YPIN International Women’s Day Speed Mentorship

Back by popular demand, the Young Professionals International Network (YPIN) will host its 5th annual International Women’s Day Speed Mentorship event. Mentees will rotate through mini 7-minute tailored mentorship sessions with the Northwest’s top female leaders.

We are excited to announce that this year’s event will kick-off with a keynote speech from Liz Vivian. Liz brings almost twenty years of community leadership experience to her role as President and CEO of Women’s Funding Alliance, which advances leadership and economic opportunity for women and girls in Washington State.

This event is perfect for early career women seeking to enhance their leadership potential, or mid-career professionals looking to make a career change or accelerate their current trajectory.  You will be exposed to new businesses, vocations, and opportunities, and have the chance to network with all mentors and mentees in addition to one-on-one conversations with a handful of mentors selected just for you.

Important note to mentees: After you register, please send a short bio and headshot to Porsche Landon at landonporsche@gmail.com.

MEET THE MENTORS (more to come):

Liz Vivian brings almost twenty years of community leadership experience in the private, nonprofit and public sectors to her role as President and CEO of Women’s Funding Alliance, which advances leadership and economic opportunity for women and girls in Washington State. Previously Liz served as senior manager of Global Corporate Citizenship for The Boeing Company, executive director of Seattle Youth Involvement Network, national field director for Rock the Vote and transformational leadership consultant to community organizations including NPower Northwest, PONCHO, Aradia Women’s Health Center, Seattle Young People’s Project, and Washington Women’s Foundation. Liz is a graduate of Leadership Tomorrow and in 2003, was honored as one of the region’s “40 Under Forty” by the Puget Sound Business Journal. Liz holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Redlands and a Certificate for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Trinity College London. She was born in New York City and raised in Seattle where she currently lives with her husband and daughter.

AJ Rei-Perrine began her professional career as a US diplomat, implementing foreign policy and providing first-hand reporting and analysis in Eastern Europe and South America.  Later AJ helped run an international film company, producing television, music videos, and short films overseas.  She practiced law for several years upon returning to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and is now in management consulting.  AJ speaks Spanish and Albanian and is from Seattle.

Cat Cuevas helps educators, leaders and organizations cultivate and exemplify the possibility in human relationships. Her 15 years in the field of professional and personal development have been devoted to learning, leadership development, and social justice. Cat’s current favorite areas of research are gender and racial equity, leadership psychology, bridging intractable conversations, and training women to run for public office.  She’s passionate about dismantling implicit bias, leading with intersectional awareness, and helping build women’s confidence. Her provocative signature program, Burlesque for the Boardroom, teaches executive leadership skills through the lens of professional burlesque, exemplifying that women can be credible, influential and sexual. Cat has designed and delivered poignant and dynamic trainings for over 20,000 clients in academic institutions, nonprofits, benefit corporations, faith-based organizations, sport teams, performing art groups, hospitals, and communities around the nation and around the world. Cat holds a MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, and a MA in Leadership and Organizational Development.

Daphra Holder is a recent Seattle transplant (from NYC), who currently manages Business Operations for Amazon's first foray into the collegiate retail space, Amazon Campus, a new brick and mortar initiative. Prior to Amazon, her career has been primarily focused in the digital marketing space both in the non profit (DonorsChoose.org) and for profit (American Express & Amazon) space. Outside of her professional endeavors she is actively involved in the Seattle community as a Partner at the Seattle Venture Partners, consultant at the UW Foster School of Business, board member for Women's Funding Alliance- Together Equal Network, mentor for Girls Who Code (Seattle chapter) and currently serves as a Commissioner on King County’s Civil Rights Commission. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, climbing and gastronomical pursuits (both eating / making). She is a graduate of Princeton University.

