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Local credit card company COO brings business experience to candidate race
Will Sowell/ Submitted Photo: Sowell runs for Place 3 on the Frisco City Council.
By Elizabeth Knighten, eknighten@starlocalnews.com
The Place 3 race for the Frisco City Council has drawn two candidates, Dan Bollner and Will Sowell.
Sowell, a Frisco resident of almost 12 years, said that he filed for the position on the first day it opened, Feb. 6. Sowell said he thought about running before, but he did not feel the timing was right until now.
"Frisco is at a critical juncture," Sowell said. "I think we need some public servants that are experienced and informed about the city and [I] thought it was a time that we really can't afford city councilmen or city council people to be training on the job. I've got a lot of city experience and I think that's a good thing for someone that's running for council."
"I was a member of the City's Ad Hoc Committee to rewrite the ethics policy for the city of Frisco and I chaired the most-recent Charter Review Committee, where we made recommendations for our city charter, all of which were unanimously passed by our city council and all were adopted by the voters of Frisco as well," Sowell said.
Sowell serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Green Dot, a prepaid credit card company that he said provides prepaid Visa and Master Cards for "low to moderate income families."
"I'm the chief operating officer of a fairly large public company and as such, have a responsibility for a very large and complex team-- a company that's growing rapidly, 20 to 25 percent a year," Sowell said. "Frisco is in a similar position, it's a large complex organization, it's growing rapidly, and my experience as a business leader and understanding how you adopt and grow people and select people in a large and growing organization is very relevant to what Frisco faces today."
Sowell listed three major challenges the city is currently facing: Exide, water shortages, and economic development.
"I think the city faces numerous challenges, right now, there's no one or two things that's more important than others," Sowell said, "but a couple that really require some attention, one is Exide."
Sowell said he feels that the city faces a "public health issue" and a "reputational risk" with the battery recycling plant. He also added that the water issues the city is handling requires a long-term solution.
"What a lot of people don't want to or don't like to talk about [is] water, but there is a significant issue that we need to solve long term with our water needs," Sowell said.
He also said that the city has been successful in attracting retail to Frisco, but should also continue to bring non retail related-positions to the city as well.
"We need to continue and provide a greater emphasis on professional jobs -- bringing professional jobs to Frisco as well," Sowell said. "The recent announcement of Gear Box would be a great example of the type of deals we should look at going forward."
Sowell said that his family and supporters, including his 13 --year-old son, Matthew, who asked his friends to get involved with the campaign and make signs, have been very encouraging.
"On the supporter side, it's been fantastic," Sowell said. "Just the number of people that you've known for a long period of time that come out and are willing to spend their time to help you, is very humbling," Sowell said.
He also said that he feels "cautiously optimistic" about the city council elections.
"I've got a lot of city knowledge and experience and I think my business background aligns well with the needs of Frisco," Sowell said.
For information on his campaign, go to http://willsowell.com.
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