Chamber Spotlight - Paul Carlisle

Name: Paul Carlisle
Company Name: elevate
Years at Company: 15

What are three things you use at work every day?
My heart, my brains, and my hands. Hopefully in that order.

What was your first job?
My official title was “office boy” which essentially meant I gassed up vehicles, fetched lunch, cleaned out storage unite, and other material tasks. 

Where is your hometown?
My grandfather came out of General Rickover’s crew to Richland in the early 1970s and played a strong role in FFTF. I was born at Kadlec and grew up a North Richland kid. I left a few times, briefly, but ended up right back in North Richland where I took the unique opportunity to buy and live in my grandparent’s old home. 

How do you spend your free time?
When I’m not working with business owners on tech or teaching students about entrepreneurship, I enjoy most of what this community offers with my wife and kids: golf, wine, hiking, boating, biking, and even snow skiing. 

What are three words that best describe you?
Curious, deliberate, foolhardy. The stuff of adventures?

What did you want to become as kid?
An architect. I even went to a summer-long program for it as a teenager. While it didn’t pan out, I still feel that itch when I’m helping clients with technology in their facilities. 

Where is your favorite place to travel? 
One thing I like a lot about the Tri-Cities is how quickly I can fall of the end of it. Biking north past PNNL, boating south and onto the Snake, or driving east toward Walla Walla…it doesn’t take long to be alone, under a big sky. Some folks travel a long way for that. I try to travel there as many times a week as I can. 

How long have you lived in the Tri-Cities?
It was 2007 when I got intentional about making the Tri-Cities my home. It was 2010 when I got intentional about making the Tri-Cities my community. I’d invite others to stop living and get intentional, it’s worth it. 

What is your favorite movie?
One?!? Pulp Fiction, Boiler Room, Fight Club. Movies where someone strives to succeed in a seemingly complex world just to figure out that the complexity is self-inflicted. Of course, I’d pass on all of those for some uninterrupted time with a Stephen King novel. 

How do you define success?
Taking a leap into the abyss, grabbing hold of something worthwhile, findings its core, exposing its simplicity, aligning talented people, and then stepping back. Done just right, the momentum created by its departure should create a new abyss. Repeat.

What excites you the most about the direction of the Tri-City Regional Chamber?
I’m feeling a huge generational shift of responsibility. I think the chamber is uniquely positioned to help facilitate and moderate this transition, and I’m pleased to see it actively moving into that space.