Erin Schwartz has been an advocate within global health for more than 15 years, working within the field of cancer control for well over a decade. Her background is in international social work and she completed her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at the University of Washington.  In her role as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Communications at The Max Foundation, Erin leads global communications, as well as corporate and community engagement. Prior to working with The Max Foundation, Erin spent several years as a child advocate in the field of international adoption.  Her professional portfolio also includes service as a medical social worker and as a practitioner in a public mental health clinic.  After attaining her Bachelor of Arts degree at Emory University, Erin taught English as a Second Language in Nagasaki, Japan for two years. She attributes her work in Japan, her time traveling around Southeast Asia, as well as her experience living and volunteering in Israel and Zimbabwe as the inspiration for the international work she continues today. Erin currently serves on the Board of Directors for Parkview Services, an organization that advocates for people with disabilities in the Seattle area, in addition to participating in several advisory boards in the global oncology space. In her personal time, Erin enjoys traveling, gardening and spending time at the beach.  She lives in Seattle with her husband, two children and their dog, Lopez.

As President of Gauge Consulting, Holly M. Davis has 20 years of executive coaching and political experience from which to draw upon as a speaker and political trainer. She has worked in State and local government, on campaigns, and in election administration. She has worked with over 400 potential candidates and political activists as Executive Director of the Indiana Leadership Forum (2002-2010), as Program Director of the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series (1997-1999), and recently as Executive Director of the Center for Women and Democracy (2016). Additionally, she spent three years in the lecture pool at the Arlington, VA. based Leadership Institute’s Campaign Management and Future Candidate Schools. In 2007, Holly co-founded Gauge Consulting whose clients included political candidates, advocacy, and business organizations.  In 2008, Holly ran for an open State Representative seat and, although she was unsuccessful, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was so impressed with Holly’s campaign he appointed her Commissioner on the Marion County Alcoholic Beverage Commission (2008-2010).  Holly made the Indianapolis Business Journal’s annual 40 Under 40 list in 2009. Holly earned her BA in Political Science and History from Indiana University-Bloomington.  She has completed course work at the Election Center, Campaigns & Elections Seminars (1999 & 2000), and is a 2007 alumnae of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University.  Holly is married with three daughters and volunteers with Girl Scouts of America, Junior Achievement and is Secretary of her daughter’s elementary school PTA.

Marianne Brockhaus is a Global Learning Strategist, currently managing information security awareness training at Amazon.com for the entirety of the conglomerate. She has an extensive career in instructional design and managing teams to produce learning material and processes for large numbers of learners across the globe. Her expertise is in brain science applied to adult learning, deploying learning programs cross-culturally, and creating large scale learning systems. In addition to private companies, she has worked with the federal and state governments to develop healthcare education, specifically quality improvement initiatives for all healthcare providers nationwide, and the Home Care curriculum for Washington State. She is also a professional artist under her maiden name Marianne Maksirisombat. She has shown her art in 60+ gallery showings and has been commissioned by cities, private companies, and private collectors. She has work on permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Museum and the Cameron Gallery. Most recently she has been commissioned by Seattle Children's Hospital for artwork for their new Research facility. She is known for her bold use of color, her three-dimensional canvas, and steel work. Marianne holds a B.A. in Politics and Peace and Justice Studies from the University of San Francisco, and has over ten certifications in the field of adult learning and technology.

From strawberry shortcake to home furnishings to a fitness business, Melody Biringer trotted down virtually every entrepreneurial trail in existence.  With her 1:1 Work{STORM} she offers her breadth of experience and high level of expertise to help entrepreneurs move the dial on their business. Her most successful ventures, The CRAVE Company and Biringer’s, give her a powerful perspective. Over the last 14 years, her work has focused on generating authentic connections and conversation among women in business. Her events are highly anticipated by 1000’s of women across North America. Melody is also the author of CRAVING Success: a startup junkie’s path from passion to profits, which includes 132 tips for ambitious entrepreneurs. Her current entrepreneurial love-child is CO-STORMING, a group think-tank designed to be your personal board of directors for life and work.

 

Dr. Michele Anciaux Aoki, International Education Administrator for Seattle Public Schools, is responsible for developing and supporting the ten international schools in the district and their K-12 Dual Immersion programs in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, as well as supporting all World Language teachers in the district. She is also Co-Director of the Confucius Institute of the State of Washington, a partnership among the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools, the Governor’s Office, and Hanban in China. From 2008 to 2014, Michele served as World Languages Program Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), where she provided technical support on world language standards and assessment to 295 public school districts and professional development for world language teachers across the state. She also worked with the State Board of Education and Washington State School Directors Association on developing and implementing a model policy and procedure for Competency-Based Credits to award high school credits to students with demonstrated language proficiency and was project director on a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the Road Map World Language Credit Program. She was instrumental in introducing the Seal of Biliteracy in Washington State. Since 2011, Michele has partnered with the University of Washington on their Russian STARTALK Teacher and Student Program. Michele has a Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics and taught Russian language and English as a Second Language at the University of Washington for a number of years and as a Fulbright lecturer in Romania. She has received two leadership awards from the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) and continues to volunteer as an advocate for languages. In addition to her language career, Michele worked as computer program, systems analyst, analyst instructor, and project manager in Information Technology for over 20 years.

