For the second time in the past 60 days, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that takes direct aim at the state’s political leadership, calling Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson “inept” and noting that Gov. Bob Ferguson continues to “burden businesses with one tax increase after another.”

Like GeekWire contributing columnist Charles Fitzgerald earlier this month, Schultz also points out that Gov. Ferguson’s recently-formed economic development council has no real startup representation, and is packed with big institutions. 

In his piece, Schultz points specifically to Kent-based Stoke Space, the reusable rocket startup that has raised more than $1 billion in funding, as the kind of company Washington needs to fight to keep.

Schultz, who decamped for Miami earlier this year, is obviously concerned about the well-being of his former state. And the one-time presidential hopeful certainly has a lot of ideas for the place he just left — arguing that the reindustrialization of the U.S. could be sparked by matching entrepreneurs with young people seeking apprenticeship opportunities in the trades. 

In May, Schultz wrote a separate piece in the Journal titled: Seattle Turns Hostile to the Great Businesses It Made.

Schultz makes some good points, and he echoes the statements of many in the business community who are concerned about the current direction. We’ve also reported recently on how other states — including Ohio — are out to eat the lunch of Washington state.

And we’ve pointed out the the long slide in Washington state’s business climate, reporting on CNBC’s report this week that ranks Washington No. 11 for business. That’s down from No. 2 four years ago, and No. 1 in 2017.

But you have to wonder: Is the coffee magnate really the best messenger for what ails Washington state? And what’s his end game? It seems his words would carry more weight had he decided to stick around, and try to fix the broken system. 

Then again, Florida has its own challenges. Perhaps his next editorial will tackle a few of those.

For much of the past year, the narrative surrounding Washington state’s business climate has taken a decidedly negative turn.

Business leaders have criticized a wave of new taxes approved by lawmakers. High-profile companies have announced expansions elsewhere. Entrepreneurs have questioned whether Washington remains as welcoming to innovation as it once was, prompting Gov. Bob Ferguson to launch a new Economic Development Council aimed at strengthening the state’s competitiveness.

But a new national ranking released Thursday complicates that narrative.

Washington climbed three spots to No. 11 in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business rankings, up from No. 14 last year, suggesting that many of the state’s underlying competitive strengths remain intact even as debate over its business climate has intensified.

That’s the good news. The bad news: Just four years ago, Washington ranked No. 2 in the same survey. In 2017, the state was No. 1

Certainly, Washington is at a crossroads when it comes to how it thinks about its business community. The CNBC ranking and the big fluctuations over the past four years speak to the seesaw-like narrative that has taken shape.

The business climate also has been front-and-center in GeekWire’s recent coverage.

Washington lawmakers approved billions of dollars in new taxes during this year’s legislative session, including new taxes affecting many technology companies.

Ferguson subsequently created the Economic Development Council composed of leaders from companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing and T-Mobile to identify ways to strengthen the state’s economy amid growing concerns about competitiveness. (GeekWire contributing columnist Charles Fitzgerald questioned why the council did not include anyone from the startup community in his recent piece: Governor’s new economic council snubs startups, forgets AI).

We also recently traveled to Cleveland to examine why Ohio has emerged as one of the country’s fastest-growing destinations for business investment and technology jobs. State leaders there have aggressively positioned Ohio as an alternative to coastal technology hubs, touting lower costs, business-friendly policies and major investments in manufacturing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

That strategy appears to be paying off.

Ohio claimed CNBC’s top spot this year, overtaking last year’s winner to become America’s Top State for Business in 2026. It has been an historic climb for the Buckeye state, which ranked No. 30 in the inaugural survey in 2007 and just cracked the top 10 last year.

One of GeekWire’s key takeaways from our visit to northeast Ohio is that the entire community is unified, rowing in one common direction, from Gov. Mike DeWine to real estate developers to entrepreneurs to philanthropic organizations.

“I don’t give advice to other areas,” DeWine told us on our recent visit. “But my advice to people is, come to Ohio. Come work in Ohio. You will not find a better place, better people, quality of life. Cost of living is low compared to the two coasts.”

The ranking also comes as several prominent Washington employers have announced significant investments outside the state. Starbucks recently unveiled plans for a major corporate expansion in Nashville, while aerospace supplier Janicki Industries said it will build a large new manufacturing campus in Montana, fueling concerns among some business leaders that Washington is becoming a more difficult place to grow.

