We’re excited to share that we have confirmed some key elements of the search process for the Chamber’s next president and CEO and are ready to get going.

First, we’re incredibly fortunate that Cate Hardy, CEO of PCC Community Markets, and Solynn McCurdy, Senior Vice President of Cooperative Affairs for BECU, have agreed to co-chair the committee. They both know this organization well as members of our Board of Trustees, and Cate has also been a member of the Chamber’s Finance Committee for the past two years. Both are driven by both strong values and business acumen, have a great sense of people, and know from direct experience the demands of the CEO role and a membership-based organization. They’re also energized by the critical need and continued potential for the Chamber as a business advocate and regional leadership organization. I am thrilled and grateful for their willingness to step in here, and hope you’ll join me in supporting their leadership.

The members of the Search Committee are committed to representing varied perspectives from the Chamber’s membership in terms of sector, size, industry, and regional perspective. They are:

  • Susan Mullaney – President, Kaiser Permanente WA & Incoming Chamber chair
  • Frank Foti – Vice Chairman of the Board, Vigor
  • Gordon McHenry – CEO, United Way of King County
  • Rachel Marshall – Founder/CEO, Rachel?s Ginger Beer
  • Brian DeFoe – Shareholder, Lane Powell
  • Jeff Wortley – National Director of Institutional Sales, KeyBank Institutional Advisors
  • Bill McSherry – Vice President, Government Operations, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
  • Colleen Kerr – Vice President, External Affairs & Government Relations, Washington State University
  • DeLee Shoemaker – Senior Managing Director, Microsoft
  • Sharmila Swenson – Assistant Vice President, Public Affairs, Symetra

Finally, Chamber Executive Vice President Markham McIntyre and Chamber Senior Vice President of Operations Jane Billbe will participate to represent the perspective of Chamber staff, and Christine Martin of the Valtas group will advise.

Huge thanks to all of you serving us in this exciting effort.

With the Search Committee in place, we also have a better sense of timeline:

  • Over the next month we will interview 3-4 search firms, select a firm and finalize the scope of the search.
  • We will also finalize the position description, based on input we’ve collected from this group, the Board, and the broader membership and more input to come on questions such as:
    • How will this leader enable an effective business advocacy organization in a growing progressive region?
    • How will this leader enable continued membership growth and engagement, particularly from small business, in ways that deliver value to member businesses?
  • We anticipate interviews underway in Q2 2020, from which the search committee will forward at least one candidate to the Executive Committee for final decision-making. Our goal is to have a decision on the next Chamber CEO by the end of Q3. But we’re first focused on getting the right person for the job.

This rough timeline is comparable to our last CEO search, and we’ll keep you regularly apprised of progress.