Tamara Power-Drutis is the Executive Director at Crosscut, and a 2016-2017 Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow researching innovative methods for engaging news audiences. With a background in strategic partnerships and community engagement, Tamara believes firmly in the value of civil dialogue and servant leadership. She recently completed a year as an inaugural Henry M. Jackson Foundation Leadership Fellow, and serves as a Trustee of the World Affairs Council Seattle. Tamara is the former Communications Coordinator at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research and policy center developing system wide solutions for K-12 public education. She began her career as a Research Associate at Ross Strategic, supporting partnerships between EPA, State, and Tribal groups around environmental information management systems. She is active in community organizing, and has served on the boards of the Young Professionals International Network and the Lesotho Connection. Tamara holds a B.A. in Political Science from Pacific Lutheran University, where she served as the Vice President of the Associated Student Body and was a Sustainability Fellow. Born in Tacoma, raised in Cheney, and now a resident of Rainier Beach in Seattle, Tamara is a product of Washington State.

C’Ardiss Gardner Gleser currently works at the Satterberg Foundation as a Program Officer. She previously worked at she previously worked at Rainier Scholars and TAF (Technology Access Foundation). Prior to working in the nonprofit sector, C’Ardiss spent many years working in software as an engineer and project manager for GE Healthcare (formerly PHAMIS, Inc.) in the Enterprise Hospital Information Systems sector. She is very involved in her community, both locally and nationally. She currently serves on the boards of the Charlotte Martin Foundation, Philanthropy Northwest, and The Bush School. In addition, she is a partner with Social Venture Partners in Seattle. She is also very involved in the Yale community where she currently serves on the AYA’s Board of Governors, is Immediate Past President of the Yale Black Alumni Association, served on the Governing Council of YaleWomen, and is currently Co-Chair of the Yale Day of Service. C’Ardiss holds a Bachelor's degree in African American Studies from Yale University and an M.Ed. in Education Administration from Seattle University.

Carol Vipperman joined the Henry M. Jackson Foundation half-time in July 2013, after serving as a consultant for over a year to it and other organizations. Her responsibilities include strategic communications and leading a new program for the Foundation, the Henry M. Jackson Leadership Fellows Program. Prior to joining the Foundation, Carol was president and founder of the Foundation for Russian-American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC) a nonprofit organization that for 22 years advanced U.S.-Russia business and community relations. Carol also had a successful career as a consultant and public speaker conducting training courses in marketing, customer service and sales for organizations throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. She is the author of two books – Marketing Your Service and Professional Selling, both published by Self-Counsel Press. Carol continues to consult part-time for nonprofit organizations. She has a B.A. from the University of Washington in Far Eastern and Slavic Studies, with an emphasis on Russia.

Colleen Echohawk is an enrolled member of the Kithehaki Band of the Pawnee Nation and a member of the Upper Ahtna Athabascan people of Mentasta Lake. Ms. Echohawk is the executive director of the Chief Seattle Club, a non-profit dedicated to meeting the needs of homeless and low-income urban Native people in Seattle. Colleen is the founder of the Coalition to End Urban Native Homelessness. Ms. Echohawk is interested in working with community to create systems and structures that help facilitate wellness and encourages kindness and courage. Colleen’s education has been focused on organizational development and leadership; helping brilliant people do better work for the greater good. She is the co-founder and principal at Headwater People Consulting Group. Colleen serves on several local boards including, KUOW (National Public Radio member station), All Home Coordinating Board, Metropolitan Improvement District, Pioneer Square Preservation Board and is the board chair at Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre, and past board member at the Chief Seattle Club. Ms. Echohawk is a proud Mom to two children and is married to Matt Hayashi. In her spare time she loves to read, sing karaoke, listen to National Public Radio and cook delicious food for friends and family.