At the same time, CNBC’s methodology highlights many of the advantages that have long made Washington one of the country’s leading innovation economies. Here’s how Washington ranked per CNBC:

The network evaluates states across 10 categories using 138 metrics, including workforce, infrastructure, economy, technology and innovation, business friendliness, education, cost of doing business and quality of life. The methodology is updated annually to reflect the factors companies say matter most when making investment decisions.

While Washington continues to face challenges related to business costs and taxes, it remains home to one of the nation’s deepest concentrations of technology talent, world-class research universities, global companies including Microsoft and Amazon, and a robust startup ecosystem — strengths that continue to score well in CNBC’s analysis.

The results also underscore how different rankings can produce different conclusions depending on what they measure. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which focuses specifically on state tax policy, ranked Washington 45th in its 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, citing the state’s gross receipts-based Business & Occupation tax, taxation of business inputs and recent changes to its capital gains tax.

Seattle also recently declined in a new ranking of the best places in the U.S. to attract foreign businesses and investment. The fifth annual list compiled by British newspaper Financial Times and stock market index Nikkei ranked Seattle 13th among 95 U.S. cities — a drop of 11 places from last year’s second-place position.

Together, the rankings illustrate the complexity of evaluating a state’s business climate.

Washington continues to enjoy many of the assets that have made it one of the nation’s leading centers for technology and innovation. At the same time, business leaders have become increasingly vocal that higher taxes and rising costs could erode those advantages over time if policymakers fail to address competitiveness.

T-Mobile’s longest-tenured Un-carrier architect just Un-carriered himself. 

Mike Katz, who started selling VoiceStream phones at Circuit City 28 years ago and rose to help T-Mobile go from an also-ran into the wireless industry’s most formidable competitor, is leaving the Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier as part of a broader executive reshuffling under CEO Srini Gopalan, who took the helm in November. 

Katz, T-Mobile’s chief business and product officer, is stepping away to pursue “new professional interests,” the company said in a press release and SEC filing. The company didn’t provide specifics. We’ve contacted Katz for more on his plans. 

He’ll remain as a strategic advisor through December 2026. 

His responsibilities are being split three ways: 

• Chris Sambar, a wireless industry veteran who spent two decades at rival AT&T and most recently served as COO of Public Storage, will join as chief enterprise officer no later than Oct. 14, overseeing T-Mobile’s SMB, enterprise and government businesses. 
• André Almeida is moving into an expanded role as chief marketing, brand and broadband officer. 
• CTO John Saw‘s purview will grow to include product engineering and cybersecurity. 

Katz was named last month to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s newly created Economic Development Council, a 26-member panel of business, labor, and tribal leaders. His status on the council following his departure from T-Mobile is unclear. 

Over his career at T-Mobile, Katz led the company’s business group, where he helped triple the customer base, and later oversaw marketing, strategy and products, shaping some of the carrier’s most recognizable brand moves: T-Mobile Tuesdays, Magenta Status, and others.

“We built a regional player into a national powerhouse, flipped the industry on its head with the Un-carrier movement, pulled off the Sprint merger, and pushed into broadband and enterprise,” Katz said in a LinkedIn post announcing his departure.

Gopalan praised Katz in the press release, calling him “a driving force of so many of the bold moves that have transformed our company and our industry.”

Sambar’s hiring is a notable move for T-Mobile, which built its Un-carrier brand in part by positioning itself as the scrappy alternative to industry giants AT&T and Verizon. At AT&T, Sambar led the buildout of the company’s 5G mobile network and oversaw the design and deployment of FirstNet, the nationwide public safety communications network. 

A U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served more than 20 years in the Navy, Sambar will report directly to Gopalan and lead T-Mobile’s push into enterprise, government, and emerging growth areas including T-Ads and physical AI.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson last week announced an Economic Development Council to “identify practical actions that strengthen Washington’s economy, expand opportunity and help more Washingtonians succeed.”

To Ferguson’s credit, he may finally be recognizing that Washington’s business climate is deteriorating.

While he didn’t admit any responsibility for that decline, the number of companies and highly successful job creators that have said “Bye Bob” and taken jobs to other states — Starbucks and Janicki Industries to name two recent examples — cannot have escaped his attention.

Who’s who

The council’s composition gives us a glimpse into the governor’s economic mindset. Unfortunately, it isn’t forward-looking.

There are more nonprofits and governmental agencies than businesses. Except for one small homebuilder, none of the participating companies were founded this century. Calling the council a “historic convening” is unintentionally apt.

