Maybe you all already knew REI is a consumer co-op (the largest in the U.S.), but I didn’t until its CEO made news by being named Obama’s new Secretary of Interior, and REI was a a featured part of the story.  So first, about that appointment…


Sally Jewell has had an interesting career path, first as a petroleum engineer, then in banking before being named CEO of REI, headquartered in Seattle (but with a College Park location that’s a close neighbor of Greenbelt).  She took that job in 2005, after serving on REI’s board for five years.

When the Obama administration tapped her as Secretary of the Interior, supporters of America’s public lands expressed overwhelming support, noting her substantial cred as a conservationist.  Jewell has sat on the board of the National Parks Conservation Association and helped found the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust .  She received the National Audubon Society‘s Rachel Carson Award for her leadership in and dedication to conservation.

Maybe too much cred.  It was her involvement with the National Parks Conservation Association that reportedly gave Republicans pause about her taking charge of Interior, since it’s a mainly volunteer group that advocates for parks and park employees and has sometimes sued the federal government.  But in the end, her nomination was approved easily.

Jewell’s well known in the mountaineering community.   A New York Times reporter climbed Virginia’s Old Rag Mountain and chronicled it here, noting that she “bounded up a granite boulder.”  From that article we also learn that “Ms. Jewell, 57, who has climbed Mount Rainier seven times along with some of the world’s highest peaks, said that she is happiest on the steepest part of the learning curve…She first attempted Mt Rainier at age 15, was turned back by snow, but summited the following year.”

Wikipedia lists Jewell’s her other interests as kayaking and snowboarding.

Asked by another New York Times reporter what she follows online, she mentioned a “Hike of the Week” website in Washington State, where she lived until her recent appointment.  She also recommends the Department of the Interior’s Instagram site, which shows great photos of America’s public lands.   “I look forward to lots of new images through Interior’s photo contest over the course of the summer at sharetheexperience.org.”

Though regarded as a celebrity in the Seattle area, she’s not well known here, as exemplified by this story from the Times: “When she went to open an account at a local bank branch near her new home in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, the clerk asked where she was employed.

“The Interior Department,” Ms. Jewell replied.

“What’s your position there?” the clerk asked.

“Secretary,”Ms. Jewell answered. The clerk just nodded.”

After reading all of that, you might be surprised to learn that her salary at REI was reportedly $2 million a year.  But get this: the Times reporter asked Jewell why “the chief executive of a popular outdoor gear company earning an annual salary of $2 million would take on a temporary job in an unfamiliar town paying less than $200,000 a year.”  Honestly, I find that question even more shocking than that cool 2-mil salary.  Why, because it’s so hard to live on $200K?

REI as a Consumer Co-op

R.E.I. (Recreational Equipment Inc.) had an unusual start.  It was founded in 1938 by 23 climbers in the Northwest seeking better prices for their climbing equipment; thus the cooperative legal form was chosen.  It existed exclusively in the West until the late ’70s, when it began opening stores in the East, including the College Park store.  REI now has about 130 stores, including two new or almost-ready-to-open ones in the DC area.  REI is one of the EPA’s top 10 retailers who bought cleanly generated electricity, and its REI Adventures tour company was the first to make its tours carbon neutral – through green power credits. (Source: Wikipedia.)

I recently chatted with the brand-new manager of the College Park store – Robert Schmelig, who’s been with REI since his college days when he started as a cashier in the St. Louis store.  Since then he’s opened several stores, and plans to stay in Maryland for the foreseeable future.  He expressed pride in Jewell’s appointment, praised her as a “big advocate for public lands” and expressed hope that she’ll visit his store.  If she does, he won’t even try to be cool, predicting that he’ll act like a teenage girl at a Beatles concert.

I asked him what impact he thought being a co-op had on the business and he mentioned the freedom in not having to answer to stockholders, since the company is owned by its customers.  “You can do what’s right without the pressure of quarterly earnings statements and having to maximize shareholder wealth.”  Customers become members by paying a once-in-a-lifetime fee of $20.

REI offers a wide variety of classes, workshops, trips and expeditions, locally and far afield.  To follow REI locally, sign up for Gearmail, their monthly e-blast about events in the area, or follow the DC REI Facebook page.

Photo courtesy REI.