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Home / Washington Business - April 2006 / Profile - Fred Stabbert: Retiring, but far from Retired |
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Profile - Fred Stabbert: Retiring, but far from Retired |
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Written On: April 2006 |
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Written By: by Charles Henry Thomas |
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Watching Fred Stabbert develop and implement a business strategy is like looking over Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's shoulder when he prepared and executed the battle plan for Desert Storm in 1991.
Schwarzkopf and Stabbert share many traits. Both are highly motivated, organized and fearless. They have magnetic qualities which attract people who follow them willingly.
Stabbert is the retiring CEO of West Coast Paper Co., a privately held Seattle wholesale paper distributor which ranks among the state's top 40 privately held companies. He was recruited to lead the company 13 years ago. While some fear the unknown, Stabbert looks forward to life's next adventures.
His trademark is insuring there is a "clear and compelling vision and reason" for doing something — anything. He goes a step further and sets up a system to carefully gauge progress.
The Tacoma native engages people directly. Stabbert spends a great deal of time traveling to various West Coast Co. locations talking with employees and managers, reviewing progress, tackling thorny problems, and making well-timed adjustments.
Heidi Stanley, Sterling Savings COO, served as AWB vice chair in 2002 during Stabbert's tenure as chair. She remembers his role in the deeply divisive transportation issues.
"I admired Fred's style of addressing difficult issues through a very disciplined and measured approach," she said. "Fred is not afraid to take a stand, but always open to input in an effort to find a collaborative solution."
"Fred has a penetrating way that quickly gets to the heart of the matter," AWB President Don Brunell added. "Indecisiveness is not in his vocabulary."
When Stabbert turns over the company's reigns this summer, West Coast will have a network of 12 modern distribution centers feeding 12,000 customers from Alaska to Northern California. It is among the most competitive companies in a business which is increasingly pounded by paperless files, correspondence and transactions.
Stabbert has positioned West Coast well to operate in today's Internet environment. It is not unlike the situation he faced in the early 1980s when he became president of Zellerbach Paper Co., the wholly-owned subsidiary of former forest industry giant Crown Zellerbach.
He restructured the 100-year old paper distribution subsidiary into a lean, profitable business. In so doing he trimmed overhead staff by 25 percent, increased sales from $870 million to $1.1 billion and profits from $8.6 million to $21.4 million.
"Fred's rise in Zellerbach was meteoric," retired Crown Zellerbach Sr. Vice President Dwight Taylor said. "He was one of the best I've seen." Taylor and Stabbert were long-time members of the company's executive management team.
Stabbert cut his teeth in the paper distribution business, joining Zellerbach after graduating from the University of Puget Sound with a degree in business administration. One of his university mentors was former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner, someone he remembers fondly. Stabbert credits Gardner, then dean of the UPS business school, with teaching him about management and people.
In his early 60s, Stabbert is full of vigor and ready for new challenges. In addition to serving on the AWB Services Corporation board, Stabbert is a member of the Washington Roundtable board and is a Seattle Pacific University trustee. Along with Faith, his wife of 42 years, he plans to travel and lighten his schedule a bit, but don't be surprised to see his name pop up on boards of directors for various organizations.
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