Category: Leadership

Van Waters & Rogers Inc., Kirkland

• CEO*: Paul Hough, President and CEO
• PM: Linda Holman, Manager of Administrative Services
• ETC: Kathryn Ritchey, Administrative Assistant and Facilities Coordinator

Management works closely with community to solve commute problems

Seven years ago, Van Waters & Rogers moved from downtown Seattle, where most employees commuted by bus, to Carillon Point in Kirkland, a suburban location with very limited transit service. The organization's SOV rate soared from 20% to 80%.

Van Waters & Rogers' Diamond Award is displayed by Kathryn Ritchey, Administrative Assistant and Facilities Coordinator; Linda Holman, Manager of Administrative Services; and Gary Pruitt, Senior Vice President of Finance.

Management knew it was facing an uphill battle to reduce commute trips to the new site. So it appointed Linda Holman, the manager in charge of the organization's CTR program, to become part of the community's dialogue on transportation issues. Holman joined the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce and became involved in the transportation subcommittee. Eventually she served as president of the Chamber. She has become a leading business voice on transportation issues participating in the Sound Transit debates, the Trans-Lake Washington Study Committee, and has been active in pulling together business leaders in the area to discuss transportation issues. Her current activities involve Sound Transit's plans for express bus service on SR520 to Redmond—Holman is lobbying for a Kirkland stop to be added to the plan. She also is spearheading an effort to reinstate shuttle service between the South Kirkland Park and Ride, downtown Kirkland, and Carillon Point.

Kathryn Ritchey, Employee Transportation Coordinator, is an active member of the Greater Kirkland CTR Network Group, which is made up of ETCs from CTR-affected sites, building owners, and property managers. Besides exchanging helpful ideas and solutions, the group meets with representatives from Sound Transit, King County Metro, and the Trans-Lake committee to express their needs and concerns. The City of Kirkland currently is working on a transit study and meets with the group as a way to get employer commitment.

Management sees rideshare as short term solution

Van Waters & Rogers' leadership on commute trip reduction is internal as well. Management supported tailoring the organization's own commute trip reduction program around ridesharing, designing an internal ridematch system using the organization's intranet, which includes hotlinks to Metro's transportation web page. A FlexPass, which fully subsidizes transit and vanpool, is given to all employees. Vanpools also are given priority parking. Van Waters & Rogers offers secure bicycle storage and showers and has a fleet vehicle available for employees to use for work-related trips. The company also offers telework and compressed workweeks. Currently eight employees work a 4/40 week, and approximately 20 employees telework on a regular or frequent basis.

Van Waters & Rogers has a vested interest in the transportation problems faced by Kirkland and will continue to work with the city and the various transportation agencies and committees to improve the commuting options for its employees.

*Some definitions: An “ETC” is the staff-level employee transportation coordinator responsible for the daily administration of the transportation program; “PM” is the transportation program manager; and “CEO” refers to the top management-level person at the worksite. “SOV” stands for single-occupant vehicle, and “CTR” for commute trip reduction.