Diane Najm is the CEO & Founder of PhotoPad for Business. A leader and passionate about the start-up community, Serves as Director, Seattle Founder Institute, Mentor, Coach and organizer to Start up Weekend, Expert Panelist and speaker on Entrepreneurship, Invited to the White House Digital Tech summit and served on Delegation for Vancouver First Startup Week and panelist for Bridging the Gap between Seattle and Vancouver, as well as, seeks ways to help entrepreneurs connect with one another and provides resources to assure success. Thought leader and advocate for Women Entrepreneurs and empower them to pursue their startups serving as advisers to start-ups, Board of Directors to Women In Wireless and Women in Tech. Passionate to give back to the community in the philanthropy sector, serving on the Board of Trustee for a non-profit Olive Crest. 2015 Women in Business Award, 2012 Mom of the Year Business Award, and 2012 Ambassador to the Children Community Award.

Jamie Van Horne is an Associate at Camber Collective, a boutique strategy consulting firm serving clients in health and social impact. Jamie supports clients in global health and development, as well as philanthropic effectiveness, with a focus on customer insights, strategic decision-making, and programmatic design. Prior to Camber, Jamie was an independent consultant in Holland, Thailand, Chile and Argentina working with organizations to develop strategic plans and growth models for increased impact.  Previously, she worked as Director of Partnerships at SeeYourImpact.org, a donor engagement and communication technology platform, where she managed a network of more than 100 global NGOs. Jamie holds a Master's in International Relations from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain and graduated with distinction from Yale College with a BA in Psychology, where she was also an Academic All-Ivy selection in her role as captain of the Women's Basketball Team. Jamie is also a member of the Seattle Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

Elizabeth Scallon leads CoMotion Labs at the University of Washington, a multi-industry lab system hosting startups inside and outside the UW community. Prior, Elizabeth was one of the early team members of VLST, part of the inaugural class of biotech startups at Accelerator Corporation, where she helped the company spin out and grow to over 50 employees and $35M in funding. Additionally, Elizabeth has personally mentored over 40 startups, entrepreneurs, innovators, and artists for over a decade both locally and globally. Elizabeth received her Global Executive MBA from Georgetown University and ESADE, where she studied global innovation, entrepreneurship, and incubation with in-country residences in Spain, Brazil, Argentina, China, India, and US.

 

Nathalie Williams is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Jackson School of International Studies. She is also faculty affiliate of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, the South Asia Studies Center, and the Southeast Asia Studies Center. Williams' research primarily focuses on migration patterns, during periods of armed conflict, natural disasters and climate change, and social change in general. A key aspect of this work is the fact that even during periods of intense conflict or drastic environmental change, many, if not most, people do not migrate. This is contrary to what is generally assumed and is poorly addressed in the literature. Williams' work seeks to develop theoretical and empirical understandings of why some people migrate and many do not. In addition to migration, she has also published work examining marriage and fertility patterns during conflict. Incorporating all these demographic patterns during periods of disasters, Williams is now using agent-based models to investigate the macro-level population trends that can result from these micro-level behavioral changes during the recent armed conflict in Nepal and during climatic disasters in Northeast Thailand. Other recent work addresses values and beliefs, how they influence the likelihood of migration and destination choice to different world regions, and how they change through the process of migration. Because migration and conflict are inherently difficult subjects about which to collect data and are difficult to measure, Williams is involved in developing new data collection strategies and conceptualization methods. For example, she is working with a team that has successfully collected panel data from a representative sample of Nepali migrants who are currently living in more than 100 countries worldwide. Another new project seeks to use data from mobile phone call records to track migration and local mobility after violent events and natural disasters.  Williams' work is primarily based in Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Persian Gulf. Outside of work, Williams enjoys hiking and international travel.

Sara Curran is Professor of International Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. She holds a joint appointment as Professor at the Evans School of Government & Public Affairs, is Director of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, and holds adjunct Professor positions in the Department of Global Health and the Department of Sociology. Curran researches migration, globalization, gender, climate change and adaptation, and development. Curran employs a variety of research techniques, including qualitative field work, survey field work, regression modeling, longitudinal analyses, mixed methods, and spatial and network analyses.  Curran teaches research methods courses for undergraduates and graduates at the JSIS.  Curran is a lead advisor on a number of projects with the JSIS including, the Cybersecurity Initiative for the International Policy Institute, the Jackson School Journal of International Studies, the Applied Research Projects, and the Correspondence blog site.

