David Anderson County Commissioner
Pacific County
David Anderson
County Commissioner
Pacific County
My Name is David Anderson and I am Running for
Pacific County Commissioner representing the Long Beach Peninsula
as an Independent
To start with…..what in the world does a County Commissioner do?
I had the same question during election times in the past when I was asked to vote for a job (county commissioner) that I was unclear of and, for people that I didn’t know!
The three county commissioners in Pacific County control and allocate the entire $50 million annual budget on behalf of our 24,000+ residents. That’s a little over $2,000 for each and every one of you, of your money, being spent each year, by these three people to … hopefully make your lives better.
Why is this important?
Because it is your money, for your county, where you live, for your lives and these three people are entrusted by you to allocate this money wisely between roads & bridges, emergency management, parks, community development, affordable housing, health and well being, and, many many other things. Commissioners should have the goal to get the biggest bang for the buck and use the county staff for the good of all.
A Commitment From Me
EVERY 3 MONTH COMMUNICATION TO YOU. If you elect me, I will post a newsletter for you every three months letting you know what is happening in county government and how your money and your county resources are being spent and allocated on your behalf. I’ll include debates and points of contention. I’ll do my best to convey multiple sides of issues so you can better understand tradeoffs and compromises that must be made.
I will try to limit this to about 4 pages as I don’t want to be writing novels but my guess is that it likely will be 4 pages more than you receive right now and should be, I hope, quite enlightening.
I have precedent. I communicated in this same way when I was president of James Page Brewing Company and Dorothy’s Isle of Pines Root Beer in MN. Every three months all 1,100 shareholders received a newsletter from me. When it came time to sell the company in 2006, back in the infancy of internet, 99% of those 1,100 shareholders said yes to the sale and a little over 100 sent me unsolicited letters telling me it was the most fun investment they ever had because our communication was so good and they thus felt involved with their company.
ONE ACHIEVABLE GOAL I COMMIT TO IS FOR YOU TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND KNOW WHAT I AM DOING, OR ENDEAVORING TO DO, ON YOUR BEHALF
My Answers
Why am I running as an Independent?
There are aspects of both parties that I like and dislike. This disharmony between parties is problematic to me. All or nothing party line solutions do not seem to fit the needs of Pacific County. Plus, I want to be only accountable to residents of Pacific County.
Will I take campaign donations?
No. Once you take donations you owe the donor something and I do not want to owe anyone anything except the 24,000 people of Pacific County.
Why am I running for elected office?
The main reason is I feel called to do it and have the professional business and government background to do it well. Another reason is I saw firsthand as Public Works Director of Pacific County major fixable problems and major missed opportunities. To shake things up, make needed changes, have a vision and act on it, you need a skillset like I have that is highlighted in my work and education history below. Not many people have turned around $5 million dollar companies, started and run two small companies, have had large responsibilities and achievements at major corporations, run the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program for a large county government and, been a substitute teacher at Ilwaco High School too!
For me, I am doing this because I know I can make a positive difference and that my skillset and track record are pretty unique and speak to me being up to the challenge. Again, I did not plan to be a county commissioner. I have never run for elected office before. I feel called to run for office and serve you and our county.
What are some things I would like to accomplish for Pacific County?
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Preserve our history, heritage and keep Pacific County Wild and Beautiful
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Work to create affordable housing options for our working people
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Extend the Discovery Trail to be a 26 mile – marathon distance – loop from Long Beach to Willapa Bay Nat’l Refuge to Ilwaco and back to Long Beach
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Create a new trail extension from new Discovery trail up the middle of the Peninsula all the way to Ocean Park
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Refurbish our County Parks and make them into money makers rather than budget drains
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Ask every department head in the County to come up with a prioritized list of county specific rules and regulations that are either unneeded or unenforceable or both. Then work to eliminate these unnecessary rules and regulations
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By eliminating unnecessary “work” for some county staff as they will not be called to focus on these unwarranted rules oversight, reallocate these talented people to community and county enhancing endeavors
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Ensure our county bidding processes are not “gamed”. I experienced this more than once while Public Works Director. This is an easy solve if you know what to look for and will save the county lots of money that can be utilized more effectively elsewhere
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Be business friendly in general. Our small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities and the county makes it more difficult rather than less difficult to them to flourish and create needed jobs
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Do what county can do to better support our schools and education in general
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Do what the county can do to better support our hospitals and clinics for expanded and better quality care
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We have a mental health and drug crises in the county so resources need to be focused to provide help for individuals and families in crises
What else will I accomplish for Pacific County?
