Renee Russak, President, is community volunteer and parent. Prior to community work Renee was media programming director for Expedia and part of the management team that transitioned Expedia from Microsoft to a publicly held company. As channel manager for The Microsoft Network (MSN), Renee led media programming and product development for a group of consumer web sites. Before Microsoft, Renee was senior producer at Prodigy Services, one of the early online service providers reaching a national audience. There she designed and produced the first consumer online database providing detailed information on U.S. candidates for Congress in a voter-relevant format for the 1992 presidential election year. Renee received her BA from University of California, Berkeley.

Luis Ricardo Fraga, Vice President, is associate vice provost for Faculty Advancement, director of the Diversity Research Institute, Russell F. Stark University Professor, and professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. He has been on the faculty at Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oklahoma. He is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he attended public schools. He received his AB, cum laude, from Harvard University and his MA and PhD from Rice University. His primary interests are urban politics, education politics, voting rights policy, and the politics of race and ethnicity. He is on the board of the Public Education Network (PEN). He is also a member of a special research committee of the National Association of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS). He has been an active member of the Transitions to College and the Immigration, Education, and Citizenship working groups of the Social Science Research Council. Luis is married to Charlene L. Aguilar, director of Undergraduate Education Initiatives at the University of Washington, with whom he has three children.

Vicky Murray, Secretary, recently retired as the assistant superintendent for Student Services/Alternative Programs in the Bellevue School District. Prior to her post as assistant superintendent, she held a range of district-level and school-level administrative positions, including executive director of both K-12 and 6-12 schools, director of personnel, and secondary-level principal and assistant principal. Throughout her career, she has worked with curriculum, teaching and learning, and various programs that serve students—ESL, LAP/Title, gifted, honors, and Advanced Placement. Vicky’s position in the Bellevue School District focused on assuring that all students achieve and succeed at a rate that eradicates that achievement gap. In addition, she has served as a mentor principal for the Center’s New Principals Mentoring and Coaching Program and has been a facilitator for the past three years at this Institute.

Bob Mellon, Treasurer, began his career at U.S. Bank in their investment services division as a financial advisor. He then joined Salomon Smith Barney as an analyst in their Consulting Group Division, advising clients and financial consultants on investment advisor evaluation and selection. Prior to joining Freestone, he provided investment management consulting services to individuals, corporations, foundations, and retirement plans with assets totaling approximately $1 billion. A graduate of Portland State University and Northwest native, Bob resides in Seattle where he enjoys mentoring youth in neighborhood schools and pursuing a variety of outdoor activities.

Ahndrea L. Blue is the president and CEO of Pinnacle Equities Investments. Ahndrea is also the founder, president, and chairperson of The Making A Difference Foundation. Prior to establishing her own business, Ahndrea was the Washington State Governor’s Executive Policy Advisor and Legal Counsel. Additionally, she worked for the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle as their Chief Operating Officer and was an attorney at law for Lee, Smart, Cook, Martin & Patterson, in Seattle. Ahndrea has Bachelor of Arts degrees in African American Studies and Society and Justice from the University of Washington, and earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington, School of Law. Ahndrea was the 2008 recipient of National Black Philanthropy of the Year Award, and is actively involved in a variety of community groups and associations throughout Washington. Ahndrea loves traveling around the world performing missionary work in places such as Peru, Chile and Thailand.

Amy Carter is a senior program officer working on Special Initiatives and Family Interest Grants in the U.S. Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this capacity, Amy assesses U.S. domestic poverty and policy issues to identify areas where the Gates Foundation can most effectively work to reduce inequity. Prior positions at the Gates Foundation include one year working with CEO Patty Stonesifer as her special program officer and over five years in the Global Health program, where Amy was a program officer responsible for the reproductive health grants portfolio. Prior professional experience includes: the Population Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and the Echoing Green Foundation. Amy received her BA from Mount Holyoke College and a MPH from Columbia University.

Michael Cockrill is a managing partner at Atlas Accelerator, a boutique consulting and investment firm focused on very early stage IT startups. Previous to Atlas, Michael has spent the last 20 years working in the high tech and start-up communities in and around Seattle, including Microsoft. Michael was one of the first group of partners in Seattle’s Social Venture Partners, and was involved in the selection of Project Look (now New Futures) to be one of SVP’s first social investments. He also serves as a Governor’s appointee to the Washington Technology Council. A father of two small children (Savannah and Dashiel), Michael is particularly interested in early childhood education and focuses his philanthropic efforts in that area. Michael was a non-matriculating student at the University of Otago in Dunedin New Zealand and a graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.

