Making Lemonade Out of Lemons
Through Persistence, Grit, and the “Two Outs…So What” mentality, WE reveled in lemonade over and over.
The truth is Peter is only a small part of the successes below. The heavy lifting is consistently done by the superb teams that surround him
Peter’s role in all of these situations was to cheer, listen to smart advice, and to live the pronoun: WE.
Intiman Theater, 1985: Peter is hired as Managing Director of a regional theater facing a negative balance sheet, its facility recently demolished to make way for a convention center, and a demoralized board ready to say “Uncle”. By 1990, Intiman’s debts were paid, it was operating in the black, and it was housed in a newly remodeled theater in the heart of Seattle’s arts district. That same summer, Intiman presented the daring Souvremenik Theatre from Moscow as a key component of the Goodwill Games arts program to sold out houses. The theater went on to debut the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kentucky Cycle and to thrive.
Gaco Western, 1994: Peter is hired as CEO of Gaco, which was bankrupt in every way. The company faced EPA fines that far surpassed any overly optimistic valuation. And it was filled with staff that read newspapers at their desks. In addition, Gaco’s two plants competed for orders, cutting each other’s throat to land a contract, but hurting the corporate bottom line. By 2017, Gaco was sold to the highest bidder in the building products marketplace, creating significant wealth for twenty-eight individuals that changed lives forever. Gaco is now the most nimble player and a leader in its market.
Missoula Osprey, 2017: Peter and his wife Susan purchased a minor league baseball team, the Missoula Osprey. Immediately in 2018, disaster struck. Major League Baseball suddenly dropped forty-two teams, including the Missoula team, after decades of MLB support. Without MLB support, and deep into the pandemic, the Osprey rebranded themselves as the Missoula Paddleheads. This rebranding was later voted best rebrand in a nationwide poll. In 2020, when other teams were struggling, the newly minted 2020 Paddleheads presented movies, trivia, and “Dinner on the Diamond” to stave off irrelevance. By 2021 the Paddleheads were an energetic, independent baseball team with $300,000 in new baseball related expenses. That year, the Paddleheads hired a young hungry manager who led them to the championship of the Pioneer League with the best record in all of professional baseball!
