July 2016 VOICE Magazine

M A G A Z I N EM A G A Z I N E

T H U R S T O N C O U N T Y C H A M B E R O F C O M M E R C EJ U LY 2 0 1 6

BUILDING COMMUNITY PROSPERITY FOR OVER 140 YEARS

NorthAmericatalka passion for placeThe team that brought us ThurstonTalk has launched five new Talk platforms and has more launch plans on the horizon.

CopsForHireOlympia's newest technology startup

REVIEW: new overtime rule REVIEW: new overtime rule

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FIGHTINGCANCER

WITH CONFIDENCE

4 • July 2016 Thurston County Chamber VOICE www.thurstonchamber.com

PUBLISHER

Thurston County Chamber of Commerce

EDITORIAL

Editor: David Schaffert

Phone: (360) 357-3362

Email: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Natasha Ashenhurst

Shauna Stewart

Shawn Timothy Newman

David Schaffert

Jessica Coen

ADVERTISING

Sales and Marketing: Marny Bright

Phone: (360) 357-3362


SUBSCRIPTIONS

Phone: (360) 357-3362


DESIGN

Mosaic Marketing Studio

PHOTOGRAPHY

Heather Harris, Elements Photography

PRINTING

Print NW

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

PO Box 1427

809 Legion Way SE

Olympia, WA 98507

Phone: (360) 357-3362


Website: www.thurstonchamber.com

COPYRIGHT

All material appearing in the VOICE

Magazine is copyright unless otherwise

stated or it may rest with the provider

of the supplied material. The VOICE

Magazine takes all care to ensure

information is correct at time of

printing, but the publisher accepts no

responsibility or liability for the accuracy

of any information contained in the text

or advertisements.

Celebrating Pixels and Print

The media world was uncertain

over the future of print five years

ago. Widespread adoption of

new technology—such as tablets and

smartphones—encouraged readers to ditch

the paper and dive into the digital, disrupting

both the publishing and media industries.

The technology revolution generated a digital

tide that was huge and industry analysts were

announcing the demise of paper.

Not so fast. Recent research indicates a

leveling-out in reading habits. Toward the end

of 2015, the New York Times released a report

outlining a decline in e-book sales with the

pronouncement that print isn’t going away

anytime soon. In fact, consumers are revealing

multi-format reading habits.

The VOICE Magazine beautifully represents

these trends. We are pleased to announce that

the VOICE is going from a bi-monthly magazine

to a monthly magazine, a decision we made for

a number of reasons.

First, you told us that you want more stories

about business, community and advocacy.

You also told us that you look forward to the

VOICE landing on your desk and the simple

pleasure of looking at the photos and reading

the stories and then sharing it with someone

else. We see the well-thumbed copies of the

VOICE in your offices and it makes us smile

every time.

Advertisers too have asked for more content

and their support allows us to produce more

editions.

As we increase our content, we’ll continue

to embrace the digital form of the magazine

— you can read the VOICE on your iPad,

smartphone or desktop, making it easy to share

your favorite stories or copy event information

into your calendar.

In this issue, we are also celebrating a

hugely successful, locally based digital media

company — NorthAmericaTalk. They launched

ThurstonTalk right when the economy was

tanking and have grown every year since.

They have built a robust business model that

harnesses rapidly changing technology, social

media trends and Web analytics and produce

sought after content and results for their

advertisers.

Will readers embrace both print and digital

media? Absolutely, and the beauty is we do

not have to pick. We can choose from a hybrid

model of pixels and print to tell the story of

business and community, and create a climate

for business success in Thurston County.

THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY INVESTORS

DIAMOND INVESTORS:Anchor BankCapital Medical CenterHeritage BankPhillips BurgessPhysicians of Southwest WashingtonPort of OlympiaXerox

PLATINUM INVESTORSAmerica's Credit Union - LaceyLucky Eagle Casino & Hotel

Mills & Mills Funeral Home & Memorial Park Morningside Olympia Federal SavingsOlympia Orthopaedic Associates Print NWProvidence St. Peters TwinStar Credit Union Washington Business Bank

GOLD INVESTORSExpress Employment ProfessionalsFirst Citizens Bank Cabinets by TrivonnaColumbia Bank The Creative Office

FirstLight Home Care GHB Insurance Great Wolf Lodge Hometown Property Management Mantis Graphix Jessica Jensen Law PS Nicholson & AssociatesNisqually Red Wind Casino Olympia Furniture CompanyPardiman Productions Puget Sound Energy RHD EnterprisesRed Lion Hotel OlympiaSaint Martin’s University SCJ AllianceTAGS

By, David Schaffert, THURSTON COUNTY CHAMBER PRESIDENT/CEO& Jessica Coen, THURSTON COUNTY CHAMBER BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR

Thurston County Chamber VOICE July 2016 5www.thurstonchamber.com

CONTENT & CALENDARFeaturing...

