With the majority of Carson College of Business alumni and Washington’s largest businesses in the Puget Sound area, there’s no denying the 300-mile distance between the region and the Pullman campus can make outreach a challenge.
To help shrink the distance between eastern and western Washington, the Carson College launched Carson Greater Puget Sound (Carson GPS), an initiative to increase awareness of the college’s influence on workforce development and business insights.
“The Carson College produces more business graduates of any other college in Washington, and we are a critical partner in workforce development in the greater Puget Sound,” said Debbie Compeau, Carson College dean. “We need to be deeply and strategically connected to our Puget Sound alumni and the broader business community. This creates a two-way flow of information and helps us find pathways to some of the biggest employers in the region.”
The Carson GPS initiative targets Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and surrounding areas. Four core objectives include: partnering with corporations on beneficial collaborations, maximizing business and networking events, acting as thought leaders, and increasing and supporting alumni engagement.
The initiative aims to increase awareness of the Carson College of Business’ influence on workforce development and business insights.
In 2025, the Carson College leveraged 12 unique opportunities to meet those core objectives. College leaders partnered with alums and the Puget Sound business community to showcase the Carson brand, either through sponsorships, panel discussions and forums, corporate engagement, or college-owned signature events like the Power Breakfast that features top business executives such as Kurt Beecher Dammeier, founder of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.
Sponsorships and collaborations with the Puget Sound Business Journal were particularly successful in terms of positioning the college to influence regional business thinking. Highlights included the Workforce Development Thought Leader Forum featuring Compeau and panelists from City of Seattle, Accenture, and Microsoft, the Power 100 event honoring 100 key players (including several Carson alums) in the region’s economy, the Economic Outlook featuring expert predictions and analysis on the economic landscape for 2026, and the Women Who Lead Summit that featured Compeau on a mentorship panel.
“Being visible at events like the Power 100 makes it clear what great talent we have,” said Compeau. “To converse with people and say, ‘I’m here to celebrate our alumni’ is meaningful and shows we care about service and community.”
Many of the college’s sponsorship agreements included advertising opportunities, which exposed thousands of people to the college’s online MBA and Executive MBA programs and also to Carson Pro, a new professional business certificate strategy for upskilling and workforce development. Metrics from Puget Sound Business Journal ads showed a digital reach of 213,000 and a print reach of 28,000.
Other measures of success for the Carson GPS were seen in increased donations, alumni engagement, mentorships, class speaking engagements and new National Board of Advisors memberships.
Alumni corporate groups enhance professional development
Carson GPS works in partnership with WSU’s Corporate Cougs initiative, which started with the dedicated advocacy of Glenn Osterhout (’83 Busi. Admin.), and is building alumni networks across companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, Costco, Nordstrom and more. Osterhout encouraged each company to develop leadership teams, robust communication channels and philanthropic matches. He said the momentum and mutual benefits to corporations and WSU are the greatest he’s experienced over the years while working on many WSU projects.
As both initiatives have evolved, corporate alums are mentoring students, joining advisory boards, donating to WSU and deepening their relationship with the university.
“Growing our connections to alumni helps advance workforce development, innovation and community impact,” said Compeau. “By leveraging Carson GPS and Corporate Cougs along with opportunities with university President Betsy Cantwell, WSU Athletics and other WSU colleges, we strengthen our scope of influence across the state.”
To learn more about Carson GPS, email Janel Lang, Carson College corporate engagement manager, at janel@wsu.edu.