Suzanne Dale Estey is President & CEO of the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County (EDC), a public-private partnership founded in 1971 to expand and diversify the economy across King County and its 39 cities. Prior to this role, Suzanne served as Director of Strategic Initiatives and earlier as a consultant to the EDC. Suzanne previously served as Principal of Dale Estey Partnerships, Strategy & Results, a government relations, economic/business development and strategic communications consulting firm established in 2013.  Suzanne has over twenty-three years of experience delivering results in intergovernmental relations/public policy and over ten years of successful direct experience in local economic development.  Prior to starting a business, Suzanne most recently served from 2006-2012 as the Economic Development Director for the City of Renton. Prior to her service in Renton, Suzanne served as the Vice President of Government and Industry Relations for Washington Mutual (WaMu).  Before joining WaMu, Suzanne served as State & Federal Government Relations Manager for the King County Executive; State Lobbyist for the City of Seattle; Federal Legislative Analyst for the Governor of Washington; and Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at The White House.  During two periods of her career, Suzanne worked as Pacific Northwest & Texas Program Director for Junior Statesmen, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, civics education program for high school student leaders, and a program she was involved in as a student. A K-12 graduate of Seattle Public Schools, Suzanne received a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Politics from Whitman College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Daniel J. Evans School at the University of Washington. She and her husband, Mike, have two active and ever-curious school-age sons. Suzanne is an avid runner, hiker, skier, reader, traveler and soccer player.

Amber L. Pearce, an appellate attorney and partner in a Seattle firm, is passionate about legal research, writing, advocacy, and the power of change.  While in college, she drafted a bill enacted into law by the Tennessee Legislature that provided funding for domestic violence shelters by raising the marriage license fee. This nexus inspired her to attend law school in Boston, where she served as Editor in Chief of Law Review, met Justice Clarence Thomas, and published an academic article about the constitutionality of single-gender college admission policies.  Enthusiastic about women’s rights in developing countries, Amber traveled to New Delhi, India to teach English to children and women.  Her recent volunteer work includes serving as a crisis management counselor with the Seattle Police Department for domestic violence calls.  The world of law provides a wide range of opportunities.

Erin Jones has been working in and around schools for the past 25 years. She has taught in a variety of environments, from predominantly African American to predominantly Caucasian to some of the most diverse communities in the nation. Erin received an award as the Most Innovative Foreign Language Teacher in 2007, while teaching French Immersion at Stewart Middle School in Tacoma, and was the Washington State Milken Educator of the Year in 2008, while teaching at Rogers High School in Spokane. She served under two state superintendents - half a year year as a Director for Dr. Terry Bergeson and 3 years as Assistant Superintendent on the executive leadership team for Superintendent Randy Dorn. She received recognition at the White House in March of 2013 as a "Champion of Change." In 2015 Erin earned recognition as PTA Educator of the Year for her testimony in the McCleary case. Erin left her role as the Director of a large college-access program in Tacoma School District to pursue her campaign for Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction full-time. Erin was the first African-American woman to run for executive office in the state of Washington and lost by a mere 1%. Erin has two children in college, one who works full-time for Xerox, and a husband, James, who is a high school teacher in Lacey.

