[mhays]

Lots of big firms and organizations are HQ'd in or near Downtown Seattle. WaMu, Starbucks, Amazon, Nordstrom, Fred Hutch, and the Gates Foundation are among the biggest and most influential.

There was a story about the Gates Foundation in the Seattle Times this weekend. It talked about its contributions to global health, and how it's making Seattle a center for funding and strategic leadership, with donation levels on par with, say, the EU. A lot of local organizations are becoming more prominent on Gates' coattails (with Gates $), like PATH, SBRI, Children's Hospital Research, the UW, and even locally-based World Vision. Also, pretty much anyone in the global health arena will visit eventually.