Don’t let anyone tell you differently! You do not know for sure what needs to be done until you get there. I know some things that need to be done in the Public Works Department as I was there. The one thing I can say (repeating myself now!), is if you look at my resume you will notice private sector and government sector, small companies and big companies, very different roles from marketing/sales to operations management to finance to business development to executive management. This diversity gives me breadth of understanding necessary to understand and take action upon the breadth of needs of a county. Not many people have that experience.
Why Me?
Why David Anderson and Why Now?
Because I have the heart and the proven experience to take this beautiful garden that we call Pacific County and pull out the weeds while nourishing the good plants and also have the vision to plant new plants that will take us into the future while respecting our heritage, history and the beautiful…..Truly Beautiful….place we call home. The garden we live in. Pacific County.
Personal Note
I am 59… so…. young and old at the same time. I am happily married to the love of my life Jessica. We moved here 4 years ago from MN after all three of our children had graduated from high school to be nearer to our extended families. Now all our kids have graduated from college, two are on West Coast. And the youngest is doing his masters at Stanford this coming fall. So proud of them ALL! Jess and I own a small business in Long Beach and we live in Long Beach too. We love it here and we love God and we love our neighbors.
Professional Experience
Co-Owner – Entrepreneur - Business and Community Building
Coastal Class Crepes, Long Beach, WA – 8/22 – Current
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Reinvested Public Works severance package into community beneficial new business creating 7 new jobs so far
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2023 Readers Choice Winner for top 3 Best Lunch and Best Dessert for 126 miles of coastal fine dining restaurants
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Distributed 10% local business supporting local business permanent cards to countless Peninsula businesses
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Distributed 10% permanent care givers cards to al Ocean Beach Hospital & Medical Clinic Staff
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Distributed 10% permanent educators’ card to all Ocean Beach School Staff
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Participate in community donation events most recent Sou Wester Arts Week
and Mental Health Event
Director - Public Works - 3/15/22 to 6/30/22
Pacific County, WA
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Responsible for Pacific County infrastructure: roads and bridges, county fair, parks
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Budgeting, contracts, public presentations to county commissioners & community
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Manage a team of 27
Director - Public Works - 12/21 to 2/12/22
City of Long Beach, Long Beach, WA
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Responsible for City of Long Beach infrastructure: water, sewer, stormwater, parks
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Responsible for event/festival staging and execution
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Manage a team of 16
Teacher, Assistant Football Coach - 9/2021 to 12/21
Co-Leader of Future Business Leaders of America
Ocean Beach School District, Long Beach, WA
Director, Portfolio Management - 1/2018 to 10/2020
United Health Group, Minnetonka, MN
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Responsible for delivering the 2020 UHC Ops plan of $100M on budget
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Responsible for developing and selling to senior leadership the 2021 $143M UHC Ops plan
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Responsible as a principal in the Agile transformation of United HealthCare
Senior Manager, Public Works - 2013 to 2018
Hennepin County, Minneapolis, MN (34th largest county in nation)
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Responsible for 1,200-unit County Fleet of Hennepin County (ambulances, Sheriff vehicles, snowplow equipment, road & bridge building equipment, boats, snowmobiles, etc.) Directly interface with leadership in all Hennepin County divisions and departments that utilize fleet equipment. Manage a staff of 28, a $18 million annual budget, over $53 million in fleet assets, and a $20 million internal cash fund. Face of Hennepin County for Fleet with external counties, states, vendors, and others.
