As stewards of the Foundation’s assets and donor funds, our Board of Trustees is committed to responsible governance and fulfillment of our mission.
Officers
Maggie Walker, Chair
Martha Choe, 1st Vice-Chair
Brad Smith, 2nd Vice-Chair
Susan G. Duffy, Secretary
Pete Shimer, Treasurer
Board of Trustees
Libby Armintrout
Fraser Black
Nathaniel T. "Buster" Brown
Carolyn Corvi
Jean Enersen
Joseph Gaffney
Mark Gibson
Gary S. Kaplan, M.D.
Linda Park, PhD
Mary Pugh
Chris Rivera
Scott Shapiro
John Stanton
Kevin C. Washington
Ann Watson
Jan Whitsitt
James Williams
Tay Yoshitani
Grace T. Yuan
Maggie Walker, Chair
Maggie Walker serves as co-chair of the Prosperity Partnership’s Cultural Task Force and co-chair of the Central Waterfront Committee. She was recently named to the board of directors of the National Audubon Society. She is past president of the Seattle Art Museum board of trustees, the ARCS Foundation Seattle Chapter, the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), and the Bullitt Foundation.
A strong advocate of the environment, education and the arts, Walker has led the boards of the Henry Art Gallery, the Woodland Park Zoological Society and the Washington Women's Foundation. In addition, she is a past board vice president of Washington Audubon and Seattle Children's Home. Walker is co-founder of Social Venture Partners, chaired Art Fair Seattle for five years, and headed up Campaign UW for the College of Arts and Sciences. She attended Vanderbilt University and University of Washington where she earned degrees in both history and journalism.
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Martha Choe, 1st Vice-Chair
As CAO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Martha Choe oversees the Information Technology, Security, and Site Operations teams. The Gates Foundation's new campus in the heart of Seattle is one of her responsibilities. Choe joined the Gates Foundation in 2004 as the Director of the Global Libraries initiative in the foundation's Global Development Program.
Before joining the Gates Foundation, Choe served as the director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, providing leadership for sustainable job growth throughout Washington State. As CTED Director, she led trade missions to Asia, Mexico and Europe and led a multi-jurisdictional team to win the assembly of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner over 47 states competing for this opportunity. Prior to that, Choe was elected to two four-year terms on the Seattle City Council and chaired the transportation and economic development and finance committees.
Prior to public service, Choe was a vice president at the Bank of California Credit Administration, Commercial and Private Banking. She also taught high school in Eugene, Ore. Choe has a bachelor's degree in speech and ethnic studies from the University of Washington and received her master's in business administration from Seattle University. She has long been active in civic and Asian American organizations and serves on several boards including as former chair of the White House Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
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Brad Smith, 2nd Vice-Chair
Brad Smith is Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president. He leads the company's Department of Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA), which has just over 1,000 employees and is responsible for the company's legal work, its intellectual property portfolio and patent licensing business, and its government affairs and philanthropic work. He also serves as Microsoft's corporate secretary and its chief compliance officer.
Smith also serves as Microsoft's senior executive responsible for the company's corporate citizenship in Washington state. He has served as chair of the Washington Roundtable, a leading Washington state-based business organization. In 2010 he chaired for Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire her Higher Education Funding Task Force, and in 2011 he helped advocate for the successful adoption by the legislature of the Task Force's recommendations, including tuition-setting authority and increased accountability for the state's public universities and for the nation's first private-public funded endowment to enable more students to attend college. During the past year, Smith and his wife, Kathy Surace-Smith, co-chaired the annual campaign for the United Way of King County, the country's largest United Way campaign.
Before joining Microsoft in 1993, Smith was a partner at Covington & Burling, having worked in the firm's Washington, D.C., and London offices. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and received his law degree at the Columbia University School of Law. He also studied international law and economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Susan G. Duffy, Secretary
Susan G. Duffy is a partner in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. Duffy is a member of the firm’s tax-exempt organizations, health care and corporate law practice groups; is past president of the Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys and past chair of the Washington State Bar Association Tax Section. Her legal practice involves representation of a wide range of tax-exempt organizations including healthcare systems, educational organizations and foundations. She has extensive experience with a variety of business planning and regulatory matters, including formation and operation of tax-exempt entities, governance matters, mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructures, tax-exempt financing and tax planning and analysis.
A frequent speaker and author on a variety of topics related to exempt organizations, Duffy is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and the Exempt Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. She received her JD with honors from the University of Washington School of Law, where she was a member of the Washington Law Review.
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Pete Shimer, Treasurer
Pete Shimer is Managing Partner of the Seattle office of Deloitte, with over 24 years experience in audit, strategic relationship management and serving clients in the consumer and industrial products industries, including NIKE, Nordstrom, Starbucks, and Costco. He is also the founder of the Pacific Northwest CFO Roundtable. In addition to the Seattle Foundation, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Hospital Foundation, YMCA of Greater Seattle, University of Washington Foundation, the Rainier Club, and the Seattle Sports Commission. He is also a Past Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Washington Athletic Club.
Shimer received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Washington. He has also completed Executive Programs of Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University. Shimer is a licensed CPA in the states of Washington and Oregon, and is a member of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants as well as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
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