Last year was another excellent year of growth and maturation for WTIA, with a 25% year-over-year increase in our consolidated budget.
Our tech apprenticeship program, Apprenti(™), is now deployed in 11 states serving 58 employers, and each state is on track to place hundreds of apprentices in the near future. Our healthcare plan now serves more than 400 startup companies and covers nearly 12000 lives who would otherwise be unable to access high-quality health plans. We expanded Ion Collaborators, a civic innovation program that has mobilized 5400 volunteer hours from participants to tackle challenging local projects. We added several new services that use group buying power for the benefit of the membership including a 401(k) MEP that sharply cuts costs and administrative burdens for small and large companies alike, a Verizon phone plan that offers a lowest in market unlimited talk, text, and voice plan, and a business insurance line to optimize the cost-benefit for every member company. In all, our programs and services represent about 86% of WTIA annual expenditures.
We added 390 new organizations to the WTIA roster and assembled a new Cascadia Blockchain Council to help our region stake its rightful claim as a global leader in the stunningly transformational world of distributed ledgers. WTIA now serves more than 1000 tech companies, the largest number in our 34-year history.
The technology industry in Washington is the job engine of the state and a substantial contributor to the state’s budget to provide services to all residents. We have much to be proud of and great promise lies ahead for even more positive contributions to the state economy. Our immediate opportunity is to combine efforts as partners with government and community organizations to solve growth pains like affordable housing, homelessness, traffic congestion, and funding education. This will create a more sustainable and healthy foundation on which to build our future together.
The 1000 WTIA member companies will rise to the challenge in 2019 and beyond.
“The technology industry in Washington is the job engine of the state and a substantial contributor to the state’s budget to provide services to all residents. We have much to be proud of and great promise lies ahead for even more positive contributions to the state economy.”
Michael Schutzler
President and CEO
$12,000,000
New apprentice wages created in Washington state
$50,000
Average wage lift per apprentice graduate
$58,000,000
$58M in healthcare services for 11,000 employees and families
47
Contributed to 47 important pieces of legislation
1,592
1,592 Startup Club co-founders in our peer network
Launched Computer Science Consortium with Lake Washington Institute of Technology
In 2018, WTIA ramped up the Startup Club now serving about 500 companies. We also launched the Founders Cohort which provides exclusive access to legal, accounting, marketing, and venture capital resources. In general, WTIA membership continues to grow along with the creation of new programs to serve specific needs of members.
390
390 new member companies
1,056
1,056 total member companies
4,000,000
Member companies employ 4M people worldwide and 250,000 in Washington
1,592
1,592 co-founders active in WTIA
Total 2018 Annual Budget
$13.5M
2018 Expense Breakdown
We launched Apprenti to create a new talent pipeline for the industry and to help solve the diversity dilemma for our sector. In 2018, Apprenti changed the lives of more than 200 apprentices in our state, training them for roles with retained wages up to $120,000 per year and strong career growth. Local companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, continue to ramp their hiring and we now serve 58 employers in 11 states.
318
318 apprentices placed in 11 states
85% of placements are women, vets, and persons of color
6,540
6,540 people applied to Apprenti in 2018
79% of apprentices have completed their apprenticeship and were retained by their companies as full-time employees
$89,000
Apprentices earn an average salary of $89,000 upon graduation in Washington state
90% of apprentices complete the program
WTIA uses the group buying power of our startup and SMB member companies to offer their employees high-value benefits. We increased access to our premier health plans, retooled our beta 401(k) Multiple Employer Plan to serve more companies, released our Verizon phone plan now available to any member company employees, and launched a new line of business insurance offerings to help member companies get their risk management house in order.
452
452 companies in WTIA Benefits Programs
17,206
17,206 employees and families covered by WTIA Benefits Programs
130
130 insurance brokers offering WTIA Benefits Programs
Ion Collaborators brings together tech, government, and community organizations to tackle thorny civic challenges. To date, we have completed two cohorts of 18 collaborators nominated by their employers and peers. We are breaking down the language and cultural barriers that cause multidisciplinary projects to crash and burn. Our six projects to date have addressed challenges in livability, accessibility, and economic disparity.
