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INSIDEARMY GOES GREEN WITH NEIL KELLY

SAFE SHOPPING

FLYING CAR IN CENTRAL OREGON

ALWAYS ON

Sq1 digital ad agency swipes right on Portland

PAGE 3

BY JOSEPH GALLIVAN

2 BUSINESS TRIBUNE Tuesday, December 2, 2014

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014 BUSINESS TRIBUNE 3

Portland ad agency Sq1 has an army metaphor going on in its downtown of-fice in the old Police Headquarters building. A life size plastic Army man

guards the lobby and bowls of fake hand gre-nades grace the coffee table.

It’s pretty simple. “We go to war for our cli-ents,” says Partner John Holmes, 43.

The team of four who run Sq1, which has 30 people here, 125 in Dallas and five in Houston, Texas, have rebranded the agency itself. “We’re a conversion optimization shop — it’s on our business cards,” he says.

Holmes is such a fast talker he could proba-bly do the terms and conditions at the end of a radio truck ad, unassisted by software. Howev-er, he slows down to make certain points. One is that, “According to the numbers (self-report-ed to the Portland Business Journal) we be-lieve we are the second- or third-largest digital agency in Portland, and by the end of 2015 we’ll be the second largest agency period, in Port-land, behind Wieden + Kennedy.”

He’s on a hiring binge and hopes to get to 50 Portland staff by next summer. The firm is picking up one new account every other month. Sq1 has 40 clients now, and Holmes says they have not lost one.

Some of the clients include Jiffy Lube, InFo-cus, Hi-Tech, air cooling and heating company

CONTINUED / Page 4

TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ

John Holmes, partner at Sq1 digital ad agency, sits under the four pillars of wisdom he selected for his growing shop.

Up-from-nowhere digital ad agency Sq1 grows rapidly as it services clients in the always-on datasphere — all while playing Space Invaders

SQUARE 2.0


Business Tribune

PRESIDENTJ. Mark Garber

EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Vance W. Tong

VICE PRESIDENT Brian Monihan

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Christine Moore

CIRCULATION MANAGER Kim Stephens

CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER Cheryl DuVal

REPORTERJoseph Gallivan

DESIGN Keith Sheffield

PHOTOGRAPHERS Jonathan House, Jaime Valdez

WEB SITE portlandtribune.com

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PortlandTribune OFFICES6605 S.E. Lake Road Portland, OR 97222 503-226-6397 (NEWS)

Daikin, and the Portland Trail Blaz-ers.

Sq1 began in Dallas 18 years ago as a branding agency, but four years ago the founders, Ernie Capobianco and Judge Graham, grew restless — especially after seeing the rise of web advertising.

“They blew it up and wanted to start again,” says Holmes. That’s when he and Gabe Winslow, now 34, were invited in as equal partners. There are no outside investors.

They opened up Sq1’s Portland of-fice from a basketball half court in-side the Dekum Building at 519 SW 3rd Ave. The space was cheap. Desks sat awkwardly on the polished ma-ple. On big screens that hung near the hoops, Blazers-Mavs competed with video conferences with the Dal-las office.

In November 2014, Sq1 was named one of the 40 Best Places To Work In Advertising & Media by Ad Age, based on hiring practices, benefits packages, salaries, office perks, workplace environment and design.

They moved into the former Police building on SW Oak in February 2013. Holmes had fun designing the office. He sketched what he wanted and an architect CAD-ded it. The courtroom terrazzo was preserved and a new level was added to the chamber. The bike rack looks like a cartoon jail. And the boardroom is a mini basketball court, complete with bleachers for big meetings. With its sofas, video games games and pin-ball machines, parts of the office have the feel of a video arcade. There’s cold-brewed coffee and cold-brewed beer on draft, toys, gewgaws and trinkets everywhere.

It’s hard to describe without fall-ing into bullet pointed perk-listing, like a flyer for a summer camp:

n Phone-free Zen roomn Treadmill desksn Massage chairsn Yogan Summer Friday hoursn Beer on tapn Puppy FridaysIt’s an ad agency out of central

casting, except that most of the cre-atives are in Dallas. In Portland, the staff are servicing clients, selling me-dia and if not crunching numbers, then swiping right on them, or left.

“Our people know they have to be fast. It’s no longer 10 guys sitting on sofas in the creative department for

10 weeks trying to come up with the big idea. We’re gonna come up with lot ideas and start testing them now.”

Holmes says he wants the work-place to feel like home so that staff are inspired to show up and will not want to cut out early. But it’s about productivity rather than long hours. “We rarely stay past 6 p.m. or work weekends.”

Having said that, his hiring binge has hit a speed bump.

“We’re trying to find younger peo-ple with a work ethic, and people in the midwest and east coast have been exactly what we’re looking for.” He advertises for client service peo-ple, creative and programmers but has a pile of resumes from people

have been bouncing around different agencies year or two. Bad sign.

“I don’t want this to be someone’s layover, I want someone be here five or 10 years. I want people who look at things differently.”

What’s different from the old days is the frantic testing.

“We don’t just make one web ad for a client, we make 40 and test ev-ery variation using A/B testing,” or randomized testing.

On a recent morning Kaena Miller, SEO Specialist, was testing varia-tions on the Blazers’ ticket page. The idea is to keep changing the colors and shapes of the design — the but-tons, the windows, the forms — as well as the wording, seeing which one gets the most people buy a tick-et.

“It’s small stuff, like which works best, ‘Buy now’ or ‘Find tickets’? We also changed the order of the pric-ing, from ascending to descending as you get nearer to the button.” Miller found out that putting lower pricing nearer the button got more clicks to the Buy page, that is, more conver-sions. “I think it’s because people use their mouse pointer like their focus. And most people are looking for a deal.”

With the Blazers on a hot streak,

the website is very busy. Conse-quently, testing can be done more rapidly, because statistically signifi-cant results pop up sooner.

Holmes rails against advertising where everything is done on gut with delayed accountability.

“I don’t think other agencies look at their clients’ campaigns on a daily basis. Sometimes we look every two hours to see if it’s working. Media people can get complacent, there’s a lot of rinse and repeat. We’re push-ing every day for our clients, because good is never good enough.”

Holmes likes the targeted nature of ads that follow people from device to device, and place to place. He likes

that $5 coupons work well in getting customers back to Jiffy Lube sooner than they might have intended to, and that he can target soccer moms in a certain zip code with radio and mobile pizza ads in the “decision-making hours about dinner,” from noon to 7 p.m.