In this issue...

6Caught in the LensPhotos from Chamber events.

9Cops for HireThurston County's newest startup tells the VOICE why they are automating the off-duty marketplace and why they chose to do it in Olympia.

12NorthAmericaTalkThe team that brought us ThurstonTalk has launched five new Talk platforms and more on the horizon.

15Summertime in TCWhat's on your bucket list this summer? We've got some suggestions!

17Meet the BoardIntroducing the Thurston County Chamber's 2016/2017 Board of Trustees.

21New Overtime RulesLocal legal scholar chimes in the new law.

Every month, the Thurston County Chamber offers several networking events, forums & workshops to the community. Here are some highlights you won't want to miss.

Young Professionals NetworkJoin the Young Professionals at the Olympia Country and Golf Club at

5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7. This is a great way to get to know young

professionals working in Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater. Location:

3636 Country Club Road, Olympia.

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BAH @ The Village at Mill Pond On July 21 at 5:30 p.m., join us for Business After Hours at

the The Village at Mill Pond, 2400 Lilly Rd NE., Olympia. BAH

is a great way to meet new friends, network and enjoy great

food.

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Foofaraw Military Appreciation On Sept. 9, the Thurston County Chamber and the Olympia

Yacht Club will host over 225 active duty military men and

women at Island Home.

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Chief Economist @ July Forum Steve Lerch, Chief Economist & Executive Director of

Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council

will keynote the Thurston Chamber's July Forum on July 13.

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5th Annual Olympia Brew Fest Enjoy beers from 30+ hand-picked, Northwest breweries.

Come and celebrate Olympia’s fine brewing heritage and

support the Chamber Foundation. Port Plaza, August 6, 1

p.m.- 8:30 p.m. www.olybrewfest.com

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Due to the July 4 holiday, we will not have a Morning Mixxer in July. For more event information, please visit www.thurstonchamber.com


Caught in the Lens... A collection of photos taken at Chamber events during May and June 2016.

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Instead, what you find is a well-designed, open-concept

office space filled with hand-crafted work tables,

computers, fairy lights and white boards—as well as

programmers, program managers, designers, marketing

experts and an office dog named Ava.

You will find one cop, who happens to be retired, CopsForHire

founder Andrew “Drew” Finley.

You might have heard of Finley’s other business, 911 Driving

School, which is now a franchise with hundreds of schools

across the country. CopsForHire is his latest project, which

attracted the support of Seattle’s mobile gaming entrepreneur

David Bluhm.

Finley was selling 911 Driving School in 2013 when he had the

big idea behind CopsForHire.

Some police officers are allowed to work off duty, and

organizations—like Zappos, Microsoft, Costco and the NFL—

hire them across the country for games, marathons or business

events. When Finley was a deputy in Pierce County, he logged

more than 900 off-duty hours

in a single year.

“Cops are allowed to work

off duty as long as they

have supervisorial and

jurisdictional approval,”

Finley said.

Nationally, there are 780,000

commissioned officers, and

approximately 43 percent

of them are working 6.9 off-

duty hours per week with an

average pay of $53 per hour.

This amounts to a $6.4 billion

market for CopsForHire

today.

Finley knew that if he could

find a system to organize the

complexity of finding and

When you walk

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hiring off-duty cops — just as he did for

students and parents with the driving

school — he’d have another business.

“When police officers work off-duty

they are subject to complex rules, which

vary from department to department,”

said Finley. “What we needed was an

electronic software solution — an online

marketplace — where each department

and each police officer builds a profile,

as well as each customer interested in

hiring an off-duty officer

“We’d automate an incredibly complex

system.”

“I pitched it to [Bluhm] for funding,

but instead of simply funding it he was

excited to join the business because of

its potential to help ease the tension

between law enforcement and the

communities — to help communities

heal,” said Finley.

Bluhm, a veteran entrepreneur, knew

the business needed three elements:

a subject matter expert, someone to

manage the technical space and IT

infrastructure, and an operator. Finley

is the subject matter expert, world-class

programmers were staffed, and Rob

McDermott was hired as CEO. McDermott

had worked for three of Bluhm’s startups

and was eager to join this new venture.

When McDermott joined the team,

Bluhm gave him the choice of location

for the company’s headquarters.

