Four to be honored with Business Leadership Awards

UW Tacoma's Milgard School of Business has chosen four local businesspeople who exemplify outstanding business achievement to receive Business Leadership Awards in May.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, George H. Weyerhaeuser, Business Leader of the Year, Ray Tennison, Small Business Leader of the Year, Joe Stortini, and Non-Profit Business Leader of the Year, Bob Ecklund, will be honored May 24 at the Business Leadership Awards dinner. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center. Tickets are available online at www.tacoma.uw.edu/business or at (253) 692-4580.

The awards recognize the achievements of business leaders from Pierce, Kitsap, Thurston and South King counties and strengthen the relationship between the business community and UW Tacoma, according to Milgard School of Business Dean Shahrokh Saudagaran.

The honorees were nominated by the community and selected by a panel of faculty from the Milgard School of Business and Business Advisory Board members.

George H. Weyerhaeuser, Lifetime Achievement Award

As chairman, president and CEO of the company his great-grandfather founded in 1900, George H. Weyerhaeuser helped the organization grow into one of the world's largest timber companies. Now retired, Weyerhaeuser served as CEO of the company from 1966 to 1991 - the longest anyone's ever held the position - and chairman of the board from 1988 to 1999.

Driven by his family's strong work ethic, Weyerhaeuser started in the family business as a choker setter, wrapping cable around felled timber, and rose through the ranks after graduating from Yale University in 1949. Weyerhaeuser is known as a talented leader who listened to his employees while championing product quality and high ethical business standards. His work at Weyerhaeuser led the company to new heights and helped redefine the forest management industry.

Ray Tennison, Business Leader of the Year

A well-known and active member of the Tacoma community, Tennison has been president of Simpson Investment Company since 1997. Nominators called Tennison a talented and generous leader in business and in the community. Committed to remaining competitive while personally supporting his employees, Tennison has worked hard to help his staff succeed. In 2004, he spearheaded the relocation of Simpson's headquarters from downtown Seattle to downtown Tacoma, a move that consolidated the company's administration, saved money and contributed to growth in the South Sound.

A leader in the community, Tennison has served as chair of the UW Tacoma capital campaign and vice-chair of the UW Tacoma Advisory Board and on a number of other community leadership groups. He joined Simpson as operations manager of Simpson Tacoma Kraft in 1989.

Joe Stortini, Small Business Leader of the Year

Previously a state senator and Pierce County commissioner and executive, Joe Stortini opened his first restaurant, Mama Stortini's, in University Place in 1992, and his latest restaurant, Joeseppi's, in Westgate in 2005. Known as a tireless community supporter and organizer, Stortini hosts fundraisers in his restaurant and encourages his employees to take an active role in their communities. A leader by example, he greets everyone who enters his restaurant as a friend and neighbor.

An active member of his community, Stortini is a leader in his church and coaches softball. Friends and colleagues say Stortini exemplifies a small-business owner who is helping to build and maintain his community.

Bob Ecklund, Nonprofit Business Leader of the Year

President and CEO of the YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County since 2004, Bob Ecklund has led the organization to new highs in membership and fundraising. Considered a rising star in the national YMCA family, Ecklund is known as a strong staff leader, communicator, planner and financial developer who has made Tacoma's YMCA one of the nation's most successful.

Ecklund, who came to Tacoma from the Kansas City YMCA, has dedicated his entire career to the organization. Under his leadership, membership at the Tacoma YMCA has risen by 35 percent, and donations have nearly doubled. He has led the organization's largest-ever fundraising effort to support construction of a new Gig Harbor branch and has raised morale among staff and volunteers.