Ex-Spokane Banker Passes Up Chance To Lead Regional Financial Giant

Former Spokane banker Daniel R. Nelson was slated to become chairman and chief executive of the Northwest’s largest financial combine, $33-billion U.S. Bancorp, two years from now.

Instead, he is opting for early retirement New Year’s Day.

The 59-year-old president and chief operating officer of one of the nation’s top-30 financial giants, says he’s too old to make the transition. “I think the next leader of this company needs a longer span of time in which to leave a lasting mark,” said Nelson.

A native of Spokane and graduate of Lewis and Clark High School, Nelson entered banking in Spokane 34 years ago with Seafirst. For 10 years he was chairman and chief executive of West One Bancorp, Boise, which was merged by Portland-based U.S. Bancorp two years ago.

“I have seen more change in the past two years in the financial services industry than I did in the 10 years prior to this,” said Nelson.

“In order to succeed (in the next century), financial companies will have to be nimble, insightful and technologically savvy,” Nelson said. “I believe it will take a management team with a long-term focus and fresh insights into the future to capitalize on U.S. Bancorp’s strengths.”

Nelson was in line to succeed Gerry B. Cameron as chairman and chief executive upon the latter’s planned retirement New Year’s Day 1999.

Historic building changes hands

The historic building which formerly housed McGinnis Independent Paper Co. has been purchased by a pair of entrepreneurs who have moved their businesses into the downtown landmark.

Rick Rubio and Kevin Nichols plan mixed commercial use of the building at 124 S. Wall, adjacent to the elevated railroad tracks. They see their decision to acquire and recycle the vacant structure as part of the “grand design” by the business community for enhancing and revitalizing the central core.

Rubio owns Northwest Juice & Beverage, a distributor to the institutional market which is now expanding into the grocery trade.

He and Nichols are joint owners of A-City Center Storage, a new records storage venture just staring up. It will provide records keeping and file storage employing a state-of-the-art electronic barcoding system which the partners said has previously been unavailable in the Inland Northwest.

The six-story warehouse was erected in the 1890s, according to newspaper accounts. A cavernous structure with attractive architectural features, it was home to McGinnis Independent Paper Co. for more than three decades. The half-century-old paper company moved to East Spokane a few months ago.

The ancient storage building’s new owners share a vision of a striking exterior mural on the south wall which they hope will help decorate the so-called Davenport Arts & Entertainment District by next summer.

EWU seeks nominees for honor

The College of Business and Public Administration at Eastern Washington University needs nominations for Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.

Anyone may put forth a candidate for the award. Deadline is Feb. 21. For more information call (509) 358-2236.

Relocation inquiry trend shifts

A Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce report that people from other parts of Washington are more interested than Californians are in moving to Spokane is consistent with state population forecasts.

Although government economists and demographers are projecting a torrid pace of in-migration, they expect the Puget Sound to far outstrip the rest of the state.

Here in Spokane, for the first time in seven years of record keeping, the chamber has received more requests for relocation information from Washington residents than from Californians.

Underscoring this worrisome dichotomy, Marples Business Newsletter reports, “Areas like Spokane and Boise continue to offer relatively cheap land and labor and a pro-growth business environment. Yet they are not now attracting as many newcomers (individual or corporate) as during the great get-out-of-California-at-any-cost rush of the early 1990s.

“Washington’s 1997 growth will be focused in the Puget Sound Region. Don’t be surprised to see policy-makers fretting next year (as in the latter half of the 1980s) about ‘two Washingtons’ or the ‘Cascade curtain.’

“But,” says Marples, “the problem may be self correcting. As the west side becomes more crowded, the relatively low costs for land and labor that drew Californians north earlier in this decade will appeal anew to west side companies seeking room to grow.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review