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WTCT hires new executive director

By Meghan Erkkinen

Tacoma Weekly
merkkinen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: May 29, 2008

James McMahan, the new director of the World Trade Center Tacoma (WTCT), sees a lot of strengths in the organization he is leading. But among those strengths, there is one thing that has stood out to him above all the others.

“I think [the WTCT’s] biggest strength is its notoriety and support in the community,” McMahan said. “One of the things I learned…is that the World Trade Center Tacoma is a big part of Tacoma and I think that, above all things, keeps this organization at the forefront of trade in the area.”

In addition to the organization’s strengths, it also benefits from the strengths of the area as a whole, McMahan said.

“The Tacoma/Pierce County area is unique in its ability to band together…and [say] we are a region to do business,” he said.

McMahan was hired for the position eight months after former director Andreas Udbye left to pursue other community-based endeavors. McMahan was chosen from about a dozen candidates, who were narrowed down to four finalists. The WTCT Board of Directors and Executive Committee chose him for his unique approach to the position.

“There was a general consensus that he was bringing some fresh ideas to the table and an unconventional way of being an executive director,” said Colleen Gause, spokesperson for the WTCT. “His 10 years of contract lobbying experience and the approach he was bringing to what an executive director is was a little bit different...It was probably the best example of thinking outside the box.”

McMahan works for the Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs office and serves as a contract lobbyist and an executive director for several organizations. His position with the WTCT is contractual, which saves money for the organization and allows McMahan to maintain his work with other organizations.

“That whole idea that an executive director is not 100 percent full time and serving by contract is a new idea for the World Trade Center,” Gause said. “It’s certainly the first time the World Trade Center has had an executive director serving by contract.”

In his new position, McMahan is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization, overseeing the budget process and membership and coordinating trade missions and delegations.

“The executive director in the past has been the leadership for the organization and the community face for the organization,” Gause said. “Through the hiring process we have gone through some reorganizational strategization.”

In his first few weeks on the job, McMahan has worked to familiarize himself with the organization.

“I’m really excited about this whole organization,” he said. “The more I learn about it the more I learn that a word as simple as trade is not so simple…Every day I find a new favorite thing about the World Trade Center Tacoma.”

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