4,000
4,000 volunteer hours across two cohorts
36
36 Ion Collaborators represented a wide range of organizations, companies and government departments
6
6 projects completed, including tech talks at the Dept. of Corrections, a website matching tech volunteers and small business owners, and a mini-documentary about public art
Our advocacy focus is on efforts that ensure our region’s continued leadership in innovation and legislation that addresses the urgent need for talent in our sector. While advocacy only represents about 5% of annual expenditures, we combine the influence of member companies to augment and in some cases lead the effort on complex policy efforts impacting our sector.
Working closely with government officials and leading tech companies, we built a strong case for workforce training investment by the Federal and State governments, advanced new WA state privacy legislation to protect consumers, co-chaired the state government autonomous vehicle subcommittee on data security, served on the Seattle Mayor’s Innovation Advisory Committee to help the city solve thorny problems, and served as co-chair of the Seattle CTO selection committee.
Federal
Tech apprenticeship funding
Tech apprenticeship regulations
Workforce development SME
State
Tech apprenticeship funding
Tech legislation voice
Tech sector SME
City
Civic collaboration
Tech sector SME
Member Happy Hour
WTIA hosts a monthly member-only happy hour in different neighborhoods throughout the greater Seattle area and Eastside. Each event promotes networking among employees from our member base while also celebrating new and renewing members.
CEO Forum
The WTIA CEO Forum provides an annual opportunity for tech CEOs to connect with peers, learn from an expert on a challenging topic, and discuss ways to build a better world together.
Executive Roundtable Breakfast
Executive Roundtables are invite-only events aimed at connecting leaders in the technology community. The event series provides a secure, private environment for executives to openly share business-related problems to receive advice and best practices from their industry counterparts.
FullConTech
FullConTech is a unique un-conference that brings together leaders of industry, government, education, and community organizations to take on the biggest challenges in our sector. During this one-day conference, you directly shape the future by participating in evidence-based conversations about challenges and proposing specific solutions we can address as a team.
Giving Gala
A gorgeous evening to raise money for tech apprenticeship in our state. Gala is an elite black-tie event with silent and live auctions, a Tom Douglas catered dinner, and features Washington’s brightest stars. All proceeds help fund apprenticeships in our state to help women, people of color, and veterans attain careers in tech.
Tech Crawl
Tech Crawl brings together students and job seekers to visit hiring companies. Participating companies open their doors to attendees to share first hand how the team and office feel in a group setting. Attendees get face time with hiring managers and employees from companies that they’re interested in — before their resumes go through the normal recruiting process.
Kraig Baker, Partner, DWT
Greg Beams, Partner, EY
Bradd Busic, CIO, MacDonald Miller
Jamila Conley, VP IT Services, F5
Gena Cook, Founder, Navigating Cancer
Dave Cotter, VP Product, Nordstrom
Kha Dang, GC, Drift
Evan Fein, CFO, Chef
Michelle Ferris, Director HR, AllStar Directories
Elissa Fink, CMO, Tableau
Roei Ganzarski, CEO, Magnix
Ben Golden, GC, TUNE
Kristen Hamilton, Co-Founder, Koru
Brian Hilgendorf, CFO Protem, Contract
Mike Horwitz, VP Engineering, Comcast
Shannon Jurdana, CEO, Vimly
Ed Lazowska, Professor/Chair, UW CSE
Al Lewis, VP Industry Relations, Bellevue College
Trish Millines-Dziko, ED, TAF
Derrick Morton, CEO, Flowplay
James Newell, Partner, Voyager
Dave Parker, CEO, Six Month Startup
Vanessa Pegueros, CISO, DocuSign
Alex Pietsch, AVP, WSU
Irene Plenefisch, Director, Gov Affairs, Microsoft
Tim Porter, Partner, Madrona
Cefe Quesada, MD, Global Tech, State Street
Seth Rapkin, SVP, Morgan Stanley / Pike Place Partners
Carol Rava, VP, Business Development, AstrumU
Heather Redman, Partner, Founder, Flying Fish VC
Michael Schutzler, CEO, WTIA
Craig Sherman, Partner, WSGR
John Suk, Sales Director, Vimly
Eileen Sullivan, Manger, Gov Affairs, Amazon
Shannon Swift, CEO, Swift HR Solutions
Dan Waggoner, Partner, DWT
Joseph Williams, ICT Sector Lead, WA Dept of Commerce
Steve Wood, Owner, Airnote LLC
Gilbert Wootton, Partner, Accenture
Portia Wu, Director, Workforce Policy, Microsoft