Minnesota Family Investment Program, Operations Coordinator – 2012 to 2013
Hennepin County, Minneapolis, MN
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Responsible for administration and operational improvement of the entire welfare to work program in Hennepin County. This program serves approximately 8,500 families and 27,000 people in total. Directly supervises a staff of 5 and indirectly managed relationships with 17 outside service providers (such as Lutheran Social Services) which we contract for some of our direct client work. Also head of the MFIP Innovation Team that is a cross functional group consisting of Hennepin County Leaders and Outside Service Provider Leaders to generate and then implement program to better the lives and communities of the people we serve.
Global Product Manager - 2007 to 2010
Ingersoll Rand, Minneapolis, MN
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Led cross functional teams - engineering, marketing, sales - that accomplished all facets of productizing and bringing to market a newly acquired food safety/extension of shelf-life technology. Determined appropriate business units, channels, and geographies for global product launch and then executed the plan. Liaison with business unit executives to engender their support and sell EMS product through their business units. Managed mid and long-term product development plans. Created and executed sales and marketing strategies.
Capital Planning Portfolio Manager - 2005 to 2007
Genentech, South San Francisco, CA
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Redesigned capital planning and delivery process for $1.5 B annual portfolio
with 17-year planning horizon. Improved visibility and accountability, from CFO/EC to Project Managers, by creating/managing new phase gate governance process and 19 cross functional teams. Also established a process for information transfer to corporate procurement. -
Saved Genentech $1.1B in first year, contributing $.07 per year EPS.
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Improved forecast accuracy from 35% to 97%
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Changed planning cycle from once per year to ongoing quarterly refreshment
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Served as Project Manager for Capital Planning Executive Team.
President/CEO/Chairman, Board of Directors – 1995 to 2006
James Page Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN
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Led craft brewery, increasing sales 135% in first year and maintaining 50% increase year-over-year for next 4 years, from $100K to $2M in revenue. Successfully sold brands to larger brewery in 2005.
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28th largest brewery in US before sale.
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Created 2 brands (James Page Beer, Dorothy’s Sodas) and branding/packaging for 10 products -14 SKUs.
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First craft brewery to commercially sell products in cans.
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Sold James Page on Northwest Airlines domestic flights resulting in 400,000 new trials each year, from 1997-2005.
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Reinvented marketing strategy by completing the first Small Corporate Offering Registration, (SCOR), resulting in 1,100 actively engaged community-owners.
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Expanded distribution from 6 distributors in MN to 21 distributors in 6 states.
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Created ongoing capital plans for company. Raised $2M in private capital 3 times from investors.
Chief Financial & Administrative Officer - 1994 to 1995
Great Lakes Fluid Power, Grand Rapids, MI
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Reorganized internal operations, generating profitability for hydraulics/pneumatics manufacturer. Developed 180-page In-Stock catalogue. Managed 6 employees directly.
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Reduced sales staff, cutting costs $170K with no decrease in annual sales.
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Increased profitability from break-even to $240K by second year.
National Account Executive - 1992 to 1994
Simon Marketing, Los Angeles, CA
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Conceived, pitched, and led large-scale marketing programs for $300M company. Part of 2-person team leading new business, entertainment, and Blockbuster Division.
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Created/executed programs for Blockbuster, C.P.W. (General Mills), Circle K, Coca Cola Latin America, Gigante, Mattel, McDonalds, Musicland, Nissan, RJR Nabisco Penn Tennis Balls, McDonalds and MTV.
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Negotiated Tie-in Partnerships with Delta Airlines, Entertainment Tonight, NBC, Paramount, Chrysler, Patrick Ewing, Price is Right, Amblin Entertainment, EMI Records, and MTV.
Education
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MBA/Master of International Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management (ASU), Glendale, AZ, 1990
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Diploma of Christian Studies, graduate degree, Regent College (University of British
Columbia), Vancouver, BC, Canada 1988 -
BA, Political Science, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, 1987
Certifications
CPR
First Aid
