Taylor Loewen

Operations leader with 14+ years running and scaling mission-driven organizations. Six years at Ridwell, from launching its first market outside Seattle as employee #1 to leading a seven-market West Coast region with 175 employees, 95,000+ paying customers and revenue on track for $24M in 2026. Led four markets to consistent profitability and cut turnover by more than half while building constructive, low-conflict union partnerships in every market.

Regional Director, West Coast at Ridwell (2024-01 – Present)

Reuse and recycling B Corp · Travel 1–2 times a month to oversee markets and lead projects such as union negotiations

• Lead fleet and last-mile pickup operations and a P&L on track for $24M in 2026 revenue (up 20% from 2025; two-thirds of company revenue) for seven markets (Los Angeles, Bay Area, Sonoma, Portland, Seattle, South Puget Sound, Bellingham) with 175 employees and 95,000+ paying customers; report to a co-founder and partner with the Central/East Regional Director on company-wide efficiency plans, SOPs and KPIs.
• Led four inherited markets (Seattle, Bellingham, South Puget Sound, Bay Area) to consistent profitability; Portland was the region's only profitable market in January 2024. Turned the Bay Area from significant monthly losses in H1 2025 to profitability by year-end, and brought Los Angeles to its first profitable months in 2026.
• Led multiple route rebalances across markets to shrink the region's carbon footprint and reduce the number of vans and staff needed.
• Cut West Coast turnover by more than half (46% to 22%, Jan–Sep 2024 vs. 2026) and raised nine-month retention from 67% to 85% while headcount grew ~11%; hire and develop all regional market leaders.
• Helped secure the site for a new Sonoma satellite market, live within two weeks of lease signing (June 2026), and sourced a replacement Los Angeles warehouse when the landlord declined to renew.
• Negotiated a 2026 three-year renewal covering Seattle, South Puget Sound and Bellingham that balanced employee priorities with the company's long-term sustainability; now leading first-contract negotiations in Los Angeles.
• Company lead with union representatives in every West Coast market; led operations through the Portland and Bay Area transitions to unionized workforces and resolved all seven Bay Area grievances without arbitration, partnering with HR and quarterly labor-management committees.
• Use AI tools (Claude, Dataland) to help operations managers manage team performance and analyze labor costs, and built AI-assisted costing models for contract negotiations; manage cross-market projects in Asana.
• Company spokesperson in radio, print and news media interviews and in public testimony before Portland-area city councils.

General Manager, Portland at Ridwell (2020-11 – 2023-12)

• Launched Ridwell's first market outside Seattle as employee #1; grew customers from 200 to 18,000 in under a year, ahead of target.
• Scaled the team to 50 employees in 13 months and the fleet from 1 to 20 vans.
• Owned the Portland P&L and reached market profitability on target in 16 months.
• Built the company's first SOPs and HR policies from scratch, later used to launch markets nationwide; helped hire and train leaders for new markets.
• Built partnerships with local nonprofits to route collected items to reuse and recycling.

Business Operations Manager at Oregon Health & Science University (2019-07 – 2020-11)

• Managed the 11–14 person business operations team (executive assistants, administrative coordinators and office specialists) supporting the 750-person Information Technology Group; restructured headcount and created new roles as needs changed.
• Led the 750-person division's transition from on-site to remote work during COVID as operations lead for modified operations.
• Owned division-wide purchasing, timekeeping and process improvement; ran daily huddles and monthly staff meetings and coordinated events for the full department.
• Served as the division's point of contact with building management across multiple buildings, coordinating facilities issues, building projects and work orders.

Director, Portland Campus Operations at Linfield University (then Linfield College), Good Samaritan School of Nursing (2017-11 – 2019-06)

• Ran facilities, safety and campus operations within established budgets for a 70-employee nursing campus; hired and managed administrative support, janitorial and security staff.
• Partnered with Public Safety and Environmental Health & Safety to keep the campus safe, in good repair and compliant with accreditation guidelines; led campus-closure decisions during severe weather.
• Managed cross-departmental workflow improvements; prioritized facilities projects, served as liaison to property management, and oversaw purchasing and equipment replacement within budget.

Operations Manager at Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing (DISH) (2013-11 – 2017-11)

• Ran central operations for a 60-employee nonprofit providing supportive housing for formerly homeless San Franciscans across 7 sites; owned the operations budget and invoice processing and helped build and track the annual budget.
• Negotiated vendor contracts and served as primary vendor contact; managed construction projects, office renovations and a cross-city relocation of the central office.
• Led HR administration, including recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, performance review cycles and compensation reviews; coordinated 6–10 staff trainings a year.
• Led biannual safety audits across all 7 sites, updated the organization's policy and procedures manual, and created and led a tenant Community Advisory Board.

Canvass Director at Grassroots Campaigns (2012-05 – 2013-09)

• Promoted from Assistant Director to Canvass Director within eight months for exemplary performance and management.
• Ran 10 fundraising and membership campaigns with targeted goals across five California markets (Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Berkeley and San Francisco) for national environmental and civil-rights nonprofits.
• Scaled multi-tiered canvass teams quickly, growing to as many as 25 staff within months; recruited, hired, trained and developed leaders and managed performance and dispute resolution to grow fundraising capacity.

B.A. in Political Science and Global & International Relations – University of Kansas