Sarah Dunne is the legal director for the ACLU of Washington Foundation, where she supervises an active legal docket of cases covering many issues such as free speech, racial justice, religious freedom, criminal justice, privacy, reproductive and women’s rights, immigrant rights, and gay rights. Prior to the ACLU, Sarah was in private practice in Seattle and before that served as a trial attorney for the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division within the U.S. Department of Justice. During her four years at DOJ, she litigated many education cases involving the enforcement of federal civil rights laws. Sarah’s previous community work includes volunteer teaching and tutoring at public high schools on the South Side of Chicago and a charter school in Anacostia in Washington D.C., and she formerly served on the board of directors for Passages Northwest. Sarah grew up in South King County and received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her law degree from the University of Chicago.

Tessa Gorman is an assistant United States attorney for the Western District of Washington, where she is responsible for prosecuting white collar crime cases. Tessa has spent her entire career in public service and, prior to taking her current position in March 2001, she worked for the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Between college and law school, Tessa served as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working at the Public Defender Association in Seattle. She is a member of the Washington Women’s Foundation and of the Capitol Hill Community Accountability Board, a program that diverts young people from the formal juvenile justice system to community-based citizen groups to address their criminal conduct. She also teaches trial advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law. Tessa is a graduate of Yale College and received her law degree at the University of California at Berkeley.

Sam Herring is a member of Intrepid’s founding team and leads the company’s sales, marketing and consulting operations to drive the development of innovative learning and performance solutions that solve client business challenges. A principal architect of Intrepid’s consulting practice, Sam developed the business by attracting key clients such as Autodesk, Cisco Systems, salesforce.com, Wells Fargo Bank, Federated Department Stores, S.C. Johnson, and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Sam is a frequent speaker at leading industry conferences and seminars, including those hosted by ASTD, The Conference Board, The Masie Center, and VNU. He is currently chairman of the ASTD Board of Directors Selection Committee, and is a past advisory committee member of ASTD and TechLearn conferences. In addition, Herring has been recognized as a “Who’s Who” training industry thought leader by TrainingOutsourcing.com. He regularly speaks on topics ranging from designing effective corporate learning and learning technology strategies, to best practices in vendor selection, vendor management, and outsourcing. Herring holds a master’s degree from Harvard University, where he studied ethics, religion and workforce development, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

Johnathan Letcher is currently a principal at Hazel Valley Elementary school in Burien. He has been in the Seattle area for only three years in which he has embraced the culture and climate of the region. He came from the other Washington; Washington, DC where he was born and raised. His career has always been rooted in education. He taught in Maryland for eight years and Virginia for three. He also worked as a School Improvement Officer in the nation’s capitol before coming to the Emerald City. Johnathan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of DC and master’s degree from Johns Hopkins. He is married and lives in Seattle. Johnathan is also on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Shont Miller is a senior attorney at Microsoft, where he focuses on antitrust and compliance matters. Prior to that, he practiced complex civil litigation at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles. Over the course of his career, Shont has worked on various pro bono issues concerning civil rights, housing, and children’s issues. He received his law degree from Stanford University, where he led a legal education program for incarcerated youth. He earned his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Martha Moreno is a registered nurse for Neighborcare Health at the Pike Market Medical Clinic, which serves a largely homeless population. Prior to nursing, she coordinated a local public health program, Kids Get Care, which involved community education and support to local schools and community service agencies to stress the importance of medical, dental, and behavioral health integration for children ages 0-5. Martha was previously on the board of the Providence Regina House, which serves low-income individuals and families by operating a local food and clothing bank as well as a referral source for various community services. She was also an advisory council member for the Seattle Parks and Recreation at the South Park Community Center. Martha holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from University of California, Davis and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Seattle University.

Emily Parker is the program officer for U.S. Libraries at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Until August, Emily served as the deputy director of the Washington Women’s Foundation in Seattle, Washington, whose mission is to educate, inspire, and increase the number of women committed to philanthropy in order to strengthen community and demonstrate the impact of informed, focused grantmaking. Previously, Emily served as special projects manager for IslandWood, the environmental learning center on Bainbridge Island. Before entering the non-profit arena, Emily was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm. In addition to various corporate strategy engagements, her work at BCG included an urban development strategy for the city of Oakland. Emily earned an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and non-profit management. She also earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford in Human Biology. She lives in Wallingford with her husband and their son.

Jenn Ramirez Robson is an active member of the Burien community and parent of two children. She is a member of the Gregory Heights PTSA in the Highline School District. She is a management analyst for the City of Burien. Formerly, she worked for the City of Seattle, where she was actively involved in a number of community engagement projects, chaired the Latino City Employees Association, and was a part of the Race and Social Justice Initiative team.

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