“Bluhm called and said, ‘Pioneer Square

or Bellevue, take your pick.’ I said,

‘Olympia’. I am from Olympia, Drew lives

in Puyallup and our developers were

all over the country meeting virtually at

the time,” said McDermott. “So, we met

with the team and asked them to move

to Olympia, we found this space and in

December we signed the lease. We’re

growing rapidly and world-class talent is

excited to re-locate here.”

In addition to the great quality of life

they sought in Olympia, Finley had

built relationships in his 17 years as

a commissioned officer, and many of

those relationships were with local

officers—like Thurston County Sheriff

John Snaza.

“When we started evangelizing our

idea, Sheriff Snaza said he wanted to be

the first to provide his agency with an

opportunity to recover all costs to his

agency while partnering with a private

entity to ensure all public assists are

accounted for,” said McDermott. “Our

plan was to roll-out first locally with the

Thurston County Sheriff's office before

opening the marketplace up nationally.

However, word is spreading and now

we’re having departments across the

country contact us -- including the

Seattle Police Department, one of the

largest on the West Coast.

“In addition, we’ve received a lot of calls,

from a recording artist going on tour,

big box stores tired of using security

companies and many others. We’ve also

made contact with the Fraternal Order

of Police, which represents labor for a

third of the cops in the country. It’s been

hard to put the brakes on all of this at

times as we work to ready the technical

capabilities of our marketplace with all

the demand.”

Once fully launched, CopsForHire will

match off-duty officers with customers

looking to hire them, while building

jurisdictional rules and regulations

into the software and developing

the infrastructure to allow police

departments to recover lost assets such

as fuel costs.

“Let’s imagine that Panowicz Jewelers

is going to have a trunk show, and they

want to hire two off-duty police officers

to secure the event,” said McDermott.

“Panowicz would simply go online and

build a job, indicating the day, location

and the number of officers needed. If

they need a K9 unit or a car, they could

select those as options. If they need

officers trained in crowd control or to

hire officers with medical certifications

those options are built into the selection

process.

“Our system knows the jurisdiction,

knows the rules, requests the officers

and, when the job is completed, we route

money back to the department for their

recovered assets, pay the officers and

take a small transaction fee. Just like

eBay or Uber, the entire transaction takes

place within our marketplace. Our whole

model is about automating complexity

and driving it through email, phone and

the Web.”

In addition, the team is building in what

they call “fairness features,” which allow

for diversity and inclusive transparency

for the officers interested in working off

duty. The system also provides real time

access to data for all participants in the

marketplace, which improves fiduciary

responsibility.

CopsForHire is transforming a complex

system that is difficult, frustrating

and paper-driven into a simplified

system that might ultimately improve

departmental fiduciary oversight,

inclusiveness and transparency.

“In addition, we’re building a compelling

technology company right here in

Olympia because this is a great place to

do it!” said McDermott.

CopsForHire CEO Rob McDermott working in the conference room inside the Steam Plant Building, downtown Olympia.a marketplace

promotingtransparency


NORTH AMERICA TALK WAS BORN THE

WAY MANY BUSINESSES BEGIN: TWO

FRIENDS SHARING A MEAL ASKING,

"WHAT IF?"

Dan Jones and Martin

McElliott were sitting

at their favorite

restaurant in Olympia

in 2007 when Jones

introduced McElliott

to his big idea—a digital media platform

called a community social network,

which would represent what it is like to

live, work and play in Thurston County

through photos and positive stories

leveraging social media.

This was significant. Traditional media

was in decline, and ad revenue right

along with it. Jones knew they would

have to tell stories no one else was

telling to compete in the media market.

They had to create content that was

meaningful to the community.

It is likely that 99 percent of ideas

sketched on restaurant napkins fizzle

out, but not this one.

During the next few months, the friends

compiled hundreds of notes in a manila

folder and outlined what would become

NorthAmericaTalk. In addition to the

big idea, Jones and McElliott had the

passion, drive and determination to

launch what is—today—one of the

fastest-growing media companies on

the West Coast, boasting more than

80,000 subscribers across five platforms,

reaching 350,000 unique readers each

week.

The duo launched the first Talk platform,

ThurstonTalk, in 2010 with just the

two of them — Jones taking photos and

writing content while McElliott landed

advertisers.

“The early adopters were progressive

advertisers and marketers,” said

McElliott.

“[McElliott] did an awesome job of

presenting the product,” added Jones.

In the next few years, three pivotal events

occurred sending the Talk idea on an

NorthAmericaTalk: Spreading Passion for Place

The NorthAmericaTalk team from left to right: Martin McElliott, Amy Rowley

By Natasha Ashenhurst Photographs by Heather Harris


upward trajectory.

