About John Powers:

John Powers is founder and CEO of Powers Economics. His career spans thirty years of leadership roles and senior advisor assignments, in private enterprise, professional practice, public service, and civic organizations. 

A graduate of Notre Dame University's School of Business, and a twenty five year member of the Washington Bar, Powers' experience includes: owning and operating businesses in the insurance, finance and real estate sector; restructuring businesses as a board certified reorganization specialist; serving as Spokane's first strong mayor; and, as CEO, Powers revitalized, recapitalized, repositioned, and rebranded the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County - enterpriseSeattle.

Known for creativity, acuity and drive; Powers offers a strong record of bringing forward adaptive change and cultivating dynamic leadership in a wide array of private enterprises, public endeavors, and community initiatives. For over thirty years, Powers has advised and counseled dozens of public companies and private businesses in: creating and re-creating business models; designing and sourcing capital requirements; developing products and services; building strategic partnerships; analyzing and advocating public policy and regulatory matters; site selection and facility development; and, growing revenues and market share.

As co-chair of The United States Conference of Mayor's 2001 Task Force on Gas and Electric Utility Restructuring, Powers advocated for the accelerated development of new, alternative energy generation and distribution infrastructure and practices and policies in terms of both economic effectiveness and environmental stewardship.

In 2002,  Mayor Powers' Administration collaborated with renowned sustainability pioneer, William McDonough, in creating a community based 20-year regional economic sustainability strategy - One Spokane - resulting in advancements in the areas of:  water protection; climate change; alternative fuels and renewable energy programs; and, the creation of primary jobs in technology, education, energy, health care, and  primary research.

In March of 2004, John Powers was selected to serve as the president and CEO of enterpriseSeattle, f/k/a Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County.

With a broad mandate to restructure and revitalize the 35 year old public-private economic development partnership, Powers, working with a reconstituted board of 40 public officials and business leaders, refocused the not for profit corporation on its core mission of creating jobs.  A new team of economic development professionals was assembled to execute client based job retention, expansion and attraction strategies realigned around specific prioritized economic clusters:  aerospace; life sciences and biotechnology; information communication technologies; clean technologies; interactive media, training and entertainment; and, international trade. Exceptional client service was delivered to businesses, large and small, throughout King County's 39 cities. As a result, enterpriseSeattle's portfolio of clients increased fivefold, its annual revenues tripled, investor members grew by 35%, and over 4,000 primary jobs impacted through $1B in private capital investment in the regional economy and communities.

In 2005, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Puget Sound Economic Development District (EDD), Powers served on the Project Management Team that guided the work of the Economic Competitiveness Group (ECG) in creating The Prosperity Partnership Regional Economic Development Strategy - an economic cluster based plan - aimed at creating 100,000 incrementally new primary jobs in the EDD Region by 2020. In this work, Powers spearheaded efforts to accelerate the development and promotion of two rapidly emerging new economic clusters: Clean Technologies and Interactive Media, Training and Entertainment.

In January of 2007, Powers undertook a two year assignment as the Senior Managing Director of Colliers International, State of Washington. Colliers International is a top-tier commercial real estate organization operating throughout North America and around the globe delivering a full range of services: capital markets; asset management; project management; valuations; investment advisory services; and, brokerage in both sales and leasing. As Senior Managing Director, Powers had overall responsibility for operations in four offices (Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and Olympia) comprised of 125 employees and independent contractor commercial real estate professionals servicing over $500M in transactions per year. Under Powers leadership, Colliers launched an initiative to deploy long-range market forecasting tools - 2020 Vision Reports, created deep market segmentation research driven business plans and marketing strategies, and formed an exclusive alliance with McKinstry, an industry leader in the design, construction, operation and 24/7 facility management of high performance LEED Certified/ Green commercial and institutional buildings . As a result of these initiatives, Colliers increased its regional roster of sales professionals by 40% and its overall regional market position from 4th to 3rd.

In the first quarter of 2009, John Powers, in collaboration with a host of virtual strategic partners, launched             Powers Economics. Powers Economics' core mission is to deliver business and economic development consulting services tailored to knowledge - based businesses and the communities that sustain them.

John Powers is actively engaged in his profession and community; his record of service includes: 

• University of Notre Dame Alumni Senate
• Gonzaga University Board of Regents 
• President, Federal Bar Association E.D. WA
• Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors
• Legal Aid for Washington Fund (LAW Fund), Director 
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation 
• Inland Empire YMCA BOD
• Director Inland Northwest Technology Education Center  
• Director Spokane Economic Development Council 
• Director Association of Washington Cities  
• Member Washington State Governor's Competitiveness Council
• C0-Chair US Conference of Mayors Task Force on Gas & Electric Utility Restructuring 
• Director King County Force Development Council  
• Director Puget Sound Regional Economic Development District 
• Founding Member, Washington State Clean Technology Alliance
• Director Washington State Aerospace Alliance 
• Director Washington State Commercial Realtors Association
• Member, Seattle Mayor's Business Advisory Board and Task Force on Sustainability 
• Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Community Development Round Table 
• Director Junior Achievement, Washington State Board
• Rotary International, Member Seattle Club #4
• Belltown Community Council and Business Association