Company: Bay West Group. Bay West Group has developed, owned and operated several million square feet of investments throughout the western United States, including San Francisco Design Center, the Galleria, Seattle Design Center and Seattle Gift Center, a multi- tenant garden office and industrial as well as Brownfield site reclamations.
Birthplace: Born in Memphis but raised in Houston. I consider myself a Texan
Career path: I went to Georgia Tech to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering but I didn't like it. Although I started working at Humble Oil (now Exxon) I didn't like the big company environment and knew I wanted to be my own boss. I went to Stanford to pursue an MBA and while I was there started a Small Business Club. The New York Times actually picked it up and featured it since Harvard was establishing the same thing around the same time. During one summer I took a position in mortgage finance where I met real estate developers and have been hooked on commercial real estate ever since. I started Bay West Group in 1979 and every day remains a dream for me. It's always challenging yet still allows me to be creative.
Business goal for the next 12 months: This year I have three 'thrusts' for the business. First, I hope to finalize approvals for 800 apartments/condo units in San Francisco and start their construction. It has taken 11 years to get to this point. Secondly I'm involved with other entities and we're looking for two other multi-family projects this year in the South Bay. Finally, I have recently taken over a company in which I was the major investor and hope to help it grow. This company is a startup so we are hoping to expand quickly.
Advice you wish you had received: This ties in to my biggest regret which is that you can't be an absentee landlord of a full service restaurant. It was an expensive mistake to learn!
Best business decision: My best decisions are around taking on projects outside the main stream. I like to get to know each sellers motivation so that I can make transactions happen where I'm not competing against big players. It's always satisfying for me to reach a successful conclusion with the other party knowing that a win-win is what we're both ultimately trying to achieve. Real estate now is becoming more like an auction where every final offer is put to another 'final' final offer. I don't like to play in this arena and don't compete with the big players; it's not worth it.
Toughest business decision: Generally I don't think that there are tough business decisions; there are logical decisions that are made all the time and you can't bring emotions into it. I believe part of my success is because I'm transparent; I explain to everyone why decisions are what they are and like to feel comfortable that everyone knows what is going on. They might not always like my decisions but hopefully they can understand the reasoning behind them. Sometimes these decisions are hard to make but ultimately we have to move forward.
Person most admired: I believe that integrity and follow-through are major components of someone's character. Someone who I see from time to time is George Schultz, Secretary of State under President Reagan, and he embodies these characteristics. Even at 87 years old he's still fighting for honorable causes.
Like most about job: Every day requires creativity and a certain level of stamina. I have a high energy level so don't mind getting up early and working hard. I also love the opportunity I have to interact regularly with bright people; it's so motivating.
Like least about job: For me it's the blizzard of emails which is almost overwhelming. Communication has shifted over the years; people expect to get responses via email but in many ways I'm still old school - I like to get on phone or even better meet them face to face.
Dream job: I'd love to be a salt water fishing charter boat captain and spend the day out on the ocean. There are so many interesting creatures beneath the surface.
Favorite book: Watership Down by Richard Adams. It's a heroic fantasy novel about a small group of rabbits who escape the destruction of their warren to seek a place in which to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way.
Favorite movie: To Catch a Thief starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. It's fabulous.
Favorite restaurant: In San Francisco it's probably North Beach Restaurant. Dependable Italian food that's not overpriced.
Outside of work: I'm almost religious about exercising and make time to do something every day. Whether it's squash, golf, mountain biking, yoga, or lifting weights in the gym, I make a point to build it into my daily routine.
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Company: Box.net. Box provides cloud-based content management for 6 million users and 60,000 companies ranging from small businesses to the Fortune 500.
Birthplace: Born in LA but grew up in Seattle
Education: Duke University
Business goal for the next 12 months: To increase IT/CIO awareness and continue gaining traction in the Fortune 500.
Advice you wish you had received: When we started Box I was 19 and was afraid to hire senior people, but now I know that experienced leaders help you learn faster and grow faster. I also should have focused less on the bottom line early on and instead focused on growing market share.
Best business decision: Recognizing early what our best customers wanted and shifting our strategy to meet those needs. We shifted our focus from B-C to B-B, which changed the way we deliver our service and has proved extremely successful.
Toughest business decision: Knowing which opportunities to say no to. It's possible to do too many things and dilute the limited resources we have. It's hard to say no to clients who want to spend a lot of money for feature or interface specificity. But doing that dilutes Box's value to everyone else.
Person most admired: I admire many people but perhaps the most is Larry Page, Google's CEO. His role has evolved a lot but he continues to do what he loves and Google continues to stay true to its values and its original vision. That said, I'd probably admire him more if he had Vibrams like Sergey.
Like most about job: The chaos, the ability to make decisions quickly, and the ability to work closely with a great team.