Old media now has an assist. TV ads are tested first on TrueView on YouTube, to see who watches them all the way through.

Another worker, Keith Caswell, Director of Digital Media, said his job is to “Help clients sell more stuff on-line.” Clients such as Beaverton Hyundai and Bionic Gloves. He tries to get advertisers to appear high up in both paid search and organic.

“Bing says you get 32 percent more click through value if a brand shows up in both at once,” said Cas-well.

The agency - sorry - conversion optimization shop, no longer deals with small accounts that spend less than $25,000 a month. It gets 80 per-cent of its revenue as a commission on media sales, and 20 percent from consulting and strategy.

Holmes is most excited about pro-grammatic TV.

“You buy the person, there’s no waste,” he says. So, two different people can be watching the same live show but due to the tech stack (soft-ware in their cable box and online) they get served totally different ads.

“It’s going to be huge, I think there will be a programmatic upfront in New York within two years,” he says of the traditional annual TV auction. “The big shops (ad agencies) are a little worried, I think it’s great. It scares traditional agencies, because they’re not as they not as aggressive as us in looking for the new things.”

n From page 3

“The big shops (ad agencies) are a little worried (about programmatic TV). I think it’s great. It scares traditional agencies, because they’re not as aggressive as us in looking for the new things.”

— John Holmes

Like, like meFor another client, Wholly

Guacamole, a Hormel product, Holmes’ team at Sq1 took a dif-ferent approach. They wanted Facebook likes. “We went and got them the

exact person to become Facebook fans. Then they could be brand advocates, print cou-pons and share them with friends and lookalike friends. We raised the number of Facebook fans by 500,000 to 600,000, and the sales showed right behind it, with digital couponing. That’s a very happy client.”

TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ

Sq1 staff meet, with help from client InFocus’s video conference system, Inside the old Police Headquarters Building at 209 SW Oak St. “It’s a great space, but people still occasionally walk in off the street looking to get their fingerprints done,” says Holmes.

Pleasing the clientKnowledge Universe is a digital

savvy client, according to John Holmes. “They’re a data-driven company, they do a good job tar-geting people with young kids. Right now we’re doing some gue-rilla with them in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Twenty-thousand door hangers offering people to take a tour of a preschool and maybe get a discount.”


The U.S. Army recently drafted Tom Kelly, presi-dent and CEO of Portland-based Neil Kelly Cabinets,

and he’s happy to serve.Offi cer residences are being re-

modeled at the legend-ary Scho-fi eld Bar-racks on Oahu. The

Army needs 2,000 kitchen and bathroom cabinets for 188 resi-dences — a big order, to be sure, with a surprising twist.

Wood used in the cabinet con-struction had to be 100 percent cer-tifi ed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

A competing cabinet company that had worked for the military before bowed out because of FSC’s strict rulebook. Then a broker found out about Neil Kelly Cabi-

nets. “In 1998, we were the fi rst cabi-

net-maker in the U.S. to be FSC-certifi ed,” said Kelly.

“FSC is a ‘from the forest to the product’ process,” Kelly explained. “The forest itself, the company that mills the wood, the distributor, the manufacturer — all those players need to be certifi ed. The FSC certi-fi cation “isn’t greenwashed,” add-ed Kelly, a longtime proponent of sustainable building.

“The FSC does audits on the whole supply chain,” Kelly added. “It’s a real deal, they do check on things. That’s one of the things I like about FSC — it has a strong reputation.”

Sustainable wood is just a few percent more costly than regular wood, but working for the military isn’t a “price is no object” proposi-tion.

“Our pricing had to be competi-

tive,” said Kelly. “It’s a sharp-pen-ciled operation.” They look for price, high-quality goods that last, with green content.”

Neil Kelly Cabinets got the $550,000 military contract and will start the work in a few months, sending batch-es of cabinets to Hawaii over a four- to fi ve-month period.

“This order is really big for our company,” said Kelly. “This will be a big part of our volume for this next year.

“This is the largest order we’ve received since 2008, when we were working on a 243-unit condo before the recession hit.”

Though Kelly says he’s got the machinery and staffi ng to do the job, he plans to hire four to fi ve employ-ees to keep the work moving along at a good clip.

The cabinets will be made of plastic-laminated FSC-certifi ed plywood, which sounds strange,

but Kelly explains.“Historically, plywood is made

with binders made of formaldehyde. What we use is No Added Urea Formaldehyde, or NAUF.” Wood produces a small amount of formal-dehyde naturally, but NAUF means there’s nothing added. It’s technical, but we need to say that.”

Kelly said his company is propos-ing to fi ll another order.

Is there any signifi cance to the barracks order, beyond giving Kel-

ly’s company a sizable chunk of business?

“Anytime a major part of our economy like the Army sets stan-dards on sustainable or green, that has pretty big infl uence,” said Kelly. “It has a ripple impact down through the supply chain. FSC wanted to infl uence the market, and it has.”

Reporter Kendra Hogue can be reached at: [email protected]

Beaverton / Cedar Hills2905 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.503.626.1400

Hillsboro / Tanasbourne2364 NW Amberbrook Dr.503.352.5252

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Oregon City / Hilltop334 Warner Milne Rd.503.722.8222

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ARMY GOES ‘GREEN’ WITH NEIL KELLY CABINETS

BY KENDRA HOGUE

Tom Kelly, president and CEO of Neil Kelly, amongst the various cabinent offerings they provide.TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE


Hillsboro’s SolarWorld In-dustries America is growing, but the growth is not expected to be ob-

vious from the outside.SolarWorld, which develops and

manufactures solar panels, an-nounced recently that it will build two new production lines “within the footprint of the existing plant,” according to Ben Santarris, strate-gic affairs director for SolarWorld.

About 200 new full-time jobs will bump the company’s local work force from 700 to 900 beginning in 2015. Jobs will range from entry-level machine operators to mainte-nance techs, engineers and prod-uct managers, Santarris said.

The pub-licly held U.S. opera-tion of the Bonn, Ger-many, par-ent company will spend $10 million to build the new production lines, said SolarWorld U.S. President Mukesh Dalani. In addition, a re-search and development project al-ready under way at the plant will push forward with a fresh infusion of $8 million.

That’s $18 million in new money and hundreds of jobs — welcome news in Washington County, espe-cially coming in the same week Netflix announced it will close its Hillsboro call center next year and lay off 188 employees.

“These jobs are worth fighting for, which is why I worked side-by-side with SolarWorld to ensure our trade agreements with China are actually enforced,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who attended the Oct. 30 press conference in Hillsboro.

