Quite a few trips out of SeaTac airport to the East Coast lately, but I am working on an interesting riverfront development project that will revitalize a signature piece of real estate in the downtown core. The finished product will create a more livable and walkable district for both residents and visitors, provide critical infrastructure improvements, and deliver a strong economic impact. Look forward to sharing more when I can.
Recently returned from an advance mission to India with colleagues from Greater Seattle Partners and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. We navigated the cities of Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai to plan for a future international leadership mission with executives and government leaders from the Seattle region.
In addition to notable meetings with entities such as Air India, Amazon, Boeing, Chambers of Commerce, Port of Mumbai, Tech Mahindra, U.S. Embassy in Delhi, U.S. Department of Commerce, and World Trade Center Mumbai, we also attended Aero India, which is India’s largest airshow and aviation exhibition. It was an action-packed trip!
I was afforded a day to accompany an expert guide throughout Delhi, as well as some time to visit the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, in Mumbai. I also stayed at the famous/infamous The Taj Mahal Palace, which is directly across the road from the Gateway of India, and the inspiration for the movie Hotel Mumbai.
Some of these images include:
Greater Seattle shares deep cultural and economic ties with India that continue to flourish and expand today. The Emerald City has one of the highest Asian Indian populations in the U.S, and approximately 131,000 Indians now live in the region. Thanks in large part to Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft, more than 40% of foreign-born IT workers in the Seattle area hail from India.
The momentum continues with Air India recently agreeing to purchase 220 Boeing jets valued at $34 billion. Announced in 2023, this historic deal will undoubtedly create many new opportunities between the world’s two largest democracies.
To further cross-border collaboration and mutual understanding, Seattle opened its first Indian consulate in November 2023, along with its first Indian Visa Application Center that opened in July 2024. In the same year, the Seattle University established the RoundGlass India Center, which is an interdisciplinary center focused on the study of contemporary India. It was founded by Gurpreet “Sunny” Singh, a healthcare entrepreneur and philanthropist whose work is transforming the lives of millions of people in India.
Greater Seattle is the place where champions make their mark, and we are very excited to add our first cricket team. The Seattle Orcas are an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Cricket. The franchise was announced in 2023 as one of six inaugural franchises to play in the league. One of its lead investors is Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.
Other Indian cultural activities in Greater Seattle include:
I feel that I have just started to scratch the surface of India and how it has shaped the globe for more than 4,000 years. But I look forward to the journey. Namaste, for now.
Back in Seattle after a very productive mission to Madrid and León as part of INCIBE – Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad’s International Information Security Meeting (ENISE), a benchmark international event in Spain for the #cybersecurity industry.
Thank you to The Honorary Consul of Spain and Iñigo Esteban of Pacific Northwest Advisors for their tremendous support in leading a seamless multi-day and multi-city event that brought together an excellent combination of experts and influencers for productive meetings and partnerships.
Our delegation consisted of representatives from Bayer, Coalfire, Cloud Security Alliance, Embedded-Knowledge, Inc., Greater Seattle Partners, Microsoft, Tiro Security, University of Washington Tacoma, and Washington State Department of Commerce.
We had the privilege of meeting the Mayor of Leon – president of the local business association, ALETIC Asociación Leonesa de empresas TIC – director general of Incibe, Felix Barrio Juarez – the SCAYLE supercomputer at the Universidad de León – global cybersecurity companies – and more.
Great to engage many new friends in Spain and beyond.
Great to be back in London and the U.K for the Farnborough International Airshow. We had a great delegation of public and private partners including Lieutenant Governor Heck, representatives of the Washington State Department of Commerce, Head of the UK Government Office in Seattle, Alaska Airlines, Boeing, ZeroAvia, and regional economic development partners.
After a welcoming reception at the The Shard and the National History Museum, our team engaged in one-on-one meetings with 15 international aerospace companies where we actively promoted the Greater Seattle region as a leading hub for aerospace, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing, with a strong emphasis on sustainable solutions.
Following Farnborough, a smaller delegation of Washington State representatives ventured to northwest England and Chester to further co-operation on trade, innovation and clean energy. Founded as a Roman fortress in the 1st century A.D., Chester is a charming city that also serves as a nexus to world-class aerospace innovation.
The first day began at Electroimpact, which is an aerospace automation company with an exceptional concentration of engineers working on a wide range of projects include complete automation assembly systems for commercial aircraft wings, riveting machines and tools for wing panel and fuselage assembly, advanced fiber placement machines, robotic assembly systems, and spacecraft handling equipment.
The group proceeded just up the road to Broughton and the Airbus factory where the majority of its commercia aircraft wings are made. Adjacent to Airbus, the group also had the opportunity to tour the Advance Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC) that specializes in carrying out world-leading research into advanced machining, manufacturing and materials for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors.
The day concluded with a roundtable discussion at HyNet Northwest where the group learned more about the UK’s ambitious plans for industrial decarbonization and hydrogen production.
A special thanks to the head of the UK Government Office in Seattle, Robin Twyman, Lord Mayor Razia Daniels, Cheshire West and Chester Council, and so many others for hosting the delegation. Everyone was exceedingly warm and welcoming.
It was back to the SelectUSA Summit and Washington, DC to engage international companies from around the world that are interested in expanding to the United States. I was there to represent Greater Seattle and continue the global conversations started as part of our SelectUSA Seattle Spinoff held each year before the main Summit.
It was a nice treat meeting the British Ambassador to the U.S., Karen Pierce at her residence on Embassy Row, as well as many friends with U.S. Commercial Service and Department of Commerce.
