BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR

Dr. Eddie Hansen Co-owner/CEO, Natural Way Chiropractic

Managing pandemic anxiety

BUSINESS

PERSON

OF THE YEAR

Natural Way spent the year fixing a lot of stress-related pains

Kyra Planetz

When Gov. Jay Inslee announced the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order nearly one year ago, Natural Way Chiropractic, like many businesses, wondered whether it would stay afloat after closing its doors due to the governor’s order. Eddie Hansen, co-owner and CEO, said his employees’ fight or flight responses kicked in as they scrambled to figure out their next steps.

“It leveled the playing field for big businesses versus small businesses,” Hansen said.

To prepare for a partial reopening, Natural Way employees worked diligently to order non-contact thermometers and plexiglass barriers.

According to Hansen, the company was among the first to receive these items, and with its strong business model, Natural Way could afford to bear expenses that other companies could not.

Natural Way reopened its offices for three days a week beginning in April 2020, and by May, it was open full time, with only its medical massage services closed. Hansen explained that Gov. Inslee had lumped all medical massages with spa services, closing them until June 2020. This decision was a challenge, Hansen said, because he believed that medical massage differs from a massage you might find at a spa in that it is targeted to benefit those who have sustained sports injuries or who have been in a car accident.

Despite the closure, Natural Way was as busy as ever. Anxiety can cause physical pain, often leading to headaches and insomnia. The daily stress of the pandemic, coupled with poor ergonomics from working at home, brought many patients into Natural Way seeking relief.

“I have never seen, in 25 years of being a chiropractor, more people with back and neck problems,” Hansen said. “It is simply because society was incredibly stressed.”

The CEO said he believes because Natural Way was able to stay in business during these trying times, his employees were able to cope due to their camaraderie and ability to stay in constant communication. Like many businesses, Natural Way took advantage of online meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Because the company has seven clinics throughout the state, the online meetings proved especially helpful for communication and morale. Hansen said he plans to continue using these platforms even after the pandemic ends.

As they worked together through the onset of the pandemic and collectively navigated the “new normal,” Hansen was continuously inspired by the tenacity of his employees. He believes he wouldn’t have been able to make it through the past year without them by his side.

“I got to see my employees rise to the occasion through significant adversity,” he said.

Looking forward, Hansen is in the process of interviewing doctors and staff to work for new clinics to open soon.

Those clinics potentially would be in Marysville, Arlington and Stanwood. For now, Hansen hopes patients will continue to turn to Natural Way Chiropractic as a COVID-19-safe environment that exists to take care of them.

“We’re here to help,” he said. ■

Jennifer Kutcher CEO, WECU

‘It’s really about helping people’

BUSINESS

PERSON

OF THE YEAR

WECU continues community support throughout pandemic

Kyra Planetz

Like many businesses, Whatcom Educational Credit Union had goals for 2020 set prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a financial institution, these objectives included growth in loans, deposits and assets. But once news of the shutdown hit the company, CEO Jennifer Kutcher said WECU’s priorities began to shift.

“Really, 2020 was all about continuing to fulfill our mission as an organization, pursue our goals, but reprioritize and adjust,” she said. “We had to make sure, first and foremost, everyone’s health and safety came first in all of our decision-making.”

As an essential business, WECU stayed open, making the assurance of employee and member safety a challenge. Bankers conducted online meetings with members from home. Tellers completed transactions from drive-up windows. Many members utilized online banking and the WECU app to manage their money and deposit checks.

To support members through pandemic hardships, WECU offered individual crisis relief loans, which included extensions and low interest rates. Its business banking team also worked diligently to provide Paycheck Protection Program loans to businesses throughout Whatcom County.

Overall, WECU funded close to 900 PPP loans for a total of $36 million, supporting roughly 5,000 jobs in the county. Kutcher said the decision to offer PPP loans was not planned, but she believes small businesses are the backbone of the community.

“It really wasn’t a question of ‘should we or shouldn’t we,’” Kutcher said. “It was more of a question of ‘how can we?’”

To lessen the stress of the pandemic, WECU implemented a COVID-19 employee update corner on its website. It also maintained strong communication and connection with employees via online meeting platforms. Kutcher is proud of her employees, she said, for adjusting to new circumstances and rising to the occasion to support one another and serve WECU’s members.

“I couldn’t be any more inspired or impressed by my team,” Kutcher said. “This last year really showed what we can accomplish together.”

Despite the pandemic, WECU remained financially strong this past year and achieved all of its business goals. The company saw more deposit growth than anticipated, which drove its asset growth as well. Currently, WECU has more than $2 billion in total assets.

After seeing what WECU accomplished this past year, even in uncertain times, Kutcher said she views the situation as an opportunity for betterment. She said WECU is currently working on a strategy for the future that aligns with its mission to make a meaningful difference in the lives of its members.

In 2021, WECU will continue to focus on improving the member and employee experience and on ongoing enhancements to its current products and services, such as online banking, deposit products and loans. Kutcher said WECU continues to seek feedback from its employees and members and hopes the community will turn to the company with any financial questions or needs.

