Welcome, 2023 Washington Trust Board Members!
At the close of 2022, we said goodbye to two board members whose terms of service had ended: Alanna Peterson of Seattle and Clare Petrich of Tacoma. Our deepest appreciation goes to both of them for their longtime service.
Six new board members, elected at the Annual Members Meeting in Wenatchee last fall, begin a three-year term of service starting in 2023: Jan Bader of Vancouver, Fred Goldberg of Olympia, Stephen Waite of Edmonds, Connie Walker Gray of Seattle, Michael Walker of Vancouver, and Andrew Zellers of Seattle.
New Board Members:
Jeanette (Jan) Bader worked for the City of Vancouver for 22 years, first as Program and Policy Development Manager and then as Cultural Services Manager, before retiring in 2020. With master’s degrees in both public administration and social work from Eastern Washington University, Jan is passionate about preservation and economic vitality. She currently serves as the past president of the Clark County Historic Museum board of trustees and as vice chair of the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission. In her work with the City of Vancouver, she served as the city’s lead on the management of the federally designated, 366-acre Vancouver National Historic Reserve. Previous board service includes the Historic Trust, the Vancouver USA Regional Tourism Bureau, and Vancouver’s Downtown Association.
Fred Goldberg is the managing partner of Goldberg Investments and vice chairman of the board of trustees for The Evergreen State College. Fred is the co-founder, principal, and retired director of Saltchuk Resources, one of the largest marine services companies in the Pacific. He currently serves as a board member for the Gates Foundation’s Supply Chain Advisory Board and the Washington State Historical Society and is a member of the Olympia Rotary Club. Fred is the founding director of the Washington Center for Performing Arts and the Governors Festival of Arts and the founding president of Patrons of South Sound Cultural Activities. Previously, Fred served as the director of Columbia Bank and Key Bank of Washington; as chair of Tollycraft Yachts and the Civil Service Commission in Olympia; as advisor to USP, a pharmacological not-for-profit group that is a watchdog for world drug safety; and as board member for the Initiative for Global Development and St. Peter Hospital.
Stephen Waite is an architect and principal with Waite Conservation Architects in Edmonds, where he was chair of the Edmonds Historic Preservation Commission and philanthropy chair of the American Red Cross, NW Washington Chapter. He holds two architecture degrees from Washington State University, as well as a Conservation of Buildings and Interiors diploma from West Dean College and a master’s degree in Building Conservation from Bournemouth University, both in England. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is chair of the International Committee, Buildings Limes Forum in the UK. Steve has lectured, as well as consulted, on traditional materials, methods, and repair techniques with a focus on historic masonry mortars and plasters around the world. For each event, he collaborates with craftspeople, emphasizing their essential role in preservation. Steve enjoys designing and building contemporary wood furniture and frequently returns to Europe for work, golf, jazz, and single malt.
Connie Walker Gray is an architectural historian with more than 20 years of experience in cultural resource management. With a master’s degree in urban planning and a graduate certificate in historic preservation from the University of Washington, Connie lives in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood and works as Cultural Resources Group Lead and Senior Architectural Historian for Jacobs Engineering. She previously served as council member and treasurer for Historic Seattle and as a member of the Columbia City Landmarks review committee. Recent projects include oversight of the National Register of Historic Preservation nomination of the Montlake Historic District, cultural resources analysis for the adaptive reuse of the Ainsworth and Dunn building, and survey of more than 250 University of Washington buildings, landscapes, and artworks constructed prior to 1975.
Michael Walker is the executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association, a Community member of the Washington State Main Street Program. With bachelor’s degrees in business administration and urban planning from the University of Oregon, Michael is passionate about building bridges between the private and public sectors to improve the quality of life in our region. He previously served as lead economic development coordinator for the city of Banks, Oregon, where he focused on revitalizing the city’s Main Street, conducting business and community outreach and promoting industry and commerce. In his work with Vancouver’s Downtown Association, Michael implemented a parklet place activation initiative in response to the pandemic; developed a “Shark Tank”-style business recruitment initiative called the Launchpad program; launched a “Clean and Safe” program to increase visitor traffic to small businesses; and implemented six major art projects throughout Vancouver’s downtown core.
Andrew Zellers is a partner at Pacifica Law Group in Seattle. Andrew is a member of the firm’s real estate group and has a decade of experience in commercial real estate transactions. He has served as a commissioner on the City of Seattle’s Urban Forestry Commission and is a recent alumni of the Urban Land Institute Northwest’s Center for Leadership. Before attending the University of Washington School of Law and practicing law, he lived for several years in Prague where he taught English as a second language, reported on real estate and architecture for the Central and Eastern European Construction and Investment Journal, and organized international conferences on water resource issues for the Forum 2000 Foundation. Andrew is passionate about historic preservation and land conservation and regularly works with local land trust organizations on real estate matters, including conservation easements.