First, Amy Rowley joined the team about

six months into the venture, as a writer.

Her position grew with the business and

she became the editor. Rowley hired a

team of freelance writers and created

a dynamic editorial calendar full of

community-based content and featured

business articles, distributed through the

ThurstonTalk website and pushed out on

social media.

Rowley has an MBA from Northeastern

University and had worked with other

tech startups and small businesses. She

believed in the ThurstonTalk platform

and business model.

could be replicated — that we had a

business that was scalable,” said Rowley.

“Systematically and strategically we

started launching other platforms.”

Since its inception, the NorthAmericaTalk

leadership team has refined the business

model, and admit that the positive

community-focused stories readers see

when they visit a community social

network is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We reach an audience in a specific

geographic region, overlay tools that

allow us to generate revenue and

measure the results,” said Associate

Editor Kate Scriven. “And, at the end of

the day our platform gives people pride

in their community.”

as vice president of technology.

With each new platform launch the team

sees steeper and faster growth, which

they attribute to a business model that

they’ve refined.

“We have the same launch model, but

we’re more efficient. We employ local

individuals within each community, but

we’re better at recruiting,” said Rowley.

“We’ve acquired all of the key assets to

roll-out 250 Talk platforms across the

United States.”

“Ultimately, our growth in readership

is because of the good stories we are

sharing about our community—stories

that are written and distributed in a

“The early days were built with

customers who had a belief in us as

individuals who would deliver what we

promised — growth in readership,” said

Rowley. “These marketers knew we had

a special formula that could deliver their

brand to the community.”

The next step toward success was

winning the Thurston Economic

Development Council’s New Business of

the Year award in 2011.

“That award created instant growth.

It gave us legitimacy, put us on the

community’s radar and got our brand out

there,” said Jones.

“The other pivotal moment was realizing

that the brand and business model

“We’ve created a way to drive readers

and grow revenue while compiling

unique data that we share with our

marketers,” said Rowley. “We call it,

‘Reach. Grow. Measure’, and it works

across each Talk platform.”

There are five community social

networks, all modeled after the proven

ThurstonTalk platform, —including

SouthSoundTalk, GraysHarborTalk,

WhatcomTalk and LewisTalk. Each

platform has local ownership, but is

guided by Rowley as CEO, McElliott as

vice president of sales, Jones as chief

research officer and Stephen Backholm

very deliberate way — and because our

content is so meaningful people share

those stories.”

Over the coming years, the

NorthAmericaTalk team plans on

replicating their business model from

their home base in Thurston County.

“This is where we choose to raise our

families and where we choose to live,

work and play. We all very intentionally

choose Thurston County as our home,”

said Rowley.

Ultimately, this passion for where we

live and for promoting the best of local

culture, as well as local commerce, is the

underlying philosophy that has rocketed

NorthAmericaTalk to success.

Reach. Measure. Grow.Reach. Measure. Grow.

IMAGE © ELEMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Dan Jones, Margo Greenman, Kate Scriven and Tim Shaw.


COMMUNITY

Music in the ParkThis summer concert series is held every Wednesday from July 6 - August 24 at 7 p.m.

at Sylvester Park, with the exception of the performance on Friday, Aug. 5, at 7 p.m. at

the Port of Olympia. www.musicintheparkolympia.com

Hands-On Summer SplashAfter 15 successful years of Sand in the City® Hands On is transitioning to Summer

Splash!, their first annual summer-long family festival of fun!

www.hocm.org/summersplash

Capital LakefairThis annual five-day community festival, July 13-17, includes a carnival, summer

sidewalk sale, kid’s day, Lakefair Run, volleyball tournament, battle of the bands, food

concession booths, live entertainment & fireworks display. www.lakefair.org

Thurston County FairMark your calendar for this family-oriented, old fashioned, five-day fair. The fair runs

Wednesday through Sunday, always on the first full weekend in August.

Visit www.co.thurston.wa.us/fair for more information.

Go Hiking, Kayaking & Drink Beer!Take a walk at one of Olympia's waterfront parks like Priest Point or Tolmie or head over

to Tugboat Annie’s and rent a kayak or paddle board. Waterfront dining is spectacular this

time of year, and so is beer—check out the Olympia Brew Fest and South Sound Craft Crawl.