There is zero representation from entrepreneurs, the startup ecosystem or anyone building the industries of the future. The mayor of Cleveland remains better plugged into our startup community than any politician in Washington.

The largest participants on the governor’s new council are notable for mass layoffs and shifting their workforces out of the state.

Amazon and Microsoft have each cut tens of thousands of jobs, as they become more capital-intensive and lean into AI-driven productivity. Boeing now has nearly two-thirds of its employees outside Washington state, and that shift continues.

Oblivious to AI

Also missing from the governor’s framing is the single biggest force shaping the economy today: AI.

He namechecks quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy, but omits AI.

New jobs overwhelmingly come from young growth companies, and AI is driving new company formation. 

Beyond startups, AI is going to dramatically reshape knowledge work and boost productivity in every single organization (including, hopefully, government). 

It is impossible to talk about “the next chapter of economic prosperity for our state” without discussing the implications of AI.

The committee agenda

“The council will meet quarterly and submit advisory reports to the governor with its findings and recommendations.” 

The first report, in its entirety, should say “STOP DRIVING BUSINESS AWAY.”

Starbucks, perhaps not surprisingly, was not invited to participate on the council, though Gov. Ferguson tells The Seattle Times he understands the coffee giant’s importance to the region and “has a direct line of communication with them.”

The governor suggests he “would be open to more aggressive financial incentives to attract out-of-state business,” but why not prioritize keeping companies that are already here? 

The zero-sum view of job creation — that you must pay to lure companies from other states — reflects a profound ignorance of the magic of economic growth.

Just nurture an environment conducive to growth. Effective and efficient delivery of public services, predictable taxes, and sensible regulation. But that would require changes in how state government operates today.

In other words, grow what you’ve got.

Learning from Cleveland

I have argued that the software era is ending, and we need to find our next economic act in Washington state. Prosperity is precarious and can’t be taken for granted. 

The governor was invited, through a representative, to join GeekWire’s recent visit to Cleveland but never responded. I still hope he can learn from Cleveland as part of his interest in economic development.

Cleveland’s experience after its industrial economy fractured painfully demonstrates the potential downside we face. More than a half century later, that city is still working extraordinarily hard to recover. 

The mayor of Cleveland observed that when the Rust Belt started to rust: “We didn’t pivot fast enough, and the world left us behind.”

Today, every level of government in Ohio is laser-focused on jobs, economic growth and prosperity. Our state should be just as focused, especially as our economic tectonic plates shift.

It is a very positive milestone that our governor is seeking “the next chapter of economic prosperity for our state.”

But committees don’t drive economic growth. It starts with “first do no harm.”

Gov. Bob Ferguson last week recruited top executives from Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile, Boeing and other major employers to help shape Washington state’s economic strategy, launching a new advisory council as concerns mount that the state is becoming less competitive for business.

The 26-member Governor’s Economic Development Council is the first such governor-led economic advisory body in roughly two decades, reviving an approach last used under former Gov. Christine Gregoire in 2006. The group includes leaders from technology, aerospace, organized labor, higher education, tribal governments, ports and economic development organizations who will advise the governor on policies aimed at strengthening Washington’s economy. (See full list below).

One missing ingredient: No members from Washington’s venture capital or startup ecosystem are on the council, even though they are often considered the bench strength of a growing economy.

The announcement comes as executives, startup founders and business organizations have increasingly warned that higher taxes, rising costs, permitting delays and an uncertain regulatory environment are making Washington a more difficult place to build and grow companies. Ferguson recently signed the so-called “millionaires tax” — a proposed 9.9% tax applied to taxable, personal annual income that exceeds $1 million.

Some of the region’s wealthiest and most prominent entrepreneurs — including Zillow and Expedia co-founder Rich Barton; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz — have publicly announced moves out of Washington state in recent years.

Starbucks also recently announced a major expansion in Nashville, and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte of earlier this month announced that Sedro Wooley, Wash.-based Janicki Industries chose Great Falls for the site of an $800 million manufacturing center expected to create 1,000 jobs.

“Washington is our home, and that is not changing,” said John Janicki, president of Janicki Industries, in a press release. “Our footprint in Washington has continued to grow but is slowing due to ever-increasing regulations and lack of business understanding at an executive and legislative level.” 

Meanwhile, a recent survey from the Association of Washington Business found that 24% of businesses are considering a relocation out of the state, up from 17 percent in the prior quarter.

