Alumni business owners proud to call Ellensburg home (part 2)

Every CWU graduate who has decided to remain in Ellensburg after graduation has a different story to tell. Sure, there are similarities, but all of the alumni business owners who now call Ellensburg home arrived at their decision, in large part, because it’s such a great place to live.

“When I was in college, I honestly didn’t think I would stay,” said 2009 graduate Taylor Clark, who owns Ellensburg CrossFit with his wife, Dianne, also an alum. “But after living in Yakima for a couple years, I really started to miss that small-town feeling where you just know everyone. That’s what made me want to move back.”

Clark said living in Ellensburg lands differently when you’re a college student than when you’re a business owner who’s looking for a place to raise a family.

It’s not a fit for everyone, but for some, that’s what makes the town so special.

“I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather live,” Clark said.

The same is true for Clark's younger brother, Dillon, who followed him to Ellensburg after trying out another college town for a few years.

When Dillon Clark was in college, he had given a little more thought to the idea of sticking around than his brother. He wasn’t sure how everything would come together when he graduated in 2015, but the decision was made easier when his parents relocated here from Tumwater in 2021.

“My brother and his family were already here, so when my parents decided to move, that made me want to return even more,” said the owner of Clark Chiropractic & Wellness and Ellensburg Jiu-Jitsu. “I was living in Tacoma and didn’t really like how busy it was all the time. So, as soon as I felt like I knew enough to start my own business, I took a chance.”

Tony Swartz and Kaung Ko took similarly circuitous routes before landing back in their college town. Circumstances made their return to Ellensburg possible, and they both jumped at the opportunity when the timing was right.

“I’ve built so many great relationships here over the years that it just feels like home,” said Ko, the owner of Roots Physical Therapy.

“Everything just kind of worked out,” said Swartz, who owns The Law Office of Tony Swartz. “Ellensburg has a nice small-town feel, and now that I have a family, this is exactly where I want to be.”

Read on to learn more about these four alumni business owners. Three more businesses were featured in part one of this series on September 29.

Taylor and Dianne Clark

Taylor Clark enjoyed his time as a CWU student, but he wasn’t sold on living in Ellensburg full time after graduation.

The 2009 exercise science graduate had always dreamed of opening his own fitness facility and decided to move to Yakima for a couple of years, helping him to gain some valuable on-the-job experience.

“I’ve always enjoyed CrossFit, ever since my dad started doing it in 2004,” said Clark, who grew up in Tumwater. “I liked what they were doing at Yakima CrossFit and thought I could do something similar in Ellensburg.”

Clark and his wife Dianne (’10) opened Ellensburg CrossFit in 2012 at a small location on Vantage Highway. They started out as more of a traditional CrossFit gym, teaching their members varied functional movements at high levels of intensity.

But as time went on, the Clarks wanted to make the gym more accessible to everyone — not just the hardcore fitness buffs who once defined CrossFit. They moved to their current location on Second Avenue and Water Street in 2017, and have become one of the more popular gyms in town.

“The fitness-scape has changed a lot in recent years, so we have adjusted our approach,” Taylor Clark said. “It’s no longer ‘go as hard as you can the entire time.’ We do a lot more weight-lifting and classes with varying levels of intensity that are more geared to the average person, not just the super hardcore folks.”

The Clarks employ seven or eight instructors and a couple part-timers who them help run the gym. They also teach classes and are on site most days, but with two kids ages 11 and 12, they enjoy having some schedule flexibility. 

As it turned out, Ellensburg was everything they ever wanted when the time came to raise their family.

“We love living in a small town where you know everyone,” Taylor Clark said. “It’s nice to run into your friends wherever you go, and it has turned out to be exactly what we wanted.”

Dillon Clark

Dillon Clark (’14, ’15) started his college career at Western Washington University, but after hearing about CWU from his older brother, he decided to give Ellensburg a shot.

Like his brother Taylor (featured above), Clark was interested in studying exercise science, and Central had a well-respected program that drew him in.

“I had visited Ellensburg and really liked the town and the health sciences program,” he said. “So I transferred to CWU my junior year, and it ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

After graduation, Clark spent three years in California for chiropractic school before moving to Tacoma for his first professional position. He learned a lot from the owner of the clinic and eventually decided he knew enough to open his own practice.

“I grew to really like the town when I was in college, and I always thought I would like to move back here someday,” he said.

Clark began leasing his downtown property in August of 2021, starting out with just a chiropractic clinic. But barely one month after moving back to town, he converted the back half of the space into the Ellensburg Jiu-Jitsu studio.

“I had gotten into jiu-jitsu when I lived in Tacoma and there wasn’t a place in Ellensburg to train,” he said. “So I decided I would open up my own gym that same year.”

Clark has steadily built up his jiu-jitsu clientele over the past four years, training adults five days a week and kids three days a week. He sees chiropractic clients Monday through Thursday, and still finds time to stay in peak physical shape.

In many ways, he’s found the best of all worlds by bringing his diverse talents back to Ellensburg.

“I’ve always been interested in health and fitness, and I wanted to find a career where I could promote healthy lifestyles for other people,” he said. “I thought it would be cool to bring a new activity to town, and it’s starting to catch on. A lot of my students are CWU students, and they have really helped build up the jiu-jitsu community here.”

