheel, in a hub spoke and heel design. The arrangement pro-vides the shortest path route for circulating air, fi ber optic cable and power distribution.

“It’s a unique combination of de-sign elements,” said Gliessman, who with OHSU has a patent pend-ing on the design. “You can put a lot of equipment in a small space and provide an enormous amount of power. We’d like to see a data center like this used as a model.”

The center is linked via fi ber op-tic cable to OHSU’s older data stor-age facility, which takes up part of one fl oor of a downtown Portland offi ce building.

The connection between the two centers is part of the dome’s high-redundancy design. To account for routine breakdowns, power lapses, weather-related mishaps and even a major earthquake, everything from power generators to digital data servers to the cooling fans have backups of backups.

“We have extra everything,” Gliessman explained. “To maintain OHSU’s research, teaching and health care services, we have to make sure this is operational 365 days and 24/7.”

Aloha data dome an innovative marvel

OHSU MAKES DATA STORAGE A BREEZE

BY SHANNON O. WELLS

Perry G liessman, Oregon Health &

Science University’s director of advanced

technology, stands in front

of a geodesic dome that

houses OHSU’s new “ Data

Center W est” in Aloha.

TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME V ALDEZ

“ This is one of the most effi cient ambient air- cooling systems in the country.”

— Perry G liessman


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THURSDAY EDITION


12725 SW MILLIKAN WAY STE 300

BEAVERTON, OR 97005

PHONE 503.906.7800

FAX 503.906.7801

Centrally located at the Beaverton Round, the Executive Suites were

designed specifi cally for you — the small business professional requiring

on-demand access to a variety of support services, combined with the

highest level of aesthetic presentation in a single, cost-effective package.

Now LeasingSuites Between 115 and 450 sq.ft.Tandem Suites Also Available

AMENITIES

■ Full-Time Receptionist

■ On-Demand Secretarial Support

■ Automated Security 24/7 Access

■ High Speed Internet Access

■ Beverage Center with Refrigerator/Microwave

■ Business/Conversation Lounge

■ Color & Black and White Photocopy Service

■ Facsimile, Notary, and Courier Service

■ Daily Mail Service with Locked Mailboxes

■ Personalized Call Answering

■ Individual Voice Mail

■ A/V Equipment Rental

■ Daily Janitorial Service

■ 24/7 Heating and Cooling

■ WIFI Available Onsite

■ Conference & Meeting Space to Accommodate Up to 90 People

4777

62.0

6241

4BT

For information on availability & pricing

503.906.7800

[email protected]

www.beaverton-esuites.com

Beaverton Round Executive Suites

@BeavertonRoundESuites

FREE PARKINGLocated at Beaverton Central Max Station Great location for

businesses servicing Nike and Intel

NO Multnomah Co. Revenue Tax

On-site restaurants, 24 Hour Fitness

Call us today 503.906.7800!

2014 STARTUP PDX CHALLENGE SEPTEMBER 23, 2014...

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