Leadership

Matthew Curry - Board Secretary

Growing up in Seattle, Matt remembers the days when South Lake Union draws included Denny’s, JAFCO, Athletic Awards, and the Washington Natural Gas blue flame building. Through work in mass communication and his current role as Operations Manager for the University of Washington School of Medicine in South Lake Union, Matt takes a keen interest in getting people talking and achieving as SLU has developed into Seattle's fastest growing neighborhood. Matt sees that we share an interest in making SLU a welcoming and inviting location that takes advantage of its geographic ‘centralness’ to offer a home, neighborhood and destination for both work and play. Toward that end he builds on his MPA from the UW Evans School to partner with neighborhood members, neighboring community groups, and staff and electeds in government to promote shared interests. With the Community Council’s established role representing the neighborhood with the City of Seattle, Matt believes we can have an impact in furthering these goals. In addition to his Board Secretary role, Matt also chairs the Policy & Planning Committee, which is the nexus for design review and neighborhood planning initiatives.

Geoff Eseltine

Geoff serves