Employment at the Hillsboro site had flagged in recent years, with

“dumping” of cheap solar panels from China flooding the U.S. mar-ket and putting the company — and the rest of the domestic solar industry — on the precipice of fail-ure.

SolarWorld took action in 2013 and just completed a reorganiza-tion that named a new manage-ment team, consolidated U.S. pro-duction in Hillsboro, and reclassi-fied its stock. More importantly, with Wyden’s help, the company has spent the last three years pushing back against Chinese and

Taiwanese overproduction, filing petitions charging unfair trade practices and computer hacking to gain trade secrets.

Since then, tariffs have been im-posed on subsidized imports and key rulings from the U.S. Depart-ment of Commerce and the Inter-national Trade Commission are imminent. As a result, U.S. orders are increasing: they were up 50 percent in SolarWorld’s third quar-ter alone.

“An anchor of Oregon’s manu-facturing base is again growing and proving U.S. workers and em-ployers can succeed against any nation in the world, as long and they’re competing on a level play-ing field,” Wyden said.

“It’s no secret that the last sever-al years have been tough for Solar-World and for U.S. solar manufac-turers in general,” said Dulani. “However, thanks to a variety of factors, including our trade cases against China, difficult but neces-sary financial controls and a fan-tastic group of employees, we have turned the corner. SolarWorld is here to stay.”

Dulani thanked Wyden for his ef-forts on behalf of the nation’s solar panel industry.

“He has been a great friend through all the tough times,” Du-lani said.

Wyden — in his position as

chairman of the U.S. Senate Com-mittee on Finance and former chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources — has been batting for SolarWorld since 2008.

The expansion in Hillsboro in-cludes:

n A new line that will increase annual solar-production capacity from 380 megawatts to 530 mega-watts — a stepping-stone to 630-megawatt capacity in the near future, said Dulani.

n Increase production capacity of advanced-technology photovol-taic cells from 335 MW to 435 MW. With the expansion, the company will produce 60-cell mo-no-crystalline panels with power densities of 280 watts-peak and higher.

On Oct. 22, the company re-ceived a $4 million cooperative award from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative.

Dulani said the research is al-ready under way and the compa-ny has spent $4 million so far. The $4 million DOE award will be matched by an additional $4 mil-lion investment from SolarWorld, said Santarris.

Hillsboro company praises Wyden for help in industry f ight

BY KENDRA HOGUE

PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT

Guiloermo Mandujano cleans and checks a solar panel at the new SolarWorld Industries America large-scale production facility in Hillsboro.

Trade decision coming soonDec. 17, 2014: Commerce will

announce it �nal rulings on SolarWorld’s anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against manufacturers from China and Taiwan. Earlier this year, Commerce announced prelimi-nary dumping tariffs ranging from 26.33 to 58.87 percent for China and from 20.86 to 27.59 percent for Taiwan. Commerce also announced preliminary counter-vailing duties ranging from 18.56 to 35.21 percent in China.

SolarWorld and Enphase Energy Enter Global Strategic Partnership

SolarWorld and Enphase Energy announced recently that they have signed a global strate-gic partnership agreement. Enphase is the world’s largest provider of microinverters, devices that convert direct electrical cur-rent to alternating current to enable most applications of solar electric power.SolarWorld has formalized Enphase as its supplier of micro-inverter systems for SolarWorld’s custom-engineered system solu-tions in the U.S. market as well as expanded this partnership across both companies’ worldwide distri-bution networks. The two compa-nies also have agreed to engage in close collaboration in develop-ing new solar technologies and products.

SOLARWORLDEXPANSION BRINGS NEW JOBS


Need that Super Bowl ticket framed?

It’s not surprising a sports memorabilia shop would de-cide to offer framing for many of its products. They are, after

all, meant to be on display where they can be seen by as many peo-ple as possible.

But the Northwest Man Cave, which opened last year in Old Town Wilsonville, has taken that idea a step further and is now of-fering custom framing for virtually

any photo, jer-sey, magazine cover or item meant for dis-play. And when they say cus-tom, they

mean it. Each frame is hand-made to customer specifications and then covered with a hand-cut piece of archival glass. Even the matting has that personal touch lacking in pre-made products.

“A lot of people have those keep-sakes that sit in a drawer or sit in a closet,” said co-owner Ron San-ford, who opened the Man Cave with his wife, Linda Zaderey. “They say, ‘Oh, I’m going to do something with it someday,’ and our goal is to be low-cost, high quality. We want to make it afford-able for somebody to frame some-thing.”

Demand for framing began soon after the couple opened their shop. It has only increased since then.

“It was earlier this year,” Za-derey said. “A lot of people started asking us, ‘I have this jersey, can you frame it?’ ‘Do you know some-

body? Where can we go?’”Rather than turn away would-be

customers, they decided to take advantage of the opportunity. At first they simply bought pre-made frames from a Seattle-area dealer. But as demand increased this be-came increasingly inconvenient. So they went out and purchased the wood and glass-cutting tools needed to produce their own frames.

A former graphic designer, Za-derey proved to have a knack for design layout, while Sanford found he really enjoyed creating hand-made frames.

“I think the whole key is her background with quilting,” San-ford said. “(Linda) is very artistic; her vision on how to put things to-gether and tie them together, that’s where it all starts. I just build frames and put the glass in.”

So far, they say, customer feed-back — and sales — have been overwhelmingly positive.

“They sit down with us for a consult,” he said. “We’ll help de-sign it and involve them in the thought process. We didn’t antici-pate demand for framing, we didn’t know there would be demand for the jerseys and we didn’t know we could even put them together.” But after more thorough research and a bit of practice, they discov-ered that the process is not nearly as daunting as they had feared.

“It really wasn’t something we fathomed, but as we did it, it was very enjoyable to see it and hear the feedback from the custom-ers,” he said. “One, it’s very excit-ing to save them money and, two, enjoy the product we’re giving them.”

The process, which starts with the customer and his or her piece of memorabilia, builds the cus-tomer relationship. So far, their most interesting piece of memo-rabilia they have run across, San-ford said, is probably a series of signed black and white photo-graphs of 1960s era Boston Celtic basketball greats such as Bill

Russell and John Havlicek. “What we enjoy is the customer

gratification that they kind of helped us build it,” Sanford said. “They had a hand in it.”

Sanford and Zaderey are so jazzed about their new service they are already planning to offer framing classes to the public in the future. First, though, they plan to more finely hone and perfect their craft.

