Returned to one of my go-to coffee places: Peets in Lake Oswego. I would normally prefer to go someplace more interesting for my "Coffee with" meetings (wait til next week!). But, Peets is centrally located and a safe bet for anyone who likes coffee. Kevin had a medium latte and I had a small dry cappuccino -- suprisingly, the milk foam on my cappuccino was...perfect. Nice work today, Peets!
Kevin is a partner at a large Portland law firm, where he specializes in corporate financial transactions. (He admitted with a smile that in these sorts of transactions, attorneys all feel like they could do most of what the bankers do and the bankers all feel like they could do most of what the attorneys do.)
I shared my experience from way back in the 90's when I was "the computer guy" at a law firm and had to train attorneys how to use a mouse, the network, a calendar app...Law firms have come a long way since then! Now, according to Kevin, the access to information is so easy that document drafting, once an activity that kept junior associates employed, is quite fast. Not to mention that AI is making it even faster.
Kevin was a really cool connection with some ideas for some other folks to meet in my quest to build my local network.
Just before coffee with Kevin, I'd met Greg for lunch. Greg is the President of Sustainable Northwest, an awesome organization that focuses on forestry and wood products, regenerative ranching, and other programs. If you need wood, get sustainably-harvested wood!
Greg mentioned the importance of what they are doing with juniper wood -- as a result of fire suppression, juniper has taken over several million acres of former grassland in the northwest. Greg's team has partnerships for harvesting this wood-weed and putting it to good use. I love this!
We also talked about timber in large scale construction. There is so much potential for using laminated wood in construction -- it can substitute for steel! At Amazon's HQ2 projectin Virginia, for example, you can see ten 70-foot-long glue laminated timber beams support the meeting center ceiling, lowering the embodied carbon of the building and creating a warm, tactile environment for occupants.
Greg and I are going to follow up on some specific ideas for projects that I can tee up with sustainability clients. I'm super excited to make these connections to help corporate clients and the environment right here in Oregon!
Well, I've got enough funds in my Buy Me a Coffee account for one more Coffee With meeting -- next week! ;-)