Like least about job: Having to deal with the realities of scaling rapidly, such as implementing policies and having to move the company every 18 months.
Dream job: I'm doing it, and maybe someday I'll have a similar role with a non-profit that allows me to travel.
Favorite book: Growing up it was always Lord of the Rings but now I spend most of my time reading business books. Geoffrey Moore is probably my favorite author now.
Favorite movie: Star Wars!
Outside of work: My hours outside of work are pretty limited these days but I love to cook and I coach a Little League team.
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Company: Justin works with small businesses to improve their financial performance and to respond to growth opportunities. His engagements focus on complex turn-around or rapid growth situations involving premium brands. He is probably best known for being part of the team who built Ravenswood Winery and then sold it to Constellation Brands and as former CEO of Niman Ranch. Justin believes that his best work is as a former Councilmember and twice Mayor of the City of Belvedere and as President of the Board of Trustees of the Thacher School.
Birthplace: Pasadena, CA.
Education: Thacher High School, Ojai, CA
Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Earth Sciences from Stanford.
MBA from Harvard ("Stanford wouldn't take me").
Business goal for the next 12 months: I'd like to get back into the wine industry on an operating level; that's really where my heart and family activities are focused. My wife grew up on a ranch in Sonoma. With partners, we planted vineyards there in '93; we have about 200 acres. It's through my Sonoma roots that I was introduced to Ravenswood Winery which we took public through a Dutch auction in 1999. It was the first Dutch Auction IPO for Bill Hambrecht after he started W. R. Hambrecht & Co. After Ravenswood was sold in 2001, I got distracted by other opportunities in other industries. I love the cultural aspects of wine and the sense of family and community that it embodies. Wine is an integral part of sharing time together, both in daily meals and on special occasions. I would like a chance to create another wonderful brand.
Advice you wish you had received: How to stay ahead of the curve with a very fast growing business that is capital intensive. It's tough - in the wine business you always have to plan ahead for several years while still looking back at the inventory which is maturing and needs to be sold.
It's always about people in any business, so I would have liked to have known more about getting a team of disparate people to work together successfully, while still having fun.
Looking back at the IPO, all went very smoothly. We worked well as team and we were lucky that we had great wines and brilliant business people who took a chance on each other. Back then, smaller companies could still go public which I believe would be almost impossible today. One of the problems we have as a society is that it is so regulated it dampens access to capital markets. If we could relax a lot of the regulatory requirements around a public company we might see more activity and have more dynamic and open capital markets.
Best business decision: I have several that I'm fortunate to call good decisions. Working for Ravenswood is one. It was a wonderful experience with great people and great products. It opened a whole new world to me and I learned a tremendous amount.
The decision to create vineyards in Sonoma county is one I'm also proud of because it opened a whole new avenue for my family that is truly multi-generational. I will never look back on that decision.
The decision to join E.D. Bullard company is another. It's an amazing evolution of a company - we were too young to know it back then that the chances of a successful turnaround were low
but it worked, and it's now a thriving business employing hundreds of people.
Toughest business decision: The toughest decisions are when a company is faced with such dire circumstances that it is forced to make profound structural changes that affect human lives. The challenge is to communicate to both the survivors and those who are not part of the future so that, although they may not agree with the decision, they understand it. As the leadership of a company you have to be willing to discuss such decisions in an open manner and it's never easy.
Person most admired: My wife is the person who has had the most profound effect on me. She is a wonderful, smart and active lady who has showed me that serving a community can be truly rewarding. I also admire my grandfather who was a wonderfully caring, insightful man, a man who helped many and who made personal decisions that took precedent over his career.
Like most about job: I like that I have a wide variety of really interesting companies to work with and the flexibility to manage my own schedule.
Like least about job: In many ways having several companies to work with makes me become very peripatetic; sometimes I just want to sink into something intensely. It's easy to get thinly spread but it forces you to switch gears quickly and not lag.
Dream job: I always wanted to be Secretary of Energy. I wanted to marry science and the knowledge of oil & energy with the practical aspects of business; few people that can bridge the gap effectively.
Favorite book: "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White. This is a fantasy novel chronicling the life of King Arthur.
Favorite movie: American Beauty
Outside of work: I love the outdoors - hiking, fishing, SCUBA diving, and of course Family.
Community: Former President of the Board of Trustees of the Thacher School (Ojai, CA) for 7 years, on the Board for 12.
Former Member of the Board of Directors, The Carneros Wine Alliance.
Former President of Family Winemakers of California.
Former Councilmember and twice Mayor of Belvedere, CA.
Councilor for Save the Redwoods.
Family: My wife, Sandra Donnell. a son, Nathaniel, (29) and a daughter, Claire (27)
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Jack MacDonaldCalifornia Inspirations profiles people with inspirational stories. Not famous or rich people necessarily, rather people whose life experiences embody the positive power of the human spirit whether in business or the community.
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