“About a month ago is when we finally had all the pieces in place,” Sanford said.

“We’d like to have a design area for people in the future,” Zaderey added. “We’re just going to grow and expand as it grows.”

Wilsonville’s NW Man Cave now offers custom framing of sports memorabilia

Here’s the answer

PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JOSH KULLA

Ron Sanford (L) and Linda Zaderey have been surprised by the demand for their new custom framing service. On the table in front of them sits a jersey once belonging to hockey legend Gordie Howe. It is being framed for a local customer.

BY JOSH KULLA

PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JOSH KULLA

Triple matting like that shown above is virtually a lost art form, says Linda Zaderey. Now, the Northwest Man Cave is bringing that and other traditional framing techniques back for local customers.


Americans are expected to spend $616.9 billion dol-lars on retail purchases in November and Decem-

ber — an increase of 4.1 percent over 2013, according to the Nation-al Retail Federation.

However, not everyone is shop-ping for holiday gifts. Criminals are also shopping — for your per-sonal information.

It seems that not a month goes by without news of a data breach at a retailer, government agency,

or other es-tablish-ment. In just the fi rst three quarters of

this year, security research fi rm Risk Based Security, Inc. says that

more than 904 million records have been exposed through data breach-es of various types.

In the past year, massive breach-es at retailers including Target and Home Depot have potentially put millions of credit and debit card re-cords into the hands of criminals. Recently, lack of secure data sys-tems at WorkSource Oregon put massive amounts of personal data

on some of Oregon’s most vulnera-ble citizens at risk. That data re-portedly included social security numbers, birthdates and other per-sonally identifi able information that criminals can use in identity theft.

So, how can consumers protect themselves? The best way is to be your own advocate, realizing that you control many of the tools to pro-

tect yourself.First, remember that most crime

happens the old fashioned way. Wal-lets and purses are stolen and pack-ages are taken during break-ins in busy parking lots.

“Be aware of your surroundings,” recommends David Noble of River-mark Community Credit Union, add-ing that you should only carry the cards that you’re going to be using.

BY JOHN M. VINCENT

SAFE SHOPPINGIS IN THE HANDS OF THE CONSUMER

For credit and debit card holders who opt in to account alerts, purchasing a several hundred-dollar dress at Physical Element in the Pearl might cause your fi nancial institution to send you a text alert to verify that you were the purchaser. The texts are a great way to be alerted to fraudulent charges.TRIBUNE PHOTOS:JOHN M. VINCENT


Maintain the control of your cards so that the information on the card is not copied. Try not to get distracted so that you can watch how your card is handled during a transaction. Although we don’t have self-service gas in Ore-gon, you can still insist that you be the one who swipes the credit card at the gas pump. It’s tougher at restaurants, where consumers of-ten lose sight of their cards for minutes at a time.

Many financial institutions now offer email or text alerts for card activity.

“Customers must really monitor their transactions,” says Doug Johnson, Senior VP of Payments and Cybersecurity at the Ameri-can Bankers Association. “Be-cause you will be the first one to notice that your card has been breached.”

You’ll generally have to sign up for the alerts, according to River-mark’s Noble. Many institutions also allow consumers to put limits on transaction amounts and loca-tions. Some do so by default, so you should always check with your financial institution before planning on using your card out-side of the United States.

Financial institutions also moni-tor accounts for fraud by watching for transactions that appear to be out of your normal buying pat-terns. If you normally use your card for $100 purchases at the Clackamas Costco, but suddenly it’s used to buy a diamond in south Florida, the transaction will likely be flagged, and you’ll receive an alert.

Understanding the difference between credit and debit cards can also protect you from financial harm. Most major credit card pro-viders, including Visa and Master-Card tout zero liability for fraudu-

lent purchases, but with debit cards the money instantly disap-pears from your account and can take some time to be reimbursed.

Shopping locally, with mer-chants you know and trust is an-other strategy for safe shopping. Large retailers are more attractive targets for thieves, although fraud can occur at any size retailer.

Watch out for onerous return policies. Some retailers now re-quire a copy of a government-is-sued ID to process a return. You’ll have no idea how long that data is stored, or whether there’s any da-ta security.

The news of breaches has caused some consumers to revert to other payment methods such as checks and cash. Experts advise against this, however, as both car-ry significant risks of their own. Checks can be easily altered or duplicated and carry information that allows a criminal direct ac-cess to your checking account. Cash purchases often don’t pro-vide the paper trail of other trans-action types, and cash lost or sto-len is gone forever.

A type of fraud on the upswing is called “phishing”, and it’s espe-cially rampant during the holi-days. Phishing occurs when you receive a phone call, email or even text that purports to be someone who they aren’t. It can be a phone call supposedly from your bank, needing some information to thwart a security theft. It can be an email with a spectacular deal that when clicked on installs mali-cious software to infect or gather information from your computer.

The best way to combat phish-ing is to only participate in discus-sions or transactions that you ini-tiate yourself. Hang up and call your bank directly to ask if the threat was true. Go to the retail-

er’s website directly, rather than through a link in the email or text.

As the ABA’s Johnson reminds customers, “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

The payments industry is re-sponding to the increasing num-ber of data breaches in several ways. New payment systems, such as Apple’s iPay, use a different sys-tem to identify consumers, with-out exposing their credit card da-ta. Card issuers will be rolling out systems that employ unique elec-tronic “tokens” for online purchas-es. Even if the token is breached, the underlying credit card infor-mation remains secure.

Some issuers have started to de-ploy a new type of card altogether, and most will have to do so by the middle of 2015. They’re called EMV cards, an abbreviation for EuroPay MasterCard Visa, and they’re already the standard throughout most of the world. Each card carries a secure elec-tronic chip that creates a unique code for each transaction, rather than the easily read data on the magnetic strip of today’s cards.

“Another component is making those companies responsible for the breach responsible for the costs,” says Johnson. Under to-day’s rules, the vast majority of the costs incurred by retail breaches are borne by financial in-stitutions and their customers or, in the case of credit unions, their members.

The National Association of Fed-eral Credit Unions pegs the cost of Target’s recent breach at $480 mil-lion for all financial institutions.

That includes both the cost of fraud incurred by the breach, and the cost of replacing customer’s credit and debit cards. While Tar-get reported some costs and re-duced sales as a result of the breach, it was dwarfed by the costs incurred by others.

For retailers, there currently is no federal regulation on the secu-rity of consumer data. For most major retailers, the goal is to max-imize the efficiency of the check-out process, and data security ap-pears to have been an after-

thought in that environment, as the costs of lack of data security are largely placed on the backs of consumers and financial institu-tions.