Kaung Ko

If you had asked Kaung Ko (’11) back in college if he planned to live in Ellensburg after graduation, he would have said, “no way.” But life had other ideas, and he ended up working at Canyon View Physical Therapy for a few years while he figured out what to do next.

“When I was getting my degree at Central, I thought I was going to go to medical school someday,” said Ko, a native of Florida who transferred to CWU in 2009 to complete his biology degree. “I started thinking more about physical therapy, and I ended up really liking it.”

Ko chose to attend PT school in Massachusetts, for the next three years, but he eventually made his way back to Ellensburg in 2017. He and his wife moved to Wenatchee, and for the next three years, he commuted to Ellensburg twice a week to build up his local clientele.

The PT business continued to grow and the couple ultimately chose to make their home here.

“I decided that I was going to try to do PT my own way, and I was able to rent out a space inside Ellensburg CrossFit for a couple of years,” Ko said. “I built up a pretty good clientele and made some good connections in the local health and fitness community that helped me step out on my own last year.”

Ko opened Roots Physical Therapy in downtown Ellensburg in July 2024, and he has been pleasantly surprised by the response.

“This town has been super supportive,” he said. “Slowly but surely, I have built up my base clientele. The rest have just been word of mouth.”

Unlike most physical therapists, Ko chose to go the direct-pay route instead of relying on insurance companies to be compensated for the care he provides. The approach isn’t widespread in the industry, but so far, his clients seem to like it.

“What’s really cool about the direct-access model is that people don’t need to get a referral from their doctor,” said Ko, who also holds an endorsement for body manipulations. “I get great outcomes in a shorter amount of time than other physical therapists, and that’s why people keep coming back.”

Ko helps patients manage leg injuries, back injuries, and other orthopedic ailments, but he doesn’t work with stroke patients or those with vestibular conditions.

“I love all kinds of physical therapy and I’ve sort of become the ‘performance guy’ in town,” he said. “A lot of my clients are athletes, but I’ve been seeing a wider variety now that I’m based downtown.”

As time goes on, Ko is getting more and more comfortable with the idea of staying in Ellensburg. He values the relationships he has built over the years, and it just seems to be getting better all the time.

“I didn’t necessarily see my career working out this way back in my 20s, but things are going really well,” Ko said. “I like taking care of people, and I like the peace and quiet of living in a small town. I’m pretty happy with how things have worked out.”

Tony Swartz

Like some other local alumni business owners, Tony Swartz (’09) moved away for a few years and eventually came back to Ellensburg.

After finishing law school at Willamette University in Spokane, the CWU Law and Justice graduate landed a job with the Kittitas County Prosecutor’s Office in 2012.

“When I graduated from law school, we were still rebounding from the recession, so I was looking all over for a job,” said Swartz, who grew up in Marysville. “I was lucky that there was an opening in Ellensburg right as I was taking the bar. My undergraduate internship with the prosecutor's office here really helped out.”

He worked as a county prosecutor for two years and then branched out on his own to work on government contracts for the cities of Ellensburg, Roslyn, Cle Elum, and Wapato, among others. In 2019, he decided to open his own private law firm focusing on criminal defense.

“The contract work was going well, but I decided that I wanted to work directly with clients who needed assistance,” Swartz said. “It has ended up working out very well. I recently opened a second office in Yakima and have a few employees assisting me now.”

Swartz also recently hired a full-time lawyer to assist him with the practice, which handles driving under the influence (DUI) cases, criminal misdemeanor defense cases, and traffic tickets in Kittitas and Yakima counties.

“There are more cases than I can handle by myself, which is why I decided to get more assistance and open the second office,” Swartz said. "There is a real shortage of lawyers in rural areas like ours.”

As time has gone on, Swartz and his wife, Alexis (‘18) — who earned an MS in Nutrition from Central — have grown to love the Ellensburg lifestyle and have no plans of leaving. They have a 1-year-old son now, giving them all the more reason to settle down.

“With Lincoln coming into our life, we are definitely going to be here long term,” Swartz said. “I didn’t intend on staying in Ellensburg originally, but it has worked out really well for both of us. It is a great place to raise a family.”

Alexis Swartz owns a small nutrition consulting business called Nested Nutrition, in addition to doing remote outpatient work with an eating disorder clinic.

The couple believe they have found a sweet spot in business and in life.

“Ellensburg is such a great place to build long-lasting relationships,” Tony Swartz said. “My career would be a lot different if I were in a place like Seattle, where there are so many more lawyers. That can make it hard to connect with folks. But here, I see colleagues and clients all over town.”

When he’s not managing his law practice, Swartz serves as the Downtown Ellensburg Rotary Club president. He plays hockey, enjoys working out at Ellensburg CrossFit, plays trumpet in the Ellensburg Big Band, and was president of Jazz In The Valley for many years.

“My wife often says I don’t know how to say no, which is probably true,” said Swartz, who started out at CWU intending to be a music major. “I love what I do and I love being part of this community, so it’s all worth it.”

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Editor’s note: More alumni entrepreneurs in downtown Ellensburg were featured on Central Today on September 29. That story appears here.