Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Labor Ready (LRW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Berg who wrote (368)	6/8/2000 4:46:00 PM
From: Khris Vogel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 379

JB, a nice write-up on new LRW CEO and President Dick King from the June 2-8 edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal: New Labor Ready CEO is ready to get to work By George Erb Staff Writer Dick King has switched industries, and what a switch it is: from groceries to manual laborers. King, 51, started last week as president and chief executive officer of Labor Ready Inc., the Tacoma-based company that provides temporary manual laborers. The company has 831 offices in North America and the United Kingdom. Until now, King spent most of his career selling groceries to consumers. He rose through the ranks at Albertson's Inc. of Boise, Idaho, to become president and chief operating officer in 1996. He left the 2,500-store chain when it acquired American Stores Co. in June 1999. King was expecting to find a new position in the retail industry when an executive recruiting firm contacted him about the Labor Ready post. King spoke with Labor Ready chairman Glenn Welstad, met the company's other executives and visited several branch offices. Of his talks with Welstad, King said: "It fit for him, and it fit for me." King comes to Labor Ready with years of experience running a big company with thousands of outlets nationwide. Those skills will come in handy at Labor Ready, which wants 2,000 branch offices by 2005. King also discovered that some elements of the manual-labor industry resemble the grocery business. Both industries have geographically-scattered outlets, operate on low margins and deal with a lot of entry-level workers. "The real business that we're in, and the things we're working on, are people, service and training," King said. "My skills and experience will help me in running this company." King is also not an executive who likes to hang around headquarters. At Albertson's, he got out of the office two or three days a week and visited stores. "That's when you learn what needs to be changed and done differently," he said. "There are times when you need to be in the office, but the sales generators are out in the field."