Biography: Alice Cunningham,
Co-Owner, Olympic Hot Tub Company
Alice Cunningham is co-founder and co-owner with her husband, Blair Osborn of
Olympic Hot Tub Company-the oldest spa and hot tub company in the Northwest with
five retail stores located in Seattle, Fife, Issaquah, Lacey and Everett and a sales and service center in Tukwila, Washington. Founded in 1977, the company employees 45 and has a customer base of over 14,000 in greater Puget Sound and SE Alaska. Ms. Cunningham is responsible for sales and marketing for the company, which has gross sales of nearly $11 million dollars annually.
Prior to starting the company, Ms. Cunningham was a program administrator for the Employment Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor for seven years. Her focus was on job training for the disadvantaged, stay in school programs for high school students and shared jobs. She was invited to testify before Congress on one of her must successful programs on shared jobs. Prior to that, she worked in a settlement house in Washington, D.C. as a community organizer. Her undergraduate degree is in Sociology from San Francisco State University with additional undergraduate study at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Olympic Hot Tub Company is credited by the Seattle Times with the introduction of hot tubs to the greater Puget Sound area. Currently celebrating its 29th year of business, Olympic Hot Tub Company is the #1 selling Hot Spring Spa dealer in the United States. Hot Spring Spas are the largest selling brand of spas in the U.S. In addition, Olympic is the most award-winning spa retailer in the U.S.
Cunningham was honored on November 6, 2006 by the Puget Sound Business Journal as among the 20 “Women of Influence.” Her Website for Olympic was selected by the Web Marketing Association as one of only 24 retail sites internationally to receive their Web Marketing Award for 2006.
Under her leadership, Olympic has received numerous industry awards including the first Locksin Thompson Award presented by the manufacturer-the highest award presented by the company to a dealer in 1992. Olympic won the first “Outstanding Customer Service Award” given by Pool and Spa News, a leading industry trade magazine in 1996.
As an industry leader, Olympic has won a place in the AQUA 100 every year from 1996-2001. AQUA is the leading trade magazine for the pool and spa industry. Their award goes to the top 100 dealers of spas and pools nationwide. In February 2002, Olympic was inducted into the AQUA Hall of Fame for five-year consecutive winners.
In addition to industry awards, Olympic won the prestigious Enterprise Award for Customer Satisfaction by Arthur Andersen, LP, in 1996 and a Seattle Mayor’s Small Business Award in 1996.
Ms. Cunningham was awarded the Washington State Small Business Person of the Year award from the Small Business Administration at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. May 6, 2002. On that date she was profiled in a special section of the New York Times in conjunction with the award. She was profiled in the Puget Sound Business Journal April 18, 2002 as well as honored at the banquet hosted by the SBA Regional Office.
Ms. Cunningham enjoys a national reputation as one of the most knowledgeable people in the spa industry and is frequently quoted in the top industry publications, “AQUA” and “Pool & Spa News”. She has been profiled in the New York Times, Tacoma News Tribune, Seattle Times, Puget Sound Business Journal and Washington CEO Magazine. She has appeared on KING, KIRO and KOMO-TV and on KIRO radio with Jim French and Dory Monson as well as KOMO radio with Patti Payne.
Locally Ms Cunningham has been on the Boards of Women Business Owners, the Women’s Network and the Mayor’s Small Business Task Force. She is on the Advisory Board of WomanSpirit Center in Issaquah and on the board of directors of the Independent Colleges of Washington. As an active member of the Washington Women’s Foundation, she has served on the Grants Committee for six years. Community service is an important part of her company and personal focus. Currently contributions to local non-profits go to groups as diverse as the Cascade Land Conservancy, EarthCorps, WomanSpirit, Childcare Resources, the Make A Wish Foundation, and the Seattle Men’s Chorus.
An accomplished public speaker, Ms. Cunningham as spoken before numerous community groups including delivering the keynote at the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce annual awards luncheon in June 2006.
Last Updated: 12-19-06
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