Dan Price | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Michigan, United States |
| Occupation | business executive |
Dan Price is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gravity Payments, a Seattle, Washington, based credit card processing company. He and the company received media attention in 2015 when he announced that all employees would receive a minimum wage of $70,000.[1]
Early life
editPrice was born in Michigan in May 1984 as one of six children.[2] He attended Seattle Pacific University and graduated in 2008 with a degree in music and business.[3][4]
Gravity Payments
editPrice co-founded Gravity Payments in January 2004 out of his dorm room with his older brother.[1] The company is headquartered in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, and employs over 100 people. It is the largest credit card processor in Washington as of 2008.[5]
Price first received national attention when he received the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Young Entrepreneur Award in 2010.[6]
Price and Gravity Payments received widespread media attention in 2013 and in 2015 for their pay practices. In 2013, Price increased pay for all employees earning less than $100,000 by 2% as a response to the lapse of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.[7]
In April 2015, Price announced that over the next three years, the company would raise the pay of all employees to at least $70,000 per year, stating this was the minimum needed to secure them from financial hardship when hit by unexpected expenses. Price, who previously paid himself a $1.1 million salary, cut his own salary to $70,000 to partially cover the increased pay for employees.[8] He was interviewed by the New York Times, Forbes, CNBC, Business Week, and Inc., and appeared on multiple news broadcasts to discuss his decision.[1][9][10][11][12][13]
Reactions to the announcement were varied, even among the staff at the company. While much of the news was positive, some argued that the pay increase was a PR move meant to distract from Dan Price’s upcoming legal battles with his brother[14], a lawsuit that was later decided in Dan Price’s favor.[15]
Awards
edit2008 – Puget Sound Business Journal 40-under-40[16]
2010 – Small Business Administration's National Young Entrepreneur[6]
2011 – Seattle Pacific University's Young Alumnus of the Year[17]
2013 – GeekWire Young Entrepreneur of the Year[18]
2014 – Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year[19]
2014 – Seattle Business Magazine Executive Excellence Award[20]
References
edit- ^ a b c Cohen, Patricia (April 13, 2015). "One Company's New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year". New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Heigl, Alex (May 11, 2015). "CEO Dan Price on His Decision to Make Entire Company's Minimum Wage $70K/Year". People. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Kelly, Clint. "Gravity on the Rise". Response. Seattle Pacific University. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Siemens, Julia. "Dan Price: Thanks to Gravity". Etc. Seattle Pacific University. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Burton, Lynsi (June 22, 2008). "Credit him with business savvy". Seattle Pi. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ a b Byrne, Dennis. "SBA Honors National Small Business Champions". SBA. U.S. Small Business Association. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Grunbaum, Rami (January 5, 2013). "Seattle company gives 2% raises to make up for pay tax". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Cohen, Patricia (July 31, 2015). "A Company Copes With Backlash Against the Raise That Roared". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Nelson, Christopher B. (June 3, 2015). "Dan Price: How I Picked $70K As My Company's New Minimum Wage". Forbes Leadership. Forbes. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Wang, Christine (April 18, 2016). "$70K CEO: I wasn't ready for the surge of attention". CNBC. NBC Universal. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ "Gravity CEO Defends $70,000 Minimum Salary". Bloomberg Markets. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Keegan, Paul (November 2015). "Here's What Really Happened at That Company That Set a $70,000 Minimum Wage". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Stump, Scott (April 15, 2015). "CEO raising workers' minimum pay to $70K: 'It's about making a difference'". Today. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Murray, Rheana (August 11, 2016). "Gravity Payments' $70K minimum salary: CEO Dan Price shares result over a year later". Today. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Bishop, Todd (July 8, 2016). "Dan Price, the '$70k CEO,' prevails in lawsuit filed by his brother and Gravity Payments co-owner". GeekWire. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ "40 Under 40 Alumni". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Kelly, Clint. "Gravity on the Rise". Response. Seattle Pacific University. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Soper, Taylor (May 9, 2013). "Revealed: The winners of the 2013 GeekWire Awards". GeekWire. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Schneur, Jenna (January 2015). "Meet the Winners of Our Entrepreneur of 2014 Awards". Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ Truzzi, Cianni; Leslie Helm; John Levesque (February 2014). "The 2014 Executive Excellence Awards: Dan Price". Seattle Business Magazine. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:American chief executives Category:Seattle Pacific University Category:People from Michigan