According to Johnson, “It’s only when the three parts of the puzzle — banks, customers, and retailers — take their role seriously” that America will have success in com-bating data breaches.

John M. Vincent is a third-generation Oregon journalist. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Physical Element owner Jo Carter, right, helps customer Frani Susak in her Pearl District shop.

NUMBER OF RECORDS EXPOSED (in millions)

96

433

265

815

904

2010 2011 2012 2013 3Q2014

No matter where you shop during the holiday season, the most important step in ensuring your financial security is simply being aware of your surroundings.


Whether you’re an early bird. A night owl or somewhere in be-tween, Wilsonville’s

newest gym has you covered.Anytime Fitness gives members

24-hour access to an array of exercise op-tions. The gym opened two weeks ago in Wilsonville’s Old Town neighbor-hood as the latest addition to a long-overlooked section of the city.

“We really like the sense of com-munity in West Linn and Wilson-ville so we were hoping to get a great spot in Wilsonville,” said owner and general manager Dave Becker. “So when this spot came up we grabbed it. ... With the loca-tion and great shopping nearby, this is exactly where we want to be.”

Becker runs the new gym with his wife, Caroline, and newly hired fi tness manager Jenny Shetters. While the Beckers, who live in West Linn, do not have any formal experience in the fi tness business, Shetters is certifi ed to instruct per-formance enhancement training, corrective exercise and more.

“She’s very well-credentialed and extremely good at what she does,” Becker said.

The 5,000-square-foot gym feels

much bigger than it actually is, thanks to extremely high ceilings and an open fl oor plan that natu-rally leads fi tness buffs from sta-tion to station during their work-out. Even the treadmills are equipped to keep you running in place — each one features its own HD television set.

“This is unique in the fact that I have creative opportunities as a trainer to develop programs and to work with our members and create

a more community feel for the gym,” said Shetters. “Instead of cold, hard sales it’s about working with everyone together. It’s really nice to be helpful on a daily basis and not feel like I’m selling some-thing.”

It’s a big change for Becker, who worked nearly two decades as di-rector of sales for a large national wine distributor. The endless trav-el and corporate grind, however, eventually left him looking for an entirely new paradigm.

“I had many great experiences,” he said. “But I was just ready for something completely different, something that would connect me better to the community.”

When coupled with the fact that he and his wife had long harbored a desire to own a business, the move felt natural to them. They se-lected Anytime Fitness and the franchise model because it met their own unique needs.

“We’ve always wanted to own

our own business,” he said. “But it needed to be something we believe in; and it really works for us, we absolutely love it.”

With more than 2,600 gyms in-ternationally, Anytime Fitness is an established brand across Amer-ica and beyond. This helped make the transition smooth for the Beck-ers.

They fi rst identifi ed the space they wanted, located next to the McMenamin’s Old Church brew-pub in Old Town Square. As part of the Bell Tower mixed-use develop-ment the space required some overhaul before moving in, but was designed for commercial use from the start.

From there, working with Any-time Fitness to set things up proved to be a breeze. A lease was signed in May followed by nearly eight weeks of construction. The gym opened to the public two weeks ago and a formal grand opening will be held in February, Becker said.

“In essence, it is our own busi-ness,” he said. “The franchise is in-credibly supportive, with resourc-es and every kind of support you can imagine; they’ve been a plea-sure to work with.”

Wilsonville’s new Anytime Fitness gym allows members access day or night

BY JOSH KULLA

SPOKESMAN PHOTO: JOSH KULLA

Wilsonville’s new Anytime Fitness franchise is a 5,000 square foot, 24-hour gym located in the Old Town neighborhood in Old Town Square.

Anytime Fitness Wilsonville

30480 SW Boones Ferry RoadInfo: anytime� tness.com

Anytime Fitness Wilsonville owner and general manager Dave Becker spent nearly two decades in the wine industry before moving in an entirely different direction: the fi tness business. SPOKESMAN PHOTO: JOSH KULLA

GET FIT ANYTIME OF THE DAY


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The year is winding down, and the holidays are up-on us.

The remaining days of your 2014 calendar are likely filled with parties, dinners and family gatherings. It’s time to put business on the back burner and spend some quality time with loved ones. You deserve a break!

If you are planning to switch off from your business around the end of December, you’ll need to do a little planning ahead to ensure you don’t lose any mo-mentum as we transition into a new year.

1. Send holiday cards to customersIf you haven’t already, send a

holiday card to your valued cus-tomers, clients and subscribers. You don’t have to be William Shakespeare — a simple holiday greeting and a note of appreciation will suf-fice. Keep the message short and fairly gener-ic and avoid cards that are religious or hu-morous.

Sending an e-card for free may be tempt-ing, but it will not be nearly as effective as a traditional card hand-delivered by the postal service. Emailed cards could be mistaken for spam, and they just don’t have the same personal im-pact. Customers want to do busi-ness with companies that make them feel appreciated. By sending physical cards, not only are you

spreading some holiday cheer, but you are keeping your company in your customers’ thoughts.

Because the postal service is busy around the holidays, try to get your cards in the mail by Dec.

13 so they arrive before the end of the year.

2. Schedule your social media posts

Many social media plat-forms allow a business to create a post and schedule it to be published at a later date and time, effectively putting your pages on auto-pilot. You can also sync ma-ny of your social media pages so that, for example, when you publish a new blog entry, it is automati-

cally posted on your Facebook and Twitter pages. Check out each site’s FAQ or help sections for de-tailed instructions on these pro-cesses.

3. Organize and clean your inbox and computer

Clean up your inbox and com-puter files and attend to those less-important items that you’ve been putting off. Archive items you need to keep but to which you do not need immediate access. File docu-ments into their proper folders for easy access later on. Having a clean office environment and com-puter will do wonders for getting off to a good start in 2015.

4. Get your financials in orderMake time to go over your 2014

budget and your actual revenues and expenses. This will help you plan your finances for 2015. Are you over-spending in any areas? Adjust and get back on track in the new year. Are there any outstand-ing invoices you need to send out? Send them out now. As a bonus, by getting your financials in order now, you are getting a head start on tax season!

5. Set up your out-of- office systems

Customers may have questions over the holidays, so make sure they’re not left waiting for an-swers. Change your voicemail message to explain your plan for the holidays and when you will return. Also set up an automatic email reply with the same infor-mation.

