Primarily a family owned business (the Wilsons)
Started by Ernest Wilson, had 4 children, the two eldest Bob and Rex joined the business in 1962. Ernest was conservative in nature, operated with little or no leverage, just wanted to support the family Bob had to fire his uncle because he was joining a union. Ernest became less involved as the business grew in the presence of Bob and Rex In the early 1970s, industry was extremely fragmented. Bob and Rex decided that acquisitions was the way to go, and the first three acquisitions were primary operators in Seattle, Olympia and Bellevue. Made 40 other acquisitions over the next 28 years – all financed through internal accruals As the business grew, Bob and Rex took courses in human resources and other management issues at Stanford/Harvard. After Ernest’s death in 1984, Bob and Rex got 100% control of the company by buying out shares from their other siblings Concept of outside advisory board by Bob

Concept of openness and promote from within policy
Took care of employees, profit sharing plan, and other perks. Most top managers in the firm worked their way up through the organization In 1998, Keith Jones was promoted as president – non family member but resigned in 2000. Mike and Grant took over as Vice Presidents, but faced difficulties initially, managers started playing the two brothers against each ot...

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