Erin Ewart is a career coach and recruitment consultant. As a career coach, she helps job seekers with everything from identifying their strengths and career goals to creating a strong resume and preparing for interviews. As a consultant to growing organizations, she develops talent recruitment and marketing strategies and creates plans and systems to support sustainable growth. Erin has worked with a wide variety of organizations across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, from small nonprofits to Google and the U.S. State Department, and she is now focused on working with mission-driven individuals and startups. She received her MBA with a focus on Social Enterprise and has a special expertise in working with job seekers who are switching sectors and organizations focused on education. Originally from the east coast, Erin now lives in Seattle with her husband and baby daughter. To learn more, visit her website at erinewart.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Suzanne Towns is an accomplished executive with two decades of cross-sector leadership. As the principal and founder of Towns Consulting Group, she has worked on city, state and national-level strategy, policy and program development. She is currently a FUSE Corp executive fellow serving as a senior workforce development advisor at the Seattle Office of Economic Development. Previously, she served as the Vice President of Collective Impact at the United Way of New York City and the Manager of Outreach at the AARP. Her work has focused in the areas of community-based economic development, workforce development, increasing economic security for vulnerable populations and advancing gender equality. She holds an MS in Social Work from Columbia University and a BA in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Jenny Brackett graduated from the University of Washington in 2005 with bachelors degrees in communication and psychology. Following graduation, she worked with two boutique agencies as a public relations and marketing consultant for clients including Intel, Lexmark, Vulcan Real Estate, Homestreet Bank, and Swedish Medical Center. It was a project with Swedish and her sister’s nursing career that ignited Jenny’s interest in health care. Jenny returned to the University of Washington where she received dual masters degrees in business administration and health care administration. During the program, Jenny worked in strategic planning for UW Medical Center where she supported referral development, robotic surgery, and neuroscience programs. Jenny also worked as a medical and dental clinic manager for Neighborcare Health and had the opportunity to open multiple clinics including the Meridian Center for Health. She managed more than 90 team members across three clinics providing primary medical and dental care for the underserved population of Seattle. Currently, Jenny works at Northwest Hospital as the performance improvement manager for the Ambulatory Care Network. In this role, she is focused on supporting 32 clinics across five service lines to adopt best practice workflows and standard processes.

Lisa Erickson, MS, LMHC is a practicing psychotherapist and educator.  She has been a program director, clinical director, graduate psychology faculty, and a trainer of mental health providers.  She has a private practice in Seattle working with high IQ adults and provides continuing education trainings regionally, nationally, and soon internationally. Lisa is interested in human development and growth whether it is writ large via social policy and legislation or writ intimately via individual psychotherapy. Do systems impede or support human growth and development? For example, Lisa directed a shelter and hotline for families affected by domestic violence. Along with three other women, she created a state advocacy organization that drafted and successfully lobbied for a new revenue stream for domestic violence and sexual assault programs. Levying a tax on marriage licenses allowed more services to families and provided stable funding for the organizations working with them. Lisa is a past president of the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association and past co-chair of the Washington State Department of Health Advisory Committee for Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists. Lisa has a BA in Psychology and an MS in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas.

Serial entrepreneur Valerie Trask has been a founder, first hire, advisor, coach, and consultant for industries ranging from tech to education to food. She Co-Founded and was Chief Operating Officer for a local cooking device tech startup -- Sansaire -- which broke funding records for its category on Kickstarter and went on to sell to 70 countries and major retailers like Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, and Amazon. Valerie recently retired from Sansaire to start Masters of Moxie, a coaching and consulting firm for entrepreneurs, especially female founders. She has a Masters in Business Administration from Seattle University, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Comparative History of Ideas from University of Washington, and a Coaching Certification from Columbia University.

Courtney House is the Sr. Director of Global Sales Operations for Egencia, the corporate travel division of Expedia Inc.  This role includes overseeing teams focused on Contract Management, Bid Writing, Sales Engineering, Salesforce.com and Marketing Operations.  Her team includes individuals in all regions of the world who are tasked with ensuring the success of their Sales & Account Management team members. Courtney is a business leader with a passion for improving processes, increasing productivity, and building high performing teams.  She brings teams at Egencia together and tackle what may seem like the impossible. She is also pragmatic with the ability to keep the big picture in mind, and strives for metric-based decisions. Courtney is married to Chris and lives in West Seattle.  She is an avid sports fan (Go Sounders!) and enjoys reading, walking, golf, skiing, fishing, boating, kayaking and paddle boarding.  However, she spends the majority of her free time spoiling her two Boston Terriers Jet & Nitro.