If there are any files or docu-ments you want to work on dur-ing your holiday break, email them to yourself or use a digital drop box to make them available wherever you are. However, I do recommend taking a real break from all work-related activity. It is perfectly OK to take a step back, relax and recharge your batteries!

Megan Lum works for the Better Busi-ness Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington. She can be reached at: [email protected]

Take time to send cards to your customers and get your �nancials in order so that you can enjoy the holiday season

End the year on a good note

Megan Lum

B E T T E R B U S I N E S S


Greenbrier promotes Isselmann The Greenbrier Companies have

promoted Jack Isselmann to Se-nior Vice President, External Af-fairs & Programs.

Isselmann joined Greenbrier in 2012 as Director of Corporate Rela-tions and Communications. Since then, he has taken on increased re-sponsibility for other programs like our company-wide security pro-gram. Last year, Isselmann was promoted to Vice President, Exter-nal Affairs and Communications in part to recog-nize his role devel-oping and advancing Greenbrier’s public safety efforts related to its Tank Car of the Future.

“I am pleased to recognize Jack’s contributions at Greenbrier with this advancement,” said Wil-liam Furman, Chairman and CEO. “We recently completed a year of record performance, with more growth on the horizon and this has required everyone at Greenbrier to extend their range of responsibili-ties. As we execute our ongoing plans to expand, I appreciate Jack’s willingness to accept new respon-sibilities and I look forward to his further contributions to Greenbri-er.”

Whitepaper shows simple security would prevent most data breaches

Tripwire, Inc. recently an-nounced the results of an extensive survey conducted by Atomik Re-search on the state of foundational security controls.

The survey respondents includ-ed 404 IT professionals and 302 ex-ecutives from retail, energy and fi-nancial services organizations in the U.S. and U.K. According to a report by the United States Com-puter Emergency Readiness Team, 96 percent of successful data breaches could be avoided if simple or intermediate security controls were put in place. Tripwire’s sur-vey found that 77 percent of all re-spondents felt “confident” in their implementation of these basic se-curity controls. However, despite the ongoing increase in targeted cyberattacks, less than half of IT professionals are “confident” in the secure configuration of com-mon devices connected to their network. Secure configuration is a basic security control that dramat-ically reduces the attack surface of

network devices.Key survey findings included:More than 100 million records

have been compromised in retail data breaches in the last 12 months as a result of malware on point of sale devices, but 77 percent of re-tail IT professionals are “confi-dent” that all of the devices on their network are running only au-thorized software.

Despite an ICS-CERT warning regarding an ongoing, sophisticat-ed malware campaign targeting ICS systems, 89 percent of execu-tives from the energy industry are “very confident” or “fairly confi-dent” in their vulnerability man-agement program.

Only 10 percent of security pro-fessionals are “very confident” in their patch management program, a fundamental security control.

Only 47 percent of IT profession-als are “confident” in the secure configuration of routers, firewalls and modems connected to their network.

Respondents were asked about the level of confidence they have in their application of basic security controls, including hardware and software inventory, vulnerability management, patch management and system hardening.

Pediatric psychology clinic opens near Washington Park

Glori Gray Psy. D., has opened Portland Pediatric Psychology (PPP), LLC in the King’s Hill neigh-borhood below Washington Park.

As a licensed clinical psycholo-gist, Gray con-tracts with other early childhood professionals, in-cluding speech and language pa-thologists, occu-pational thera-pists, nurse prac-titioners, as well as other psychologists, to provide services. She works with children and their families to provide psy-chotherapy, consultation, and com-prehensive psychological reports to address their cognitive, emo-tional, behavioral and developmen-tal needs.

“Our agency utilizes empirical-ly-based, practical approaches to assess not only your child’s emo-tional and behavioral health, but the surrounding environmental factors that may be contributing.”

To learn more about the prac-tice, visit: pdxped.com or call the

office at 503-673-6246.

Tandy Leather Factory to open store in Beaverton

Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. re-cently announced that it plans to open two new retail stores — one in Beaverton, Oregon and the sec-ond in Escondido, California.

These are the second and third new stores opened in 2014. The Beaverton store will be located at 10195 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Highway and opened for business on Nov. 17.

Chief Executive Officer and Pres-ident, Jon Thompson, commented,

“We are pleased to be opening new stores in Beaverton and Escondido. Beaverton will be a nice comple-ment to our Portland store and Es-condido bridges the gap between our stores in the San Diego and Los Angeles markets. We believe we can continue to build strong customer bases throughout the ar-ea by having a larger local pres-ence.”

Columbia Roofing & Sheet Metal acquires Long Beach Roofing

Columbia Roofing & Sheet Metal recently announced the acquisition of Long Beach Roofing, Inc., a

77-year-old commercial roofing company.

Columbia Roofing’s President Mark Carpenter said the timing was perfect for the purchase.

“It’s a great market and our business methods are complemen-tary,” Carpenter said. “Both busi-nesses are unique in the way each builds relationships and in the val-ue proposition given to customers. We’re not trying to be the lowest bid, but the best bid for the cus-tomer.

Long Beach Roofing specializes in residential and commercial buildings. It also has extensive knowledge in fiberglass shingles, wood shakes, tile, modified bitu-men, built up roofing and single ply roofs.

Ogletree Deakins named a ‘Law Firm of the Year’

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins) was recently named “Law Firm of the Year” in the Labor Law - Man-agement category in the 2015 edi-tion of the U.S. News - Best Law-yers “Best Law Firms” list. This is the fourth consecutive year that Ogletree Deakins has been named a “Law Firm of the Year” and the second consecutive year that the firm has been named “Law Firm of the Year” in the Labor Law - Man-agement category. Only one law firm in each practice area receives the “Law Firm of the Year” desig-nation.

Additionally, Ogletree Deakins’ Portland office earned metropoli-tan “First Tier” practice area rank-ings in three categories: Employ-ment Law - Management; Labor Law - Management; and Litigation - Labor & Employment. Nationally, the firm maintained its “First Tier” practice area rankings in six cate-gories: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Employment Law - Manage-ment; Immigration Law; Labor Law - Management; Litigation - Labor & Employment; and Construction Law.

Camp Fire Columbia names Emily Gilliland as President, CEO

The Camp Fire Columbia Board of Directors recently announced that Emily Gilliland has been named President and CEO effec-tive Dec. 1.

For the past 18 years, Gilliland has served in diverse leadership and management roles, most re-cently as the Executive Director of HandsOn Network, a Points of Light enterprise that inspires,

By PETER WONGPamplin Media Group

Three of seven rated Oregon companies scored 100 on an in-dex measuring equality based on sexual orientation in the na-tion’s largest businesses and law firms.

