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Chamber names Coulter Businessperson of Year
By Rebecca Ray
Each time community members nominated Judy Coulter for Saratoga Businessperson of the Year, she withdrew her nomination, says Kristin Davis, director of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. But this year, Davis convinced Coulter, who co-owns Mail Boxes Etc., to accept the nomination. But by accepting the nomination, Coulter got more than she bargained for; the Chamber named her its 2001 Businessperson of the Year.
"It's quite exciting," Coulter said of her first business award. "I was reluctant at first, but now I'm getting in the swing of it."
"Judy is a tremendous asset to the business community and the Chamber," Davis said. "She's always behind the scenes. She's never the center of attention. It's nice that she's finally being recognized for the things she does."
Coulter has been heavily involved in local business community activities since she and her husband, Don, opened Mail Boxes Etc. at 14510 Big Basin Way in 1990. In addition to this being her sixth year on the Chamber board of directors, Coulter has served on the organization's annual fundraising crab feed as well as Celebrate Saratoga! Businessperson of the Year and Citizen of the Year committees. She also acted as a liaison when the Chamber formed a committee to help local schools obtain necessities.
Those who have attended Celebrate Saratoga! may recognize Coulter as the woman whose business has been the command center of the annual street dance for several years. From the center, Coulter has helped coordinate street dance activities. In fact, she has helped organize the event every year since she joined the Chamber in 1990. "[Don and I] don't get home until about 1 in the morning, but it is so fun and so worth it," she said.
Judy was also active some 10 years ago in the now-defunct Village Association, a group of merchants who advocated for businesses on Big Basin Way.
But Coulter's community involvement extends beyond the business sector. Through Mail Boxes Etc., she donates the packaging and shipping costs of donated cell phones to an organization for battered women and children. And every weekday morning for the past 23 years, she has worked as an instructional aide in kindergarten classes at Argonaut Elementary School.
"You get free hugs all the time," Coulter said. "It just makes you feel good to be part of these children's lives."
A kindergarten classroom was one of two places where Coulter always knew she belonged. The other was on an airplane. Before she married Don in 1964, she worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines. She only quit because back then, flight attendants had to be single.
"I liked ending up someplace else at the end of the day, new adventures to do," Coulter said. She added that she never got sick of flying or airplane food.
But Coulter has not completely left the flight attendant world behind. She belongs to the Stewardess Emeritus Club, a service club of current and former female flight attendants. Through the club, she has participated in activities such as raising money through rummage sales; collecting clothes for women re-entering the workforce; baking cookies for kidney patients at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View; and collecting toiletries for homeless women and children and runaway teens.
Davis says that Coulter doesn't do things to get noticed. "She does things because she cares," Davis said.
Coulter had never run a business until she and Don bought Mail Boxes Etc. Before she moved to Saratoga in 1978, she was an instructional aide and full-time mother of two in Belmont. Her children, Christopher, 31, and Kelly, 34, live in Santa Clara County.
Don, a former mortgage broker, thought of buying Mail Boxes Etc. when he and Coulter attended a franchise fair and saw the company's booth. They chose the company because it seemed like a growing business and was close to home, Coulter said.
When the Coulters first began to run Mail Boxes Etc., Don focused on the "business" aspects, such as packing and calculating the balance at the end of the day, while Coulter focused on helping the customers. However, although Coulter has learned the "business" aspects over the years, she says she still prefers to interact with the customers, many of whom she knows on a first-name basis.
The Chamber will honor Coulter at its installation dinner, Feb. 9, at the Toll House Hotel, Los Gatos. For more information, call the Chamber, 408.867.0753.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
