Every week we’ve been adding something ‘extra’ to go with our Lists — think of it as the spoonful of sugar to help the reams of numerical data go down. The whole exercise has made research more fun, and, we hope, more fun to read about.
Below are 10 examples of our List Extras published throughout 2014, each one giving you a bigger and more colorful perspective about the people and companies behind one of the Lists we published that week.
Jan. 10 List: Hotels
In ” Suite deal,” we explored Washington’s most upscale hotels to find out what their most luxurious suites have to offer — and how much it would set you back to try one out.
Feb. 7 Lists: Office building sales and Office leases
In ” All about the amenities,” this time it was all about the poshest office buildings in the region. Check out what building owners and managers are willing to do to attract the most coveted tenants.
Feb. 28 List: Commercial cleaning companies
” Let’s talk trash” was literally about trash. After surveying and ranking the companies that clean up after us, we delved into just how much garbage the D.C. region makes compared with other states, including a surprising trash-related tidbit about Virginia.
June 6 List: Most expensive restaurants
” Plates & Palates” included an interview with one of the area’s rare master sommeliers, Andrew Myers of CityZen, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Then we explained exactly what’s involved in obtaining such a title. Unless you hate wine, I think you’ll be impressed.
July 18 List: Highest-paid public company executives
The List of highest-paid executives at public companies in the region is often the source of at least one good story. In ” A bio’s quiet rise in the ranks” we focused on our new No. 1: Martine Rothblatt, CEO of United Therapeutics Corp. The story explained how Rothblatt steered the Silver Spring biotech to success, and how her whopping $38 million compensation was nearly all performance-based. Rothblatt was the first woman to top our List, and also the first openly transgender person, which was the subject of a Viewpoint perspective from our editor, in ” Regarding Martine Rothblatt.”
Sept. 19 List: Meeting and event planners
” Take one for the theme” took a look at the growing popularity of theme parties and events. We asked the event planners on our List about the most unusual themes, props and party favors they’ve hauled out for clients this year. Responses ran the gamut from dog biscuits to casket cakes.
Sept. 26 List: Private companies
The 100 largest private companies in the region are ranked by the past year’s revenue on our List, but we also asked them about their futures. In ” Private lives,” we showed the results to several additional poll questions we gave each company, including whether they might ever move headquarters, or seek an IPO. We also crunched some of the many numbers on our List to find out the biggest gainers and losers in revenue, along with some interesting statistical facts about the region’s top private firms.
Oct. 3 List: Property management companies
Pigs, floods, and somehow, more than one turkey incident graced our collection of ” Tales from the property site,” where several local property managers shared just how hard they work, and how weird it can get.
Oct. 17 Lists: Financial asset managers and Securities brokers
” How wealthy are we?” compared the Washington area’s wealth with other metro areas of comparable size, revealing that we are doing pretty well, relatively speaking. The interactive map we included online shows wealth stats by county in each region, such as median net worth, home values and security investment ownership.
Dec. 5 List: Banks and thrifts
” Washington’s largest bank that you don’t know” turns out to be E-Trade Bank, based in Arlington. This year we decided to include them in our annual List of banks and thrifts, and wanted to explain exactly why. We also recruited Bert Ely, a regional banking expert, to help us introduce this “odd duck” of a bank.
