Christine Gregoire
Chief Executive Officer, Challenge Seattle, Former Governor State of Washington
With COVID-19 bearing down on Seattle, former Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire called an emergency meeting of Challenge Seattle, a private sector organization where serves as CEO. Comprising CEOs of Seattle’s large corporations—including Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, and others —Challenge Seattle brought private sector know-how and experience to a public health response that was unequipped, underpowered, and under-resourced for a large-scale pandemic threat.
Stepping into a Void
Initially, Challenge Seattle’s contribution was to facilitate two-way exchange—keeping companies informed about the evolving pandemic and enabling them to provide information to the State and local response.
“We decided to hold a meeting at noon every day, which began with the 21 members of Challenge Seattle. We started that week, and we didn’t end for more than 18 months.. We brought in experts to share what was happening and gave them the benefit of our companies’ knowledge in response, based on what they were seeing in other countries around the world. The rumor got out across the state that we were doing this, and we kept getting asked by CEOs whether they could join. We ended up with over 200 members, and we provided them with the most recent information from experts.”
The companies asked me, based on my experience as a governor, what I would recommend. In response, I said the one thing I know, because these companies employ thousands of people, is that you need to communicate directly with your personnel, and you need to have the best information you can get. You can’t rely on social media. We made a decision that Challenge Seattle would bring that kind of information to them, so they could make the best possible decisions.
Becoming Essential
Over time, the group evolved into a core element of Washington’s crisis response. Critically, it bolstered the state’s resources and logistics capacity during key pandemic pivot points including by front-loading funding for personal protective equipment to overcoming mass vaccination hurdles.
Challenge Seattle also became instrumental in advising the state on crisis command and control. Using her unique experience as both a former governor and CEO, Gregoire knew the importance of developing partnerships between government and the private sector and empowering a capable point person. A key expert and proven leader, Admiral Raquel “Rocky” Bono, was identified to coordinate the Washington state response.
We were observing that the pandemic was breaking the backs of the hospitals and the public health system. We needed someone in the state government with a high degree of expertise to come in and help us to pull ourselves together to get through the crisis. We talked to the governor and found Admiral Bono. There were occasions when I would call the governor’s office and ask them to give her [Bono] the leeway she needed so that she wasn’t constrained. She was steadfast. She never flinched. I’m a big fan.
We did the same thing with the county. We set up a public private partnership with them, and in addition to the work we did on the state-level command center, we hired someone to go on site to set up a mini command center for King County.
Starbucks-style Logistics
Across the country, state and local public health departments fell short on logistics as the federal government struggled to facilitate adequate access to personal protective equipment and practical guidance on implementation of testing and vaccine distribution. Challenge Seattle stepped up to play a critical role, pairing private sector logistics, data, and financial capacities with core public health and crisis response needs in communities across the state.
“We held a meeting with the governor where I asked whether the state was ready to conduct the kind of mass vaccinations that would be needed. From my vantage point, it looked like we were prepared to give the annual fall flu shot but not yet prepared for mass vaccinations for COVID-19. I told the team I thought the private sector could help.”
“That was a memorable meeting. It started with Starbucks’ CEO – then Kevin Johnson- who said, ‘We deliver about a million cups of coffee a week to satisfy customers around the globe. I’ll bring in my logistics team, and we’ll take whatever steps make [it] more efficient and effective.”
Starbucks would take their team and go into a site, and they would improve the efficiency of the site by no less than 30% and in many instances, as much as 60%. I look back on it now with great memories. Government did what only government can do. And the private sector offered up and did what only the private sector can do, and the combination of the two was really stunning.
“We worked with Nordstrom to make PPE. Boeing shut down a line to make PPE. We had our CEOs call around the country [to find PPE]. We had PPE that got stuck in transit across the border. We worked with the federal government to get it through Customs, and we had Alaska Airlines fly it back to our state.”
Transcending the Public-Private Divide
Gregoire was able to use her power and position to ensure that leaders, like Governor Inslee, heard concerns from those outside government who were watching the response, hearing from communities, and noticing potential points of failure. At the state level, the relationship grew into one of trust and mutual benefit. At the county level, the relationship was quickly embraced, driven by massive local need and an overwhelmed staff.
We learned if you get out there and do something that makes good sense and is the right thing to do, others will follow. I had multiple conversations with the public sector in which I said, ‘If you lead with this alone, it will fail – but, if we lead, it’s got a fighting chance. And it did.’
“The businesses were ahead of government. They had seen it globally. We would bring people onto our calls, people from all over the world, to share with us what was going on. In turn, I would share it with my colleagues in British Columbia to say, ‘Heads up, this is what’s coming, and this is how we’re dealing with it, and this is where we are learning lessons…’
In the end, it was about relationships on the one hand, but also about breaking down these preconceived opinions, versions, or attitudes towards another sector. When the CEO of Starbucks engaged on vaccinations, he was able to recognize that the state didn’t have what it needed for a mass vaccination campaign, and it was his idea for me to call the governor. Together with the Mayor of Seattle, we were effective because of a pre-existing relationship. We’re good friends, and she asked us for help.”
These CEOs saw the COVID-19 pandemic as a humanitarian crisis. Ultimately, the distrust between government and the private sector was thrown to the side. That doesn’t mean it was smooth at first when we set up the command — because that distrust was present. But, over a very short period of time, it was gone.
“Among people in the private sector who were asked to work on certain things, they were proud they had served the public. Some of them would write emails saying this was the most amazing experience of their life.”
One Washington State
Challenge Seattle also served as a resource for companies and others to address flashpoint issues that arose around masking and vaccination, using practical information focused on employers.
“Our contribution was to advocate for people to express what they feel or think, respect those feelings in our respective workforces, and ask the government to do the same in its partnership with us.”
Partisanship wasn’t a factor in the work that we did at all. It was just not a consideration. Instead, there was total focus on ‘We have a crisis. We don’t have a choice. We have to work together. Human lives are at stake.”
We were able to reach out to small businesses that play a critical role, for example, in rural eastern Washington, working with a business organization called the Association of Washington Businesses. These businesses could more effectively engage in their own backyards and communities. Engaging the business community can cut through the politics. They can cut through cultural issues. They can cut through all of that and take a leadership role. And I personally believe that worked.
To address issues that inevitably arose across political and geographical lines, we did a study of how to communicate with people with differing opinions about the recommended public health measures, like vaccinations. We asked things like: ‘How do you respect their opinion and ask them to respect you? How do you deal with respect in the workforce?’
“We held seminars aimed at how to take care of yourself as an executive during these crises and how to take care of your workforce where they’re isolated. We tried to deal with these issues by bringing to the fore the best expertise we could find to assist these CEOs. On all of the calls, we included an executive from the mayor’s office, from the county and from the state, who could listen to how we were trying to grapple with these issues among our own respective workforces.”
We issued reports on how to reopen businesses after they had closed, how to function while closed, and the ramifications for businesses, as well as how to reopen the schools and how to focus on the kinds of problems that had been caused by the closures.
“We issued reports to the legislature and the governor, most of them in partnership with Boston Consulting Group on a pro bono basis, in which we would address issues around the country that had surfaced the most political controversy. We tried to tackle those issues from a purely objective standpoint, saying: ‘Here are the facts. Here is the data. Here’s where it’s worked around the globe. Here’s where it’s failed. Here are best practices.”