Of the 781 rated in the 2015 Cor-porate Equality Index, released Wednesday by the Human Rights Campaign and its foundation, 366 scored 100. That’s up from 304 in the 2014 report, and 189 two years ago. In the first such measure-ment back in 2002, just 13 compa-nies had perfect scores.

Among the 366 were Nike, based in Beaverton, and Portland General Electric and the law firm of Stoel Rives, both based in Port-land.

Adidas America and PacifiCorp each scored 80, the Standard (Standard Insurance), 75, and Harry & David Holdings of Med-ford, 70. The others are based in Portland. Harry & David was ac-quired by 1-800-Flowers.com on Sept. 30.

Ratings are based on nondis-crimination policies, equal bene-fits, organizational inclusion and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, and public commitment and responsi-ble citizenship.

The corporate index is a com-panion to the Municipal Equality Index, which the Human Rights Campaign released last week for 353 U.S. cities. In that index, Port-land scored 100, Salem 85, Eugene

83 and Gresham 44.Chad Griffin, the group’s presi-

dent, says business is ahead of government.

“When it comes to LGBT equal-ity, Corporate America is a leader, not a follower,” Griffin says. “At every turn, from advocating for marriage equality to providing vi-tal support for transgender em-ployees, this country’s leading companies have asked, ‘What more can we do?,’ and they’ve worked tirelessly to achieve new progress. That kind of leadership changes countless lives around this country, and sets an impor-tant example to other companies around the globe.”

Of the 781 surveyed, 89 percent have policies against discrimina-tion based on sexual orientation, and 66 percent policies against discrimination based on gender identity.

Despite steady progress, Griffin says, LGBT workers still face ma-jor obstacles.

“Too many companies still don’t guarantee these vital work-place protections, and too many LGBT people — transgender peo-ple in particular — face high rates of unemployment and discrimina-tion in hiring, keeping them from ever getting a foot in the door in the first place,” he says.

Of 20 Fortune top-rated compa-nies, 14 scored 100, and two others 90. But Exxon Mobil had a mi-nus-25, and Berkshire Hathaway, zero.

Link to the complete report: hrc.org/cei

Local companies score high on equality index

YOURBUSINESSEmail your business briefs to:[email protected]

ISSELMANN

GRAY


equips and mobilizes volunteer commitment and community im-pact in 220 communities across the United States.

“Emily impressed us with her passion, executive experience, business acumen and track record as a collaborative leader and part-nership developer in Oregon and nationally,” said Board Chair Chad Marriott. “We are thrilled to have Emily champion the next phase of Camp Fire Columbia’s growth as we deepen our work to build en-gaged, confident and well-rounded youth who are succeeding aca-demically and socially.”

Fat Cupcakes opens in Oregon CityOregon City residents can puck-

er up for the newest neighbor on the block.

If you’re in need of a sweet fix or an explosion of palatable flavors, Fat Cupcake promises a wonderful ex-perience and whimsical environ-ment. Located at 19273 Mollala Ave. and open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tues-day through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Fat Cupcake special-izes in an eclectic assortment of sweet and savory cupcakes.

“We have taken a new perspec-tive on cupcakes combining all of our favorite sweet treats — Reese’s, cookies and fudge — while main-taining classic cupcake flavors as well,” said Anjelica Hayes, owner of Fat Cupcake. “However, our creativ-ity did not stop with sweet flavors. Our savory cupcakes, made in a but-ter pastry, have received the most attention and are quickly catching on. I love when people look at me with ambiguity after offering them a savory cupcake and then watching their uncertainty turn into a smile after they give it a try.”

When you have an appetite in the morning, Hayes encourages you to give the “Hot Mess” a try, which is a savory cupcake made with butter pastry, sausage, egg, cream cheese and hollandaise. If it’s around noon, she suggests making it a “Boss Hog,” which is another savory op-tion with BBQ pulled pork and on-ion crisps.

A best-selling flavor is the “Char-lie Brown,” a chocolate cupcake sporting a Reese’s peanut-butter cup baked inside and peanut-butter buttercream.

Made in Oregon opens in Washington Square

Made in Oregon has been a local retailer in Oregon since 1975, cur-rently owns and operates nine stores throughout the state and

recently opened their newest loca-tion at Washington Square Mall.

Made in Oregon has spent the past six months planning and con-structing their new location which is located center court across from Macy’s. Made in Oregon has been in the Washington Square Mall since 1981 and continues to be a key local tenant.

NW Natural hits milestone of 700,000 customers

Northwest Natural Gas Compa-ny has announced that it’s now serving 700,000 customers throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington.

NW Natural first brought gas to this region 155 years ago to light gas lamps on Portland city streets and in homes and businesses. To-day, natural gas is an abundant and efficient energy source for residential and commercial space heating, water heating and cook-ing. And it plays an important role in manufacturing and transporta-tion.

“We thank our customers for giving us the opportunity to serve their energy needs with safe, reli-able and affordable natural gas,” said Gregg Kantor, NW Natural President and CEO. “We grew up here, and we look forward to con-tinuing to grow with the region.”

Here’s a look back at customer milestones leading up to 700,000:

n In 1961, just five years after natural gas arrived in the Pacific Northwest, we reached 100,000 customers.

n In 1973, we reached 200,000 customers as we headed toward completing our new headquarters in 1979.

n In 1989, a Vancouver, Wash., family became our 300,000th

customer.n In 2000, NW Natural helped

Portland Public Schools convert its first school to natural gas and celebrated 500,000 customers with a party in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

n In 2005, we brought natural gas to Coos Bay with our 600,000th customer.

The Melting Pot celebrates 25 years in Portland

The Melting Pot of Portland, a fondue located at SW 6th and Main, is celebrating its 25 anni-versary in Portland this month and would thank the local com-munity for allowing the restau-rant the opportunity to help the community turn everyday mo-ments into memorable occasions with a unique fondue dining ex-perience for so many years.

As the restaurant invites the community to join in celebrating 25 years of memorable fondue experiences in Portland, it’s of-fering guests the opportunity to donate $10 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to receive a Donate and Dine card valid for $20 off a future purchase of $50 or more at The Melting Pot.

This offer is available through Dec. 14 and 100 percent of dona-tions will be given directly to St. Jude to fund lifesaving research and treatment of childhood can-cer and other life-threatening diseases.

