Remember when a woman sued Coca-Cola after being hit in the eye with a Sprite bottle cap after she dropped the drink on the ground? Tim Schade certainly does. Specifically, he remembers thinking it wasn’t the company’s fault—that the bottled dropped and became pressurized, or that the cap shot off and struck the woman when […]
Features Region: West
Ron Zollman – Boomi
In both his career and personal life, Ron Zollman has found that small things can have a big impact. For instance, as a lawyer and as a nonprofit volunteer, he’s discovered that lots can be accomplished by small teams dedicated to whom they’re serving. Whether growing a company or supporting his community, he relies on […]
Matthew Gerber – Center for Excellence in Higher Education Inc.
Not all college students are 18 to 22 years old. There are many barriers—time, money, other commitments—that keep people from pursuing the traditional college path. Imagine a young single mother—her 20s were spent raising two children while picking up every shift she could to make a little extra money. Now she’s in her 30s and […]
A. Chris Fawzy – Woodward Inc.
No one at Woodward Inc. is trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel. What they do is innovate to make the wheels (aircraft and industrial engines) run better by optimizing performance, efficiency and emissions, says Chris Fawzy. That dates back to Amos Woodward’s 1870 invention of a faster, more efficient governor for water wheels generating power. […]
Lisa A. Gok – Cetera Financial Group
She calls it SEC speech—and there are no Rosetta Stone classes to learn it. Lisa A. Gok picked it up during her 11 years as an assistant regional director for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles and it has served her well in subsequent jobs. Maybe especially so at Cetera Financial […]
Sean Dennison – CenterCal Properties LLC
No single project can make a career for a real estate attorney, but each can end one. Sean Dennison kept this in mind as his company embarked on the first phase of the massive mixed-use redevelopment in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Washington. The Village at Totem Lake it’s called, and since commencing in 2015, […]
T.J. Mattimore – Vaisala
For a Finnish company that literally sees the sky as its limit, there’s some irony in Vaisala doing so much unseen. Though that doesn’t seem to weigh too heavily on the mind of its president for the U.S. subsidiary and legal boss for the United States, Canada and Mexico. At the very least, T.J. Mattimore […]
Ashley Good – Acorns
As a young child, Ashley Good stored bits of change and odd job money in a bright pink cash box. She’s still watching every dollar today, albeit for much higher stakes at Acorns, a California-based fintech company specializing in micro-investing. The California native joined Acorns in March 2020 as chief legal officer, bringing sales and […]
Michelle Howland Zmugg – SpotOn
As Michelle Zmugg joined San Francisco-based SpotOn in September 2020 as its first general counsel, she knew she’d be helping the company progress from a startup to a maturing tech venture. She had the experience in employment law and HR issues a growing company needs, but as SpotOn’s small business payment and management tools are […]
Jerry Joondeph – XOJET Aviation
In a normal year, Jerry Joondeph would accumulate around 100,000 miles of air travel. He’d visit places around the U.S., Europe and Asia—not uncommon for a top executive at an aviation company. But the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of his regular travel, forcing Joondeph to pivot in his roles as chief administrative officer and […]
