SEQUIM — The late Mike McAleer received the Clallam Economic Development Council’s Olympic Leader Award at its annual gala at 7 Cedars Casino.
About 200 people attended the event Friday night, including all three Clallam County commissioners and representatives from the 24th Legislative District.
McAleer’s wife Shannon Burke, son Michael McAleer and daughter Colleen McAleer accepted the award, which honors a business leader who has made a notable contribution to the county’s economic growth.
McAleer, who died Jan. 29 at the age of 86 after a 19-year battle with cancer, was a former EDC board president. The Sequim real estate agent served on the boards of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce and county Boards of Equalization and Opportunity Fund.
He established a Sequim Sunrise Rotary Club initiative to display the American flag on federal holidays and volunteered 20 hours a week at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, where he provided financial counseling and support.
“My dad loved this county and this community,” said Michael McAleer, one of Mike McAleer’s five children. “He was a ‘don’t tell me’ kind of guy, he was a ‘show me’ kind of guy, and his actions spoke for him. He believed in service, and we all feel so incredibly fortunate to have been his kids and to have known him.’”
Clallam EDC Executive Director Colleen McAleer assured the audience she was kept in the dark about the nominating and voting process, joking that EDC director of operations Lorie Fazio wouldn’t let her go anywhere near it so she had no idea her father won the award.
“He really instilled values in us that enable us to do good things for our communities, our friends and our neighbors,” she said. “We wouldn’t be the people we are today without his leadership, his love and his mentorship.”
The two other Olympic Leader finalists were Marty Brewer, Port Angeles School District superintendent, and Carmen Geyer, the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center manager.
The Senior and Community Center also was nominated for nonprofit of the year, which went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula. Feiro Marine Life Center was the third finalist.
In accepting the award, Mary Budke, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, noted that she recognized a number of people in the audience who are former club members.
Brix Marine won the business of the year award. The other finalists were Lumber Traders and Wilder Auto.
“With an award like this, it means that we’re succeeding,” Brix managing director Perry Knudson said. “We have a team that works together, and that makes all the difference at the end of the day.”
Knudson said the company’s goals include prioritizing customers, continuously improving by delivering the right boat on time and budget.
Keynote speaker and former Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans defensive back Jordan Babineaux delivered his address on “Pivot to Win” — the evening’s theme and the title of his 2021 book.
Pivot, Babineaux said, stands for purpose, innovation, vision, ownership and tenacity. It is a strategy he applied to his professional football career, which began as an undrafted free agent out of NCAA division II South Arkansas University. He landed a spot on the Seahawks practice squad and joined the active squad soon afterward.
“The moment when we decide to pivot, we win,” he said.
The Clallam EDC received an award of its own on Friday. Washington Economic Development Association Executive Director Suzanne Dale Estey announced it had won the WEDA innovation in economic development award for its forestry products development program. The award will be presented at WEDA’s winter conference on March 26-27 in Olympia.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
