washington business
Inside AWB
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small-business owner hiring your
first full-time employee, or the manager of a corporate division of thousands.
For more than 100 years, AWB has been your voice in Washington state.
New in
Membership
Membership Team ‘Met, Surpassed, Then
Smashed’ Records to End 2013
December was a record month for the AWB membership department,
which set all-time records for both number of new members and total
dues dollars collected.
“They not only met, they surpassed and then smashed all-time
records,” AWB President Kris Johnson said. “These are truly
impressive numbers.”
Kelli Schueler broke the all-time individual sales record set in 2006.
Schueler and her colleagues James Beauchamp and Ed Schlich each
set all-time personal bests.
Membership Director Sean Heiner said new members are responding
to AWB’s advocacy for a better business climate in Washington. The
surge in memberships also demonstrates the energy that has come
with the passing of the gavel to Johnson from the recently retired Don
Brunell, Heiner said.
“They not only validate our programs, but validate the advocacy, the
mission and the turn of leadership,” Heiner said.
AWB Membership Department Welcomes
Stacie Neiswanger
Fresh from helping set two Guinness world records in New York,
Stacie Neiswanger joined AWB’s
membership sales force in October.
Neiswanger, an Olympia native,
returned home from five years as
an event planner on the East Coast.
While working for a temporary
structure and staging company she
was part of a mammoth project recognized by the Guinness
Book of World Records for both the largest stage and the longest
continuous tent.
Neiswanger is a graduate of Olympia High School and the
Tacoma branch of the University of Washington.
12 association of washington business
Cris Lafferty Joins Membership Department
Cris Lafferty, a longtime business
development professional specializing in
health care, joined the AWB membership
team in November. Lafferty had recently
worked for Chamberlain College and
Sound Physicians.
Lafferty lives in Milton, north of Tacoma.
He originally moved to Washington in
1986, after falling in love with the state
during a vacation visit.
He previously lived in Oklahoma City, where he was part of the team
that launched a six-person marketing firm into Inc. Magazine’s list of
the nation’s 500 fastest-growing companies.
AWB Adds Erich Brown to Membership Team
Business owner and former Thurston
County Chamber membership manager
Erich Brown has joined the AWB
membership department. Brown said his
experience founding and running his own
business — Washington Youth Theatre,
which goes into schools and gives at-risk
youth a chance to tell their stories on
stage — has shown him the importance of
AWB’s advocacy work in the Legislature.
“Being a business owner, I could see how government can make it
really easy to do business or very difficult,” Brown said.
Brown enjoys running in his off time — he has completed 11 full
marathons and more than a 100 half marathons. He lives in Olympia
with his wife and their four children.
AWB is Washington state’s chamber
of commerce and one of just four
state chambers in the country to be
“accredited with distinction” by the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce.