At the close of 2019, we said goodbye to four board members whose terms had ended: Tanner Dotzauer of Wenatchee, John Lantz of Gig Harbor, Pat McCutcheon of Ellensburg, and Steve Stroming of Seattle. Our deepest appreciation goes to all of them for their service.

Three new board members, elected at the Annual Members Meeting in Spokane last fall, began a three-year term of service this year: Claudia Kiyama of Langley, Elizabeth McGree of Yakima, and David Timmons of Port Townsend. In addition, Teresa Bendito of Wenatchee began a one-year term through our Young Professional position. Patrick Hanley, who filled our Young Professional board position last year, has transitioned to begin a full three-year term on the board.

New Board Members:

Claudia Kiyama, an architect and historic preservation consultant living in Langley, holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía in Mexico City. She partnered with the Washington Trust to survey Latino heritage sites across King County for the Revisiting Washington heritage tourism site and volunteered with the Ballard Historical Society for the “Mapping Historic Ballard” project, surveying historic structures in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. She has lectured publicly on diversity in historic preservation, including at the 2018 RevitalizeWA conference and most recently for a 2019 presentation with the Tacoma Historical Society. As a member of 4Culture’s Beyond Integrity team, Claudia works to identify inequity in current preservation processes, engage local decisionmakers in embracing new standards, and foster stronger voices for advocates throughout the region.

Elizabeth Morrier McGree comes from four generations of Yakima Valley hop farmers. She is Vice President of Morrier Ranch, the Morrier family’s hop farm which produces numerous award-winning hop varieties. As Vice President of JEM Development Real Estate, Inc., she leads a team that leases custom office spaces and manages hotels. She oversaw the development of the historic Hotel Maison, a former Masonic temple listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She is also extremely active in the community, sitting on boards for Washington Tourism Alliance, Heritage University, Washington Hop Commission, and Yakima Tourism Board.

David Timmons has been interested in all things historic since a young age, when at 16 years old he was the youngest charter member of the Livingston County Historical Society in his hometown of Howell, Michigan. He holds degrees from Northwestern Michigan College and Michigan State University, with majors in Parks and Recreation and Community Development and minors in Criminal Justice and Economics. With a 43-year career in municipal management, David spent 20 years as the City of Port Townsend’s first City Manager before retiring in 2019. David is also a long-standing member of the International City Management Association and was awarded the 2018 Award of Excellence by the Washington City Management Association.

Teresa Bendito is a student at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. For the past two years, she has served as a community organizer for The Trust for Public Lands in Wenatchee, working to renovate Kiwanis Methow Park, a small neighborhood park in the City of Wenatchee’s southern end. Towards this end, she founded Parque Padrinos, a 120-member community and neighborhood stewardship group with the goal of creating community ownership of the park. She also serves as President for the Community for the Advancement of Family Education (CAFE), registering new voters at community events across Wenatchee. Teresa was a Washington Trust PreserveWA Fellow in 2019, wherein she attended the National Main Street Conference in Seattle.

 

For the full roster of current Washington Trust board members, visit our Board of Directors page.