Thriving Economy

Throughout her career, Renata Kowalczyk has supported businesses large and small with her financial and management expertise. She knows that a diversity of business types and models are essential to the health and growth of a local economy.

Whatcom County is home to commercial enterprises dependent on our natural resources, like agriculture and fishing, as well as manufacturing, high tech, and construction. Combine those businesses with our strong service industry and robust, active community of consumers, and Whatcom County is ripe for cultivation as a model for economic development.

Renata has a proven track record of developing strategic partnerships among non-traditional allies, and bringing her financial expertise to bear in the execution of business plans and management that results in success for all involved.

Renata believes the Port plays a key role in the future success of our economy:

• the Port can bolster new ventures of existing businesses 
• the Port can create a niche for itself and local business in the local, state, national, and world market by providing an outlet for local goods, from agricultural products to seafood to manufactured products
• the Port can be a catalyst for the development of the types of businesses that fit with our community, values, and existing resources

A thriving economy needs support from economic development and public agencies like the Port of Bellingham, which is why Renata is committed to putting the Port to work for you.

Healthy Communities

Over the course of her lifetime, from a constrained youth living under an oppressive communist regime, to the bustling bubble that is New York, Renata has seen how communities work, how different people and interests fit together, and how a landscape and its people must live in order to be healthy. 

Whatcom County is a wonderful community in which to raise a family, retire, or just plain live. Our challenge is keeping it that way, as we work to find a balance between our environment, our economy, and our needs as families and individuals. Renata recognizes that these things are all interconnected, and that the success of one aspect depends on our success in another.

Having grown up in a regime that was not healthy, especially for the people living and working under it, Renata has a unique perspective and knowledge of what it takes for a community to be healthy, happy, and supportive to its people and its natural resources.

Renata believes our Port can be a big part of ensuring the health of our communities by:

• committing to finding a way to achieve environmental and economic goals in concert - the attainment of one does not prevent the success of the other
• creating strategic partnerships to enhance existing local businesses and bring "green" jobs to our community
• working with our local industries to improve their bottomline while simultaneously reducing the "footprint" that results from having to acquire inputs from and/or ship products long distances

The depth and breadth of very personal experience, living and working in a diversity of communities, is a big part of why Renata wants to serve as Port Commissioner, putting the Port to work for you and our community.

Family Wage Jobs

Whatcom County is an amazing place to live, and to raise a family. But like everyplace else these days, good jobs can be hard to find here.

Renata has spent much of her career working with businesses, growing them so that they thrive and, in turn, need more employees. Her knowledge of business and financial management helps to create new jobs, all while supporting existing business. We have a wealth of opportunity given our local businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit alive in Whatcom County to provide good family wage jobs and drive unemployment down.

The health of our community and the growth of our economy depend on the availability of family wage jobs:

• family wage jobs mean more money flowing through our local economy every day
• family wage jobs make for a more self-reliant community, as people gain independence from some government services
• family wage jobs mean more and better skilled workers, and more opportunities for those potential employees as our community prospers

Renata supports family wage jobs, and believes that by supporting new and existing businesses, the Port can help expand opportunities for those jobs in our community, which is why she is ready to put the Port to work for you.