Bellevue chamber honors businesses for commitment to growth and perserverance

It's no secret that Bellevue is replete with business, but most of the time and attention is spent on the biggest names. The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Friday honored a mix of companies, local and national, at its annual Top Corporate Citizens event for their commitment to growing their local presence.

By Nat Levy • March 31, 2012 6:54 pm

It’s no secret that Bellevue is replete with business, but most of the time and attention is spent on the biggest names.

The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Friday honored a mix of companies, local and national, at its annual Top Corporate Citizens event for their commitment to growing their local presence.

The companies ranged from a garbage business all the way up to local mainstays the Bellevue Collection, and national companies like Wells Fargo. The thing that bonds the 14 winning companies is their innovation to make sure the business continued to grow through as tough an economic climate the owners had seen.

“Our strategy has been to hire the right people and provide them with what they need and get out of their way,” said John Pope, principal at Vega Consulting, a downtown Bellevue-based firm that was honored Friday.

Each of the companies’ CEOs were given an award and some time to speak. The afternoon emcee Bill Pollard, of Talon Private Capital, peppered the company representatives with questions ranging from the keys to a productive work culture, to the potential impacts of social media. Of all the companies honored, representatives from all but three of them said they were actively using social media sites to recruit new customers, and communicate with existing ones.

The company representatives explained how they’ve navigated through economic recession. Some had tougher times than others, having to layoff employees and force more duties on those who remained. Others were able to take advantage.

“The garbage industry is always viewed as a recession proof industry, which isn’t entirely true,” said Chris Martin, president and founder of CleanScapes, a waste collection company founded in 1997

“In some ways the downturn has benefitted us. We’ve gotten long-term financing, and we’ve been able to hire a lot of very good people, we hope to retain.”

Companies honored

Air Van Moving

BarclayDean

The Bellevue Collection

CleanScapes

Evergreen Healthcare

Greenpoint Technologies

Massage Envy Spa

Moss-Adams

The Partners Group

Sterling Realty Organization

Sweeney Conrad PS