Banquet Honors Distinguished Leaders, Explores Sonics' Future

The 2006 Business Leadership Banquet, held October 19, paid tribute to Leonard H. Lavin, Sally Jewell, ’78, and Lex Gamble, ’59, three great friends of the UW Business School from three very different fields. Each received the UW Business School's 2006 Business Leadership Award.

Leonard Lavin is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Alberto-Culver Company, an international giant in household and beauty products with annual sales in excess of $3.5 billion in 100 countries.

Lavin, who attended the UW prior to serving in the Navy during World War II, has received numerous awards for his philanthropic, civic and business endeavors.

In 1993, he was inducted into the Merchandising Executives Club Hall of Fame. He was awarded an honorary MBA degree from the UW in 2001.

His rags-to-riches story behind him, Lavin currently serves as entrepreneur-in-residence at San Diego State University, where he teaches young Middle Eastern executives in conjunction with a government program.

"These are not like the people you read about in the newspapers," he said. "They're all eager to learn the American way of business.

“The idea is that they will take these ideals back home and, little by little, permeate this wall that separates us from the people of the Middle East. I think it's one of the most important things that this country has ever done, and a value of business schools that we don't always think about."

Sally Jewell is president and CEO of REI, the nation's largest consumer cooperative, with 2.8 million active members and more than $1 billion in annual sales, and a leader in employment practices, corporate social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

With a degree in engineering from the UW and experience in the energy and banking industries, Jewell has been active in a variety of community and environmental causes.

She is chair of the UW Board of Regents, founding board member of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and board member of the National Parks Conservation Association and the Initiative for Global Development.

In her remarks, Jewell said that the REI board met recently to explore long-term issues facing the cooperative, and identified four above all: climate change, globalization, urbanization, and demographic shifts.

"Those are the kinds of things that students at the Business School are going to contend with in their careers," she said.

"And they aren't necessarily the same rules of engagement that those of us who have been doing business for a long time have had to deal with.

“We have all been plunderers of the planet. Now we need to figure out how to do business in a smarter way. And it’s places like the UW Business School that are going to help all of us figure this out."

Lex Gamble. ’59, a founding partner of the Lockwood Financial Group, has provided strategic and capital-raising advice to more than 200 corporations during his 35-year career as an investment banker, serving as managing director with Smith Barney, Morgan Grenfell and Kidder Peabody.

Gamble serves on a number of non-profit boards, including the UW Foundation and the Business School Advisory Board.

He earned his B.A. in business at the UW, where he was elected student body president.

Among his kernels of wisdom on offer, Gamble advised acting with integrity, taking an equity position in everything you do and giving back, saying, "There's no greater satisfaction than the returns that come from giving back."

Gamble, who received his M.B.A. from Harvard after doing his undergraduate work at the UW Business School, said in closing, "I may have a degree from Harvard, but I got my real education at the University of Washington."

Clayton Bennett, the new owner of the Seattle Sonics and Storm, delivered the evening's anticipated keynote address. Since the purchase of the popular basketball franchises by his Oklahoma-based Professional Basketball Club LLC, Bennett has quickly become a person of interest to fans of Seattle sports and commerce.

Bennett pledged, "It is our absolute hope, belief, desire, expectation that we will keep the Seattle Sonics in this marketplace."

But, he added, "We've got a real challenge with the building. KeyArena is not an acceptable venue for the NBA.

"I understand and appreciate that there are a lot more important things than sports. We've heard a lot about them tonight. And there are near-term capital needs that this area has relative to transportation, public health, safety and education that are clearly more important.

“But I would also suggest that the dynamic nature of this market could be enhance by keeping the NBA in the marketplace, keeping the WNBA in this marketplace, and having a world-class, state-of-the-art entertainment, multipurpose commercial and trade facility.

“It could be an important asset for this community in the future."

Bennett said his ownership group plans to present a plan to the Washington state Legislature in January.

Return to December 2006 BA Alumni News