2007 Movers and Shakers: Larry Wieber, Robin Halliday, Dave Christensen lead the way

Bellingham Business Journal, Dec, 2007 by Isaac Bonnell

Many Whatcom County and Bellingham businesses made the news in 2007, but it's the people behind the news who are making things happen. This year, our list of Movers and Shakers includes the owner of a successful and rapidly growing boat manufacturing company, the president of a local technology group, and an architect who has designed several notable local projects.

Larry Wieber

It just seems natural that a boat company should make waves. And with Larry Wieber at the helm, Aluminum Chambered Boats has made huge waves this year.

In June, ACB was awarded a $9.88 million contract to provide the United States Coast Guard with 47 Cutter Boat-Large boats, a 24-foot rigid hull inflatable designed as a support craft for Coast Guard Cutters. Previously, Zodiac Marine held this contract.

"That is a huge personal milestone in my life," Wieber said. "When I started the company I told everybody I wanted to take on Boston Whaler and Zodiac worldwide. We didn't start this to be a mom-and-pop boat company."

ACB delivered its first Cutter Boat-Large in October and is now busy building the remaining 46 boats, which keeps the 72,000-square-foot production floor astir. In fact, things are too busy.

"We doubled [business] last year. We've already got double the orders for next year. We've got to get a bigger facility."

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In June, the company announced that it was searching for a larger facility to house its production and they were looking outside of Bellingham city limits. "We thought we had a place up north and that didn't work," Wieber said.

Another alternative quickly arose: the 250,000-square-foot Georgia-Pacific tissue warehouse. ACB is currently drawing plans to see if the site is suitable for their needs.

"If the G-P site works out, it'll be better for us anyway. Time will tell what happens now," Wieber said.

Alongside all of that, ACB joined with Northrup Grumman to design and launch the Joint Multimission Expeditionary Graft, or JMEC, which is currently being tested by the military as a river and shoreline patrol boat.

Approximately half of the boats ACB builds are for military or government purposes. With this in mind, the company began researching a new bullet-stopping ballistics material that is light enough to use on their boats without significantly altering the weight or handling of the craft.

"We will be able to offer ballistics protection not only in marine craft but [in] wheeled vehicles, track vehicles, everything," Wieber said. "And we'll make it available to everyone, even our competitors, because our goal is to save lives."

That's how you make waves in the boat building industry.

Bio: Larry Wieber

Owner and CEO of Aluminum Chambered Boats

Age: 61

Business: Owner and CEO of Aluminum Chambered Boats

Family: Wife, Rose, six grown kids, six grandchildren Hometown: Spokane, Wash.

Words that best describe you: Persistent visionary

What did you want to be when you grew up? Salesman

Most influential person in your life: Bob Funk

What are you currently reading? "Get Everyone in Your Boat Rowing in the Same Direction," by Bob Boylan. "Good to Great in God's Eyes," by Chip Ingram. "Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why Republicans Don't Have the Corner on Christ," by Linda Seqer.

Favorite movie: Patton

What are you currently listening to? Rascal Flatts

Person you would like to be for a day: I'm very happy being me.

Robin Halliday

You could say that even though Robin Halliday is now semi-retired from her 25-year career as a vice president for DIS, a local information technology company, she is now busier than ever.

She still sits on the board for DIS, is the president of the Technology Alliance Group, is chairman of the board for the Washington Technology Association, and serves as a board member for the Bellingham Whatcom Public Facilities District. Somewhere amidst all that, she finds time to teach a project management certification course through Western Washington University's extended education program.

"I'm having a delightful time teaching," said Halliday, who taught a statistics class at Western while getting her master's degree in psychology 30 years ago. "It's fun to come full circle after 30 years."

Halliday first entered the technology industry back in 1980 looking for part-time work. After finishing her master's, she decided that psychology wasn't for her; she really just enjoyed teaching and doing research.

"That's when I said 'I'll go find a part-time job in computers.' Many years later as my career evolved, I realized that I've been doing research and teaching for many years."

As the president of the Technology Alliance Group, Halliday works constantly to promote, educate and advocate for more than 500 Whatcom County businesses in the technology sector. She also volunteers her time through a TAG program called Math Masters, an after-school math tutoring program for local middle school students.

"Our industry has been saying for so long 'We need qualified workers with math and science skills,'" Halliday said. "So this is our way of stepping up to the plate."