Rising Us West Executive Steps Aside To Spend More Time At Home

U S West spokeswoman Sharon Matthews was next in line to chair the prestigious Spokane Area Economic Development Council.

But the rising corporate executive stepped aside at the EDC and resigned from the phone company after 16 years.

She joins a growing legion of youngish entrepreneurs who opt to give up successful corporate careers and start home-based businesses so they can spend more time with their families.

“I just decided my kids are growing up too fast and I need to have this time with them,” said the mother of three - ages 10, 8 and 4.

The rigors of corporate responsibilities and her roles as a leader in the business community “grew too hectic,” she said.

In addition to her job as area manager of external affairs for US West, she served on the boards of the Economic Development Council, the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, Momentum and Junior Achievement of Spokane.

“The experience was very interesting, very enjoyable, very rewarding,” says Matthews in retrospect. “And US West was wonderful, but I was constantly on the go.

“I lost a balance in life, and I needed to get it back on line,” says Matthews. “I think lots of career people are reviewing their lifestyles and questioning whether this is what they wanted.”

Matthews will stay on as a director and chair of Junior Achievement but give up all the other boards.

Her husband owns Dew Drop Sprinkler & Landscaping. The couple live at Liberty Lake.

She is establishing a home-based contract consulting service called Virtual Resources. It is patterned after the “lone eagle” concept of an individual who works effectively from a home office utilizing all the telecommunications resources available today.

Fittingly, the first major project links her up with the firm of Jennifer West Public Relations. Their client is the Inland Northwest Partnership, an economic development program established by Washington Water Power Co. For a decade, the partnership has brought together business, community and government leaders from throughout the region to share ideas and experiences once a year.

Matthews and West will organize a forum quarterly. “In March,” says Matthews, “we will focus on the Internet as a resource to market local communities and help businesses grow.” The number for Inland Northwest Partnership is (509) 482-4064.

Red Lobster debut draws crowd

Inland Northwest seafood lovers queued up for the opening of the first Red Lobster restaurant in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene metropolitan area this week.

Manager Steve Herold said a waiting line that extended halfway around the building for the Coeur d’Alene restaurant’s 4 p.m. opening caused many who have been waiting for Red Lobster for years to shy away Monday. “But all in all, it was an excellent first day,” said Herold, who calculated nearly 500 were served.

Although this is the first Red Lobster in this market, area taste buds have been bombarded for years by the giant restaurant chain’s mouth-watering seafood commercials which blanket the nation.

When will Spokane finally land a Red Lobster of its own? “That’s the question I get asked the most,” said Herold, who gave me a number in Florida to call for an answer. There, a market development spokeswoman replied in two words, “Not yet.

“We’ve had Spokane on our list of places to be forever,” said Sharon, who declined to give a last name. She said Red Lobster just can’t seem to find the right site in Spokane - “but we’re still trying.”

F.O. Berg signs up new partner

One of the region’s oldest and most colorful businesses, 108-year-old F.O. Berg Co., now also known as Spokane Tent & Awning, has a new partner whose roots in the business community also go back more than a century.

Andy Barrett has bought an ownership interest in the historic firm. He joins Bill Gabrio as a partner in a business which came West making tops for covered wagons, arriving a year before the great Spokane fire of 1889. F.O. Berg housed the pioneer business community in its tents while downtown Spokane was being rebuilt.

Today, the company manufactures an array of commercial and residential awnings, tents, carport covers, tarps, liners and packaging materials.

One of Barrett’s great-grandfathers founded F.S. Barrett Realty in Spokane 102 years ago. A grandfather owned and operated Allied Van Lines.

Andy Barrett was director of marketing for Puget Sound Tent & Awning before buying into F.O. Berg/Spokane Tent & Awning.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or send a fax to 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review