PULLMAN – Former Congressman and WSU alumnus George R. Nethercutt Jr. will speak to MBA students as part of their weekly Executive Speaker Series 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in Todd 109.
Nethercutt was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1994, when he unseated then-speaker of the House Thomas Foley. It was the first time a sitting speaker had been defeated since 1860.
Nethercutt served for 10 years on the prestigious House Committee on Appropriations. He also served as a member of the House Science Committee and the Energy and Space & Aeronautics subcommittees.
Among Nethercutt’s legislative accomplishments are historic legislation to open trade with foreign countries, appropriations to bring high technology capability to the U.S. Defense Department, and modern improvements to American agriculture. He has been nationally recognized for his accomplishments relating to efforts to cure diabetes. He left Congress in January 2005.
Born in Spokane, Nethercutt received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1967 from WSU and a juris doctor degree from Gonzaga University in 1971.
After serving as law clerk to a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska and working on issues of oil and gas, natural resources, mining and commerce in the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., he moved to Washington state to practice law.
He opened offices in Spokane, Seattle and Almira, Wash., focusing on corporate, adoption and estate and probate law. During his years in private practice, he devoted himself to numerous community service organizations, including the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery for the prevention of child abuse (co-founder), the Spokane chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (president), the Spokane Central Lions Club and several Masonic organizations.
In April 2005, President George W. Bush appointed him to serve as U.S. chairman, Permanent Joint Board on Defense-U.S./Canada. He is a member of a congressionally-mandated defense advisory board reviewing the readiness of the United States to withstand a weapons of mass destruction attack.
Nethercutt is chairman of Nethercutt Consulting LLC, a legislative consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the board of directors of Hecla Mining Company, the Washington Policy Center, ARCADIS NV, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
He is the founder and chairman of the George Nethercutt Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization dedicated to enhancing the civics and leadership education of college students. He also serves in an advisory position with Antelum Partners, a venture capital firm, and is counsel to Lee & Hayes law firm in Spokane and Bluewater Strategies LLC in Washington, D.C.
He is the author of a 2010 book, “In Tune with America: Our History in Song,” and lectures and writes on the subject of civics education in America and other topics. He produces and appears on television segments entitled “U.S. History by the Minute.”