Alessandra Zielinski is the Director of the Seattle Region Partnership, a new cross-sector initiative that brings together business, government, and philanthropy to better connect residents to our region’s pathway jobs. Previously, Alessandra worked as a strategy and operations consultant at Deloitte. In addition to advising business clients, she also managed Deloitte Consulting's portfolio of pro bono projects for nonprofit clients across the country. Early in her career, Alessandra worked at Ashoka connecting social entrepreneurs with funding and other needed resources. As a former teacher, Alessandra is passionate about education and access to opportunity. She serves on the board of Communities in Schools of Seattle and volunteers her time as a mentor, venture pitch coach, and nonprofit strategy advisor. She has studied and worked abroad in various countries in Europe and Latin America. Alessandra holds a Masters of Business Administration from Cornell University.

Kim Peterson is Founder of Uniquely Savvy, a Seattle based image consultancy.  As a Personal Brand & Style Strategist and Keynote Speaker, Kim champions entrepreneurs, leaders, and emerging leaders who want confident breakthroughs around building their authentic personal brand, identity and style so they can uniquely package themselves for game-changing success in the market place. Helping individuals mine, own, speak, dress and live their truth out loud while bringing their unique gifts to the world is Kim’s purpose and passion!  Sharing her personal story of triumph over tragedy as the backdrop for “what’s possible”, Kim co-authored, Incredible Life:  Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours. A member of AICI, NSA and NAWMBA, Kim graduated from Central Washington University with degrees in Retail Management, Fashion Merchandising and Business Administration.  A community leader, Kim annually creates volunteer teams to serve populations in transition at Mary’s Place and Hopelink. Celebrating a century of Girl Scout cookies, Kim is an honoree among 100 women entrepreneurs in our community who are being recognized for inspiring our next generation of girl leaders.

Rachel Salzberg is a career and leadership coach helping others to reach their full potential. She is focused on helping mid-level managers, or early stage leaders through transition and by helping them develop engaged, passionate, careers. Backed by an MBA, graduate of a top-accredited coaching program, Newfield, and founder of Facets Coaching, Rachel has more than 19 years experience in the corporate world.  She's worked and coached for organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, T-Mobile and a variety of startups, and marketing and advertising agencies. Rachel grounds her practice in an approach that combines cutting-edge personal growth modalities, wisdom and experience. Her clients gain new beliefs, behaviors and practices providing the success they desire in their personal and professional lives.

Theresa Cruthers has spent her career leading teams, relationship building, mentoring, CRM administration, marketing, reseller sales, and business planning in the technology space. With over 20 years of management experience evolving in the technology world her true passion is fostering the growth within organizations and individuals. During her career she has been fortunate to have some inspirational mentors that assisted with her professional growth and she is driven to pay it forward with every chance she gets. Theresa was born and raised outside of Portland Or, and moved to the Bay Area where she attended Napa Valley College at night while she worked full time and climbed the ladder. She had the opportunity to relocate to Dallas and Denver for her job where she continued to expand her skills by managing organizations. The opportunity to move around opened up many avenues, which provided her great insight into her strengths and ability to build relationships. Theresa rarely meets a stranger and enjoys talking to people with different life experiences. She loves to travel by herself to experience the city and meet people from all over the world. The northwest has always been home and she finally moved back here 3 years ago to be closer to family. Recently Theresa took a Sales Operations Manager position at Comcast Technology Solutions where she is able to fully utilize her cross-functional background.

Tuula Rytilä is Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Digital Stores. Based out of Seattle, WA, she is accountable for all Microsoft Online Stores and leads the teams in charge of Microsoftstore.com, Windows and Xbox Stores and Microsoft.com Website. She joined Microsoft in April 2014, as Microsoft completed its acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business. After the acquisition, Tuula headed Microsoft Mobile Device Marketing including Phones and New Devices like Microsoft Band and Microsoft HoloLens. In 2015-2016 she served as a Corporate Vice President, Post-Sale Monetization Marketing overseeing marketing for Bing search, Edge browser, Windows application Store, Xbox Online Store and Windows developers.Previously, Tuula had been with Nokia since 1999 and was named CMO of Nokia in 2012. She was responsible for Nokia’s global marketing and played an instrumental role in Lumia brand creation, product marketing and strategy.Tuula held progressively senior positions in Nokia Smart Devices, the Services and Markets unit, and the Multimedia product group. She led teams responsible for Smart Devices product strategy and portfolio, and managed the strategy and delivery of Nokia Maps on mobile devices and the web.Tuula began her career as an economist with the Bank of Finland, and worked in small international companies in Russia and Germany before moving with her family to Malaysia. She holds a Master’s degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics. Her hobbies include jogging, reading and activities at the family summer cottage. Tuula is married and has two children.

