Dan Little (1980)

Dan grew up in Longview.  He gives credit to his class counselor at Monticello Mr. Yeend who encouraged him in the seventh and eighth grades to run for a an officer position in the Muchachos.  The thought of speaking in front of a group and providing any leadership at all was terrifying and he repeatedly declined.  Over the six years at Monticello and R.A. Long he developed a willingness and ability to provide some leadership.  He lettered in both cross-country and wrestling.  He developed an appreciation for his coaches Mr. Cranston for his thoughtfulness and Mr. Kalal (Killer) for his enthusiasm.  By the time he graduated he’d been elected the Senior Class President and at graduation read the name of every graduating senior.  Dan went on to attend the University of Washington earning a degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering.  He went to work for Boeing Company and spent five years in their electronics division.  He wanted to acquire a senior management position.  He spent his next two years at Harvard to earn his MBA.  He joined Colgate Palmolive in 1993 in operations strategy.  For the first 3-1/2 years he was based in Manhattan and traveled extensively in Asia and Latin America.  In 1996 he was transferred to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the operation manager responsible for the 500 person Colgate factory there.  The job was a perfect match for him, and it led to a promotion to Manufacturing Director of Central Europe and Russia, based in Warsaw, Poland at the end of 1998.  In 2001 Dan was promoted to Manufacturing General Manager, Personal Care Products, for Western Europe based in Anzio, Italy.  His accomplishments were primarily to significantly improve the customer service performance of the Anzio factory.  After working overseas for the last several years Dan and his wife decided it was time to return to the Northwest and took a position with Nordstrom in 2002.  He was promoted to Chief Administrative Officer in 2003 and became a member of the Executive Team, reporting to Blake Nordstrom, the company president.  As the CAO he was responsible for all store operations and stayed in the position until 2014.  Dan is now Chief Information Officer focused on information technology and operation/Logistics.  Dan’s parents Tom and Marian still live in Longview.  Dan has 5 siblings who are all graduates of R.A. Long.  Dan and his wife Julie, who is a chef, reside in the Seattle area, they have a son Garrett, studying at Boston College and a daughter Grace at Whitman College.