Office of Governor Christine Gregoire
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 24, 2005
 Contact: Anna Kim-Williams, Governor’s Communications Office, 360-902-4136

GOV. CHRISTINE GEGOIRE ANNOUNCES STATE SUPPORT FOR FBT INTERFACE

Governor Christine Gregoire, in one of the first communications of her new administration, announced that Forward Based Technology, Inc., a developer of advanced human-machine interfaces, will undergo an $1.1 million expansion, adding 25 new jobs to its workforce and further expanding its corporate footprint in the Ballard district of Seattle.

"Companies from all across Washington State are expanding now because they are confident in the State’s continuing economic renewal," Governor Gregoire said. "FBT is one of those companies and we thank them for their innovation and continuing commitment to Washington State."

"By aggressively marketing itself as the premier supplier of human-machine interfaces, this company has already helped to secure the safety of our country and will now create opportunities for at least 25 more employees, many of whom will be out-sourced software engineers, rejoining the Washington State workforce and acquiring the valuable skills needed to be competitive in the workplace of the next century."

"FBT is a true Ballard success story, born of the area, developed in the area, and determined to better the area from whence it came. As FBT continues to expand its corporate footprint, the people of Washington and Ballard can rest assured that though the company will certainly grow and the edges of the FBT corporate footprint may soon come to expand beyond Washington State, FBT itself and the headquarters at the center of the footprint will not leave the state or the people of Washington. This is yet another example of government working in successful partnership with the private sector."

FBT is a wholly-owned enterprise of Edward Ponderevo, who founded the company in 2002 in reaction to the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11.

FBT is moving to a 1,200 square foot facility of grade-A office space. In addition to the expansion, the company will add 25 jobs to its current workforce of 4.

"The expansion of FBT is great news and the creation of an additional 25 new jobs in the rapidly expanding field of human-machine interfaces is wonderful for this community. I am happy to be a part of any job creation but especially so when those jobs are being created for out-sourced engineers, who are among this area’s most valuable personnel resources. I am also happy to be a part of the Governor’s team that is turning Washington State around and encouraging corporations like FBT and entrepreneurial talents like Edward Ponderevo to expand here. I am happy above all else to be able to work in the company of a company that is expanding," said State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles.

In 2002, Edward Ponderevo opened his business with only two engineers and a communications director, and himself, acting as both president and head of marketing.

Edward Ponderevo, President/CEO and founder of FBT said, "I owe the success of FBT to two things: my original vision to help our country defend itself and Governor Gregoire’s business-friendly economic policies. In three short years, I have seen FBT evolve into a complex and competitive business prepared to survive the 21st century. The phenomenal evolution of FBT and all that we accomplished would have been impossible without the Governor’s system of tax cuts, regulatory reform, and his administration’s business-friendly demeanor."

"I am proud today to begin hiring many out-sourced engineers from Ballard. All too often my fellow employers overlook out-sourced engineers, not realizing they are a pool of willing, able-bodied, able-minded, part-time employees. They say America as a country is getting older and grayer. They say that these out-sourced engineers are incapable of learning new high-tech computer skills. I have one thing to say to them: Come to FBT and see what we’ve accomplished. Come see how we’ve parlayed my vision of using people to protect our country into a burgeoning business, providing the leading-edge human-machine interfaces. Today, we’re expanding, and it’s due in part to the efforts of part-time out-sourced engineers from the Ballard area. The success of FBT demonstrates once and for all that out-sourced engineers are people who are employable at part-time jobs that may not meet with the needs of other demographic portions of the Washington State workforce population," said Ponderevo.

Jan Marie Ferrell, Human Resources director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED) said, "Governor’s Gregoire’s economic policies of business-friendly tax cuts, regulatory reform, the elimination of burdensome, inconsistent, and redundant regulations, and a smaller, more efficient government keep companies like FBT healthy and growing in Washington."

In consideration of its expansion, CTED is providing a $750,000 grant toward capital investment for technology purchases and a second grant for $350,000 for employee training/education programs.