The Washington Software Alliance’s 5th Annual Golf Tournament took place yesterday on the Eastside at the Newcastle Golf Course.
According to WSA President & CEO Kathleen Wilcox, the event was an excellent opportunity for people in the industry to get together and have fun. “Who would believe that a golf tournament would be a core competency of a trade organization,” says Wilcox.
According to WSA Executive VP & COO Margo Shiroyama, 152 people took part in the golf tournament and an additional 100 joined in for the BBQ that took place later in the evening. “The hi-tech industry is an industry that works hard and plays hard,” says Shiroyama.
The internet industry had a significant presence at the the event. Photozone.com, for example, was on the scene to take photos, and the people who received awards included many dotcom and vc golf talent.
The team that took first place consisted of Charles Carter, Chris Hurley and Eric Dobmeier of the Venture Law Group and Noah Rogers of the Merrill Corporation.
The Excell Data Team took second place. Team members included: Rick Jorgensen, Carv Moore, Greg Welch and Rick Schwartz.
The 3rd place team consisted of Fuze Technologies’ Shilo Jones, SafeHarbor.com’s Chris Wandell, Senada.com’s Ian MacNeil and Trans Cosmos USA’s Steve Clemons.
Jason Hausske of Exodus Communications and Jille Cadwell of Regence Blue Shield both received an award for the “Longest Drive” and Chad Fisher of Crossport Systems and Rich Stockton of Adhost Internet both received the award for “Closest-to-the Pin”.
According to Wilcox, the sponsor of the event MCI WorldCom did not just fly in their regional VP Evan Buchanan from California to take part in the tournament, but also arranged for all participants to have a video taken of their game – so that they will be able to receive via email a recap by Golf Pro Greg Norman.
In addition to golfing, many of the participants had the opportunity to network.
“The six hours on the golf course were an excellent opportunity to meet people that I network with on a regular basis and to meet in person those people that I have only talked with over the phone,” says Primus Sales Rep Noah Marks.
Brent McKinnon, an account manager for the Seattle office of London-based hi-tech recruiting company BesTech, was quite pleased with his team’s achievements and the opportunity to rub elbows with some of Seattle’s top executives.