Explore the Thurston Bountiful BywayPack a picnic basket, load up the car and take a day to explore this sixty-mile route

through Thurston County. Visit local farmers producing our region's fruits and

vegetables, visit a lavender field or a distillery. www.visitolympia.com/BountifulByway

SUMMERTIME IN Thurston County, 2016!Add these events to your bucket list...Suggestions contributed by Shauna Stewart, Executive Director of the Olympia, Lacey,

Tumwater Visitor & Convention Bureau


[email protected]

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WE’RE BUILDING SO YOU CAN, TOO

Meet Armand Resto-Spotts, the newest member of our rapidly expanding team. An honors graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, Armand is past editor-in-chief of the

Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation. He will focus his practice on land use, natural resources, and environmental law.

IN BRIEF

Thurston County

Chamber

Welcomes New

Board Members

and Chair

The Thurston County Chamber of Commerce has elected three new

members to its board of directors. New members include John Bash, Shauna Stewart and Rachel Young. Each will serve a three year term.

John Bash is Superintendent of the Tumwater School District.

Shauna Stewart is executive director of the Olympia Lacey Tumwater Visitor &

Convention Bureau.

Rachel Young is owner of Miss Moffett’s Mystical Cupcakes.

The Chair of the 2016/2017 Board is Jessica Coen of Xerox Services.

The outgoing Chair is Mariella Cummings, former CEO of Physicians of SW Washington.

John Bash Rachel YoungShauna Stewart Jessica Coen

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Effective December 1, 2016, the US

Department of Labor will update

the “white collar” overtime rules

to raise the salary test for executive,

administrative and professional

employees from $455 ($23,660 annually)

to $913 per week ($47,476 annually). An

individual earning below that threshold

will not be exempt from overtime pay.

The updated rule permits additional

compensation (e.g. bonuses and

commissions) to satisfy up to 10% of the

minimum salary level. These levels will

update automatically every three years,

beginning on January 1, 2020. While

the minimum salary levels to qualify as

exempt have increased, no changes were

made in the duties tests applied to white

collar employees. Further, no changes

were made to the exemptions for outside

salespeople, teachers, lawyers or doctors.

Wage & Hour Laws

The FLSA establishes minimum wage,

overtime pay, recordkeeping, and

youth employment standards affecting

employees in the private sector and in

Federal, State, and local governments.

Currently, covered nonexempt workers

are entitled to a minimum wage of not

less than $7.25 per hour under federal

law and $9.47 per hour under Washington

state law. Overtime pay at a rate not less

than one and one-half times the regular

rate of pay is required after 40 hours of

work in a work week. Some employees

are exempt from the overtime pay

provisions, some from both the minimum

wage and overtime pay provisions and

some from the child labor provisions

of the FLSA. Exemptions are narrowly

construed against the employer asserting

them. Certain executive, administrative,

professional, outside sales workers

and certain types of occupations in the

computer field are exempt provided they

meet both the duty and salary tests.

Impact

DOL projects that 4.2 million workers will

be directly affected by the change, and

that another 8.9 million will be indirectly

affected by reducing the ambiguity

of their status. The new overtime

regulations will present challenges to

all businesses. While some employers

may be tempted to simply skirt the new

regulations through reclassifications

and adjusted hiring and salary practices,

beware! Wage and hour claims are

seen as a “fruitful vineyard” by lawyers

because the law imposes reasonable

attorneys’ fees on non-compliant

employers.

Recommendations

All employers should: (1) review the

duties, salaries and benefits for all exempt

employees to determine whether they

should remain exempt; (2) for those

employees that do not meet the salary or

duties tests, determine new hourly rates

for those impacted employees but beware

of changes on employee benefits (e.g.

401K, health care and vacation); (3) revise

or update current timekeeping programs

and policies to reflect the changes; and

(4) implement training for both managers

and employees addressing the changes.

It is important for employers to monitor

overtime or the employer will be held

strictly liable.

THELEGAL DESK

By Shawn Timothy Newman

Shawn Timothy Newman is an attorney in Olympia as well as an adjunct professor at Saint Martin's University and South Puget Sound Community College. (360) 866-2322 | [email protected]

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Our gift to you

new overtime rule how updated "white collar" fair labor standards

act (fl sa) regulations impact you and your business

CHAMBER FORUM

state economistforum speakerJoin the Thurston Chamber for our July Forum on 7/13 at 11:30 a.m. at the Red Lion Hotel Olympia. Hear from Washington State Economist Steve Lerch, Ph.D.

Steve Lerch’s presentation will include

a brief summary of the U.S. economy,

information on the Washington

economy, and a brief look at state

revenues projections updated on June 15. In

addition he'll address Washington State's fi gures

on employment, personal income, consumer

confi dence, gas prices, home sales, housing permits

and recent collections including cannabis. Visit

www.thurstonchamber.com for tickets.


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July 2016 VOICE Magazine

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