Pamila Kew / May 25, 2020

Both in business and in life, Rick Jones is driven by the idea that a successful business and stewardship can go hand-in-hand; that by providing help and support to our customers and those around us, we can make a lasting positive impact on our cities, and the organizations that exist within them.

Rick was born and raised in coastal small-town Southern New England. He studied at Boston’s Suffolk University, and followed a friend West in May 1978. Intending to stay for the summer, he never returned to his native New England.

In 1983 he joined a young Apple Computer Inc. where he became a Nationally recognized Account Executive supporting VAR’s, Educational Institutions and resellers across the Inland Northwest, from Wenatchee to Bozeman and Kalispell to Boise. Rick left Apple in 1991 and started his first business.

Over the next two decades Rick owned and operated two Independent Manufacturer’s Rep agencies, representing a diverse group of technology manufacturers and developing lasting relationships with Canadian and US customers.

In 2007 an opportunity surfaced to buy a Seattle business out of bankruptcy; The University Business Center in the heart of Seattle’s University District since 1988, had fallen on hard times. Rick acquired the lease and now hosts 24,000 sq ft of offices serving 80+ tenants engaged in practices of Law, Medicine, Counseling and Finance. In 2009, he established a 6000sq ft not-for-profit artist’s exhibition space, Gallery 4500, successfully transforming the UBC into a lively and vibrant business community.

Rick was a founding board member of the Seattle Children’s Playgarden, a position he held from 2005 until 2016. He remains a committed and active volunteer at SCP to this day.

Rick held a community member seat on the Medical Ethics Committee of Seattle Childrens Hospital from 2012 through 2015.

In 2019 Rick entered the realm of business consulting, joining Schooley Mitchell. Schooley Mitchell is North America’s largest cost reduction consulting firm, with 140 offices across the United States and Canada. Schooley

“Schooley Mitchell was the right fit because it has this ultra-reliable, tight and clean back-end of support, and the solutions we provide for businesses are exactly what they need,” says Rick.

“I can work with the businesses that align with my values and interests and help them achieve financial improvement.”

With Schooley Mitchell’s world-class software, marketplace knowledge and industry leverage at his disposal, Rick strives to save his clients’ significant money and time while providing the knowledge and security of knowing their businesses are streamlined for efficiency, and expense costs are minimized.

With decades of experience selling technological solutions across the Northwest, as well as years running small businesses in his adopted home of Seattle, Rick is passionate about helping area businesses keep more of their money and improve their operations.

“There are not very many things in the natural world of the economy that make it easy to run a small-to-medium business,” says Rick. “To stick your neck out there and try to create something and positively impact your community, that’s challenging but it’s valuable. I want to help businesses achieve that dream.”

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