Bosworth was the keynote speaker at a March meeting at the state capitol sponsored by Seafirst Bank, Group Health Cooperative, Washington CEO magazine and the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The 1995 Economic Development Leadership Conference was part of an effort to bring nonprofits and for-profit enterprises together to support the state's future economic growth. The conference was told the state is heading in the right direction. There just needs to be some fine tuning. The governor and the Legislature, indeed all of us in this room, have an unusual opportunity this year to change, for the better, the way we do business.
Export is a major key to continued growth of the state's economy.
And that didn't happen by accident. It takes leadership, cooperation, and fundamental strengths. Exporting has been vital to some state businesses, apple growers, for example. The bad news is that is too many apples for the domestic market to absorb. Because of the relatively low cost of aluminum cans in the state, plus support from apple growers for research that expanded its capacity to pack in medium quantities for specialized markets, TreeTop has made exporting processed foods into a major part of its business.