Megan Erb has been in both print and television newsrooms in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 20 years. She’s held a variety of positions during her career ranging from senior producer, to night assignment editor, reporter and pretty much most jobs in between. Most recently she was the Editorial Director at KCTS 9, PBS Seattle. There she led the newsroom in a digital first production, experimenting with social and online media clips and interviews. Megan also worked at the Seattle Channel, the city’s municipal television station where she produced a number of award winning productions. Over her career, Megan has interviewed hundreds of fascinating people, won three Regional EMMY awards, numerous NATOA awards for producing and was part of a team that recieved an Edward R. Murrow Award for political coverage in Boise, Idaho. Megan lives in West Seattle with her husband and two little girls.

Andrea Russell is a sales and marketing professional with over 20 years experience leading customer and channel strategies in the IT industry in both developed and emerging marketing worldwide. She is currently leading Global Partner Marketing for Android and Chrome at Google and previously spent time in marketing and sales at Microsoft Corporation and GE Capital ITS.

 

 

Roberta Nasser obtained her B.A. and early expertise in Humanistic and Developmental Psychology, along with her M.S. in Education and Counseling Psychology from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana before relocating to San Francisco to begin post-graduate studies at the Esalen Institute. After moving to Washington State, Roberta obtained her Washington State Mental Health Counseling, Vocational Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Recruitment Certifications, and in 1993 opened EAP and TechTalentAssociates to serve a wide scope of clients within private and public industry. Roberta’s breadth of ability and interest has encompassed working across industry, particularly technology incubators, as a Human Resource Employment Specialist from 1994 to present. Roberta’s expertise as a cross-pollinator within psychology, human resources and organizational development, her natural talent for innovation and experimentation, as well as her broad interests in behavioral health have led her to collaborate with a range of corporations in the Seattle area in building and refining cross-cultural teams, and the individuals who comprise them across the full spectrum of cultures and technology platforms. Her corporate and technology startup expertise includes building individuals and teams capable of collaborating, self-directing and developing chemistry within team engagement, as well as generating high levels of personal growth, innovation and collaboration on ideas with executive teams.

Stacy Kitahata is a community leader with a sustained commitment to fostering cultural competence and active faith. Stacy joined the Krista Foundation in February of 2011. Prior to that, she served as Director for Community Engagement and Professor of Intercultural Studies at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett. As an Associate with the Kaleidoscope Institute, Stacy regularly facilitates intercultural competency training with an ecumenical consortium of Northwest churches and trainers. Stacy brings a solid background of investment in young adults. She has been deeply involved as an advisor and young adult mentor for a five year Asian American Discipleship Conference series on faith and vocation. Stacy has also served on the Lutheran Volunteer Corps Board of Directors (LVC) and connected locally with service volunteers. Since her own youth, Stacy has been rooted in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and has served as denominational staff and in many volunteer capacities, including the ELCA's national Multicultural Youth Leadership Events. While in Chicago, she was Dean of the Community and member of the faculty at the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago. Stacy has traveled extensively in Latin America, Asia and Africa and holds degrees from UCLA and McCormick Theological Seminary. These experiences equip with a wealth of global, ecumenical, and theological insight. In her spare time, Stacy still loves reading books: from how the brain works to the latest on understanding the complexities of culture and politics. Alongside her spouse Diakonda, Stacy is passionate about advocating for inclusion of all members of our communities, particularly immigrants.

Alexis Chouery is a Ballard native and is excited to serve as a Co-Vice President of the board this year. She graduated from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington where she obtained her B.A. in International Studies and minored in European Studies. Currently she works at  F5 networks in operations. Some of her favorite travel memories include traveling to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and backpacking in the Olympics. She has also traveled to Norway, France, Japan, Egypt, Italy, and Mexico and wants to keep adding to the list. Her favorite international topics of conversation include refugee issues, family-work-life balance, and global gender policy. She speaks conversational French and loves trying to speak Norwegian. In her spare time she follows the Seattle Sounders as a season ticket holder, as well as taking long road-bike rides, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and running in Discovery Park.