The past six months have been a flurry of activity at Columbia Industries with the creation of a new vision and hiring a new CEO to execute it.

“We’ve spent the past six months reinventing ourselves,” said interim CEO Bob Rosselli, who has volunteered and served three terms, or 18 years, on the nonprofit’s board of directors. “We now have a new direction,” which the board approved three months ago.

The 54-year-old agency focuses on helping people with disabilities.

Brian McDermott, who moved from Los Angeles to take the reins at the Kennewick nonprofit in early December, was previously a partner in a private equity firm with a focus on operations. His first day was Dec. 4.

[blockquote quote="There is always opportunity to grow and add to the effects of a mission and organization." source="Brian McDermott, CEO of Columbia Industries" align="right" max_width="300px"]

“I was at a point in my career where I wanted to combine my business experience with an organization that was clearly involved with and beneficial to its community,” McDermott said.

“I’m excited to do that with Columbia Industries. It’s a terrific organization that serves its community very well.”

McDermott managed four portfolio companies, worked with a variety of organizations, launched his own companies and led $300-million companies.

Rosselli will work to bring the new CEO up to speed on the multi-faceted organization.

Columbia Industries’ entire client services ecosystem has been analyzed and rebuilt, Rosselli said, with expansion planned in five key areas: a comprehensive community resource center, enhanced client placement, revamped job training and development, additional Community Center offerings and continued business operation growth.

McDermott will be instrumental in spearheading the efforts from this point forward, Rosselli said.

“There is always opportunity to grow and add to the effects of a mission and organization. Right now, my focus will be determining what these opportunities are and what’s the best way to approach them,” McDermott said.

The quest for an altered vision first began about three years ago when the state of Washington, along with some federal input, determined that CI’s then-functioning sheltered workplace wasn’t the best “fit” for persons with disabilities, Rosselli said.

“They basically said we weren’t serving the client as much as we could be and that clients’ lives would be much more enriched out in the community, rather than just on-site,” Rosselli said. “The positives with the sheltered workshop approach was that (clients’) productivity could be efficiently gauged and managed more one-on-one here at CI.”

Columbia Industries previously employed those with disabilities and life barriers at its on-site retail store, woodshop, laundry and more. Another challenge, however, was keeping the businesses in the black.

“We couldn’t really compete with like businesses in the community,” Rosselli said. “We had to ask ourselves, ‘What can we do differently?’ ” And so the brainstorming began in June when the former CEO moved on and Rosselli agreed to fill in during the interim.

One of the most exciting ventures, he said, is redeveloping the job training and development center.

“We’ll meet with different employers to see if they have vacancies and ask what skills are needed for that position,” Rosselli said. “Then, we’ll take that information and develop hands-on work station props. For example, if it’s retail, we can build shelves and train clients to stock those shelves like they would in the store. If it’s an office setting, we’ll build that area for training specific to the available position. If it’s packaging or fulfillment, such as placing wine bottles into boxes, we can build a prop and then recruit and train individuals for the specific skills needed in that position.”

The work station props will give clients ample time to learn specific skills. Individuals will then be placed in the community, filling the positions they’ve trained for.

“If for some reason the client is unable to train in sufficient time for the position, they’ll still have the Community Center. It’s a complete, integrated package,” Rosselli said.

Three years ago, the CI Community Center opened to provide a safe, supervised place for people with disabilities to make social connections, participate in life enrichment activities such as computer/internet training, service projects, cooking classes, arts, music, dance, “how to” classes and basic skills training. Clients also can participate in community-integration activities such as being transported and assisted at local museums, parks, fairs, sporting events and more.

About 60 people are currently enrolled in the Community Center program and attend either daily, twice daily, weekly, or whatever meets their needs and the needs of their caregivers. A three-hour session is offered in the morning and another in the afternoon.

The new vision includes revamping the program to provide lifelong learning and opportunities through creative arts, cooking classes, gardening and more while addressing clients with lower levels of functionality.

“For example, we’re trying to arrange a relationship with an art studio where the owner would come in and conduct classes. We’d like our clients to progress from crayons to paint,” Rosselli said. Many clients attend Zumba classes and pet therapy sessions, which are led by volunteers.

The Community Resource Center provides information for families and individuals with disabilities. New vision outcomes in this area include offering advice on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, employment options, residential, transportation and recreational options, producing and maintaining brochures, classes and outreach offerings.

“People who aren’t referred by the county or state knock on our door. We want to help people get adjusted and get the resources they need,” Rosselli said.

In the client placement arena, Columbia Industries staff will now establish CI businesses for placement post-training, recruit new community businesses (in addition to Yoke’s Fresh Markets, Ice Harbor Brewery and Best Buy, all of which have been supportive for years, Rosselli said), expand into new fields and examine temporary on-call work possibilities.

CI has contracted with Source America (previously AbilityOne) for more than 25 years, placing clients in janitorial and groundskeeping positions at Richland’s 700,000-square-foot Federal Building and its surrounding grounds and parking lot. CI’s clients have also contracted to sew more than 130,000 cloth welding hoods for the Bremerton Shipyard, also through a Source America contract. An average of 15 clients have been placed in these positions for each of the past two years, and 13 per year previously.

Columbia Industries itself has 55 part- and full-time employees who work in office, administrative and business operation capacities.

“On the business side, we’re looking at starting a number of new operations,” Rosselli said. One is a pilot project, an aquaponics greenhouse, which should be operational by late spring 2018.

“We’ll be using fish and water to grow vegetables in a greenhouse setting. It’s a great client work space for the Community Center because it involves planting seeds, harvesting, packaging, and finding restaurants or Farmers’ Markets to accept the produce,” Rosselli said.

The 1,200-square-foot greenhouse is in the design/build stage and will be on the current CI property at 900 S. Dayton St. in Kennewick.

“We’re also exploring a drive-through coffee shop that could be used as an outside training facility — another source of training and development for eventual placement at coffee shops throughout the community,” Rosselli said. This project is in the conceptual stage.

Business operations now funding client service activities include Information Management, CI Shred and Records Storage. CI offers imaging services, hard copy records storage, shredding and destruction. The records storage facility is off-site and secure. It offers a safe storage facility for businesses to store confidential records without taking up office space.

Shred and records has a strategic direction going forward.

“We have performed small acquisitions in Yakima and Wenatchee. We have a real commitment to grow these departments as they support our program and mission services,” Rosselli said.

Rosselli will help McDermott transition for a couple of weeks, but will finish before Christmas.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities to help others. It’s been a really enriching experience for me,” Rosselli said of the past six months at CI. “We recognized change was needed, are adjusting and are driving toward our new vision.”

The vision has started to take shape, with the basics in place by March, Rosselli said.

“We have to find funding and are actively pursuing grants. We may also utilize crowd-funding and sponsorships,” Rosselli said. “I think Brian (McDermott) will do a terrific job and we may be entering our golden years with him leading CI.”

Though retired, Rosselli will continue serving on four area boards — as president of Chaplaincy Healthcare, president of Friends of Badger Mountain, Alliance for a Sustainable Environment and Columbia Industries. He also tutors first- through third-graders in reading.

“If I can help out, I do,” Rosselli said.

For more information visit columbiaindustries.com or call 509-582-4142.