“We’re really thankful for the trust the community has in our credit union,” Kutcher said. “As a financial cooperative, it’s really about people helping people.” ■

Murry Park President, Trans-Ocean Seafoods

Seafood manufacturer sees growth

Many tough decisions play part in ‘keeping the lights on’

Kyra Planetz BUSINESS

PERSON

OF THE YEAR

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country, temporary closures threatened the stability of businesses small and large throughout Whatcom County. For many, tough decisions had to be made regarding ensuring employees’ safety and “keeping the lights on,” as Murry Park, president of Trans-Ocean Products, put it.

Despite a tumultuous 2020, however, the company maintained operations and even increased its employee count, volume and revenue. Park attributes Trans-Ocean’s success to the effort of his employees, many of whom continued to come into work long before the risks of COVID-19 were fully known.

“It wasn’t business as usual,” Park said, “but we did get through the food safety audits throughout the year because of the outstanding efforts of the employees.”

To ensure the safety of its employees, Trans-Ocean implemented plexiglass shields, social distancing and staggered breaks before the facemask mandate was put in place. It also required that administrative work be done from home and that COVID-19 screening questionnaires be completed prior to coming into work. Park said that throughout the past year he challenged employees to take the situation as a learning opportunity in order to be more competitive when things returned to normal.

Having followed the safety precautions for some time, Park said the company has seen a decrease not only in COVID-19 cases, but also in such illnesses as colds and influenzas. Because of this success, Park said TransOcean will continue taking precautions in the coming years.

As the demand for affordable protein increased this past year, Trans-Ocean’s sales and marketing teams pivoted to meet the needs of its customers. Many wanted the option to purchase a TransOcean product online and then pick it up or have it delivered; the company worked extensively with retailers to accommodate this change. With that came a shift to utilizing online meeting platforms. Park said this transition saved travel and meal expenses and also will outlast the pandemic.

“The market never really stays static,” Park said. “It’s dynamic in nature.”

Park said he was inspired by his employees’ hard work and sacrifice throughout the past year, which ensured that Trans-Ocean products reached consumers and, ultimately, kept the company in business. Park wrote an end-of-the-year letter to his staff, asking them to identify ways in which their colleagues went above and beyond.

“I was quite touched by the sincere gratitude that they expressed towards each other,” Park said.

Park, born and raised in Whatcom County, said he is proud to be a part of the community and to work at a place that supports the local economy. Looking ahead, Park said he believes the vaccine rollout is creating a less stressful environment for everyone in Whatcom County — and at TransOcean Products — and he hopes it can be the start of a new normal.

“In a way, 2020 was the year that didn’t happen,” Park said. “But in another way, it’s a year that’s going to help define us moving forward.” ■

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Marty Maberry, Maberry Packing

Forward, ho!

‘We are not in control of everything — we can only do the best we can’

Mike McKenzie

Appearing atop the leaderboard of the most used words in any conversation about business during the 2020 and the ongoing pandemic: “difficult” and “challenging.”

As “COVID-19” became omnipresent as a new proper noun, two other words also surfaced in virtually any conversation, business or otherwise: “impact” and “pivot.”

A prime-time example in highlighting the annual Business Pulse awards for outstanding achievements among Whatcom County companies and their leaders: Marty Maberry, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He assessed 2020 succinctly in an online interview:

“Certainly, 2020 was a very difficult year for all businesses, not just ours. Obviously, it was a very challenging year for operations, given all the safety protocols to keep everyone safe.”

Operations span a massive, tri-berry landscape at Maberry Packing under Marty Maberry’s third-generation (and now in its fourth) patriarchal leadership as co-owner and chairman of the board. His son, Jon, manages the growing ops. Daughter Jamie Gunst serves as director of human resources.

Maberry Packing was tagged as an essential business within the food industry. The family brand has loomed large in its specialties since 1944, when it began with Marty’s grandparents, Leonard and Blanche, as a small strawberry field. Marty’s father Jake founded Maberry Packing in ’55.

Today, the company is not only growing but also processing, packing and marketing raspberries (about 65% of the business), blueberries (25%) and strawberries (10%). It sells to the consumer market through Maberry & Maberry Associates, founded in 1980 with Marty’s cousin heading Curt Maberry Farms.

To pivot in the impact of COVID-19 — see? those constant conversation droplets — Maberry’s team of about 130 employees, which expands by three or four times during harvests, increased its training procedures and methods and its internal communications to keep everyone well-informed about the dreaded coronavirus.

“We provided them with updated information about health and safety as it became available, so they would understand how we were working through the challenges together,” Maberry said.

These were already good practices inherent in the stringent regulations dealing with agriculture. Suddenly and unexpectedly, all of it fell under an exponentially more powerful microscope.

And it all called for one of Marty Maberry’s most outstanding leadership traits — astute vision, seeing beyond the virus travails of 2020 and 2021. The organizational structural changes that have been necessary to deal with COVID and safety will continue to strengthen the company for years to come, Maberry wrote.

He indicated that he found both gratification and inspiration from “watching leadership dig in and deal with the pandemic” — not just within the company, but with the requisite moves made to deal with state and county health department guidelines and restrictions.

“The preparation for the harvest was exceptional,” Marty said. Perhaps the toughest lessons learned: “We are not in control of everything. We can only do the best we can in all circumstances.”

That resolve, encapsulating a lifetime of Maberry achievements — both his and those who modeled it before him — strengthened, in his view, the commitment of Maberry Packing to excellence as a new year unfolds. “We are committed to what we do for the community, for our employees, and for our customers,” he said.

“We have an excellent team that is put together to last into the future, and we are all about people.”