“We would like to thank the community for its incredible support over the last 25 years and look forward to continuing to serve our loyal fondue fans a memorable dining experience for many years to come,” said, Kip Aszman, who along with

Walter Wrahtz are the local owners of The Melting Pot in Portland. “While we are cele-brating 10 years in our current location, I opened the first West Coast Melting Pot back in 1989, in its original location out on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.”

For more information about The Melting Pot of Portland and to sign up for Club Fondue for access to more special offers, please visit: meltingpot.com

KEEN partners with VerdeKEEN has announced its offi-

cial partnership with Verde Brand Communications as its public relations and brand com-munications agency of record.

KEEN is stepping up its game on all levels as the brand enters

its second decade. Led by a com-mitment to U.S. manufacturing, the recent launch of UNEEK, a growing focus on its Hybrid.Care giving programs, and its new Innovation Lab in Portland.

“Verde is a natural partner for KEEN as we expand our direc-tion, product offerings, and give-back programs that lead the way in defining our brand,” said Steve Meineke, president of KEEN.

“As we grow, Verde’s experi-ence, integrated approach to brand communications, and depth of resources will elevate our brand’s influence and com-plement our growth trajectory as we deepen connections with our current fans and reach out to future KEEN fans.”

By SHASTA KEARNS MOOREPamplin Media Group

The Gresham Chamber of Commerce was scrambling last week when CEO Alison Hart gave her resignation Monday, Nov. 17, effective two days later.

President Matt Miller said he believes Hart left to pursue oth-er job opportunities but she was not specific.

“I think it’s always kind of a chaotic thing when you have somebody leaving an organiza-tion,” Miller said.

“She has done some incredi-ble and fantastic things for the Chamber.”

Hart did not immediately re-spond to a call for comment.

In a letter of resignation, read to Chamber membership at a regular Friday morning meet-ing, Hart said her nearly four-year stint there was “cathar-tic.”

“I know that in order to open new doors that it is necessary to close old ones,” Hart wrote.

Bob McDonald, who has been interim director there before and remains an active member, came out of retirement to fill in the gap while the 500-member organization conducts an ex-pected six-month search for a new director.

“If you’re passionate about something, how can you say no?” McDonald said about be-ing asked to pitch in.

Gresham Chamber director leaves suddenly

Alison Hart unexpectedly resigned as the CEO of Gresham’s Chamber of Commerce.PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JIM CLARK

YOURBUSINESSEmail your business briefs to:[email protected]

Just in time for the holiday season, Made in Oregon opened its newest location in Washington Square. Although they have been tennants since 1981, the new location places them across from Macy’s.CONTRIBUTED PHOTO


STATEWIDE

BUILDING THE ‘PRACTICAL’

FLYING CAR

“We want to be presenting peo-ple with the fu-ture today,” said

Sam Bousfield, the CEO of Samson Motors.

The architect and aviation engi-neer set out to create an everyday road vehicle capable of converting to an aircraft. That goal is inching closer to reality as work continues on the prototype Switchblade Aile-rons in sever-al locations, including Prineville, where assem-bly of the ve-hicle will take place.

Inside a hangar at the Prineville/Crook County Airport, chief build-er and local resident Ron Burch, who has extensive experience in custom aircraft construction, has been preparing the carbon fiber flap assembly. The parts were fab-ricated by Bend-based Composite Approach and the company will later provide Burch with the com-pleted tail parts and the fuselage parts will follow.

Burch met Bousfield through a mutual friend and was later asked to take on the project.

“I saw a black and white sketch of this thing. I went, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to be a part of this,’” Burch recalls. “Most everybody I talked to said, ‘That’s the coolest thing I

have ever seen.’”The Prineville aircraft builder

joins a group of aviation experts in Central Oregon, making Prineville an optimal option for construction of the prototype vehicle.

“You have to have trained people and this area had the Cessna facto-ry and a lot of people trained up in composite aircraft assembly,” Bousfield said of his decision to build the car in Prineville. “Then I fell in love with the area and that just sealed the deal.”

According to Larry Moore, the community relations manager for Samson Motors, flying cars is not a new idea. He noted that the first thought of building one occurred three weeks after the Wright Brothers made their historic air-borne debut.

Regardless, no such vehicles have seen commercial production and Moore believes the approach in building the Switchblade Aile-rons will set it apart.

“There has been a lot of repre-sentations in TV and movies, but nothing that was ever really a practical vehicle,” he said. “This is a vehicle that anyone can operate as a normal part of the family transportation. You can take the kids to school, go to work, and do what you would normally do.”

When it’s time to fly, the car can be driven to the airport where it converts into an aircraft ready for

takeoff. “The wings swing out, the tail

shifts back and it becomes a 200-mile-per-hour airplane,” Moore said.

What was once just an idea is gradually turning into reality. Those involved with the project hope to finish the prototype vehi-cle by this coming summer at which time they will test it to see how it handles on the road and in the air.

“Our test pilot is an Air Force-trained test pilot,” Bousfield said. “Then he was hired by United Air-lines to be their chief test pilot.” For the past two years, he has worked for the Federal Aviation Administration as the head of flight test procedures.

“It takes a certain amount of training and approach to make it safe,” Bousfield said.

Until then, keeping company in the hangar with the carbon fiber parts is a wooden mockup of the vehicle, plentiful posters and mod-els of the Switchblade in red and silver, and a steel, three-wheeled ground test vehicle that looks a like a tricycle crossbred with a go-kart.

The wooden replica was built to give engineers a tangible example of what the car would feel like to sit in, what its visibility would be, and how comfortable it would be to enter and exit. The ground test ve-hicle has already logged several trips with Bousfield at the wheel to determine how the three-wheel car would handle on the road. Results have been encouraging thus far.

“The suspension system on this is kind of unique,” Moore said. He explained that road vehicles and aircraft utilize different suspen-

sion systems and they therefore need to combine the two.

“It rolls over 2x4s and you don’t know they are there,” Moore said. “We have deliberately tried to turn it over on numerous occasions.” So far, the vehicle has stayed on its wheels.

Assuming all goes well with the test run and flight, Bousfield hopes to eventually launch a limited edi-

tion line of vehicles for exclusive users. From there, he would like to offer a premium level vehicle and over time release the car/aircraft to a more general market.

For Bousfield, completion of the prototype can’t happen soon enough.

“I am ready now,” he said.

Assembly of the Switchblade Ailerons is currently under way in Central Oregon

BY JASON CHANEY

Although parts of the Switchblade Aileron are being made in several locations, final assembly of the flying car will be done in Prineville, Oregon.PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JASON CHANEY


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