Washington’s economic climate was also one of the reasons why GeekWire recently traveled to Cleveland, where we explored how the Midwestern city was positioning itself for a changing economy, and the lessons that Washington could learn from it.

“We cannot take our strength for granted,” Ferguson said in announcing the council. “I’m launching a historic convening of top leaders from around Washington state to help guide the next chapter of economic prosperity for our state.”

The council will help develop Washington’s long-term economic strategy, identify opportunities to create family-wage jobs, evaluate the state’s competitiveness against other states and global markets, recommend ways to attract new employers and review regulatory barriers that may be slowing economic growth. The group will meet quarterly and submit recommendations to the governor.

The council’s creation comes after months of growing unease within Washington’s technology and business community.

GeekWire has reported extensively on criticism surrounding this year’s tax package, which raised business taxes on many employers and expanded the sales tax to additional services, including advertising. Business groups warned the measures could discourage investment and expansion in Washington, while lawmakers argued the revenue was necessary to close a multibillion-dollar budget gap and preserve essential public services.

The broader economic backdrop remains mixed. Washington continues to rank among the nation’s strongest state economies and remains home to global leaders in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, aerospace and life sciences. At the same time, employers are navigating higher borrowing costs, federal policy uncertainty, trade tensions and intensifying competition from states aggressively courting new investment.

As one example, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently encouraged people and businesses from places like Washington to consider Ohio.

“Come work in Ohio,” DeWine noted after a question from GeekWire about advice he’d provide to Washington. “You will not find a better place, better people, quality of life. Cost of living is low compared to the two coasts.”

In the press release announcing Janicki Industries’ Montana expansion, Gianforte was a bit more blunt.

“The Treasure State is proud to attract job creators like Janicki that choose to expand from high-tax, high-regulation blue states to take advantage of our unmatched quality of life, lower taxes, and strong workforce,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the impact of this significant investment.”

Ferguson has sought to make economic development a central priority during his first year in office. His administration has highlighted efforts to speed permitting across state agencies, increase housing production and invest in sectors including quantum computing, advanced manufacturing and clean energy.

However, some have argued that the governor’s efforts come a bit too late, and are only be instituted in response to criticism. Gov. Ferguson shot back at that contention in the press conference last week, saying he doesn’t worry about critics and he’s interested in “solving problems.”

“I didn’t wake up last week and think about forming this council,” he said. “To be clear, as I mentioned in my talking points, this was an effort we really started last year and was an outgrowth of having conversations with many of the folks behind me and many other people across the state.”

Whether the new council ultimately leads to meaningful policy changes remains to be seen. But its creation sends a signal that Ferguson intends to place economic competitiveness — and closer engagement with Washington’s business community — near the center of his administration.

Amazon Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer David Zapolsky, a member of the newly created council, called the formation of the group an “important step.”

“When the public and private sectors align around shared goals, communities benefit,” he said.

Governor’s Economic Development Council members:

• Michael Cade — Incoming Board Chair, Washington Economic Development Association; Executive Director, Thurston County Economic Development Council
• Dr. Betsy Cantwell — President, Washington State University
• Leonard Forsman — Chairman, Suquamish Tribe
• Denny Heck — Washington State Lieutenant Governor
• Kris Johnson — President, Association of Washington Business
• Trevor Johnson — CEO, Blackwood Homes
• Dr. Robert Jones — President, University of Washington
• Mike Katz — Chief Business & Product Officer, T-Mobile
• Mary Kipp — President & CEO, Puget Sound Energy
• Heather Kurtenbach — Executive Secretary, Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council
• Dr. Thomas J. Lynch Jr. — President & Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
• Julianna Marler — CEO, Port of Vancouver
• West Mathison — President & CEO, Stemilt Growers
• Stephen Metruck — Executive Director, Port of Seattle
• Denise Moriguchi — President & CEO, Uwajimaya
• Stephanie Pope — President & CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
• Heather Rosentrater — President & CEO, Avista
• Michael Senske — Chairman & CEO, Pearson Packaging Systems
• April Sims — President, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
• Brad Smith — Vice Chair and President, Microsoft
• Rachel Smith — President, Washington Roundtable
• Bill Sterud — Chairman, Puyallup Tribe
• Shane Tackett — President and Chief Financial Officer, Alaska Airlines
• Monique Valenzuela — Executive Director, Ventures
• Dr. Rebekah Woods — President, Columbia Basin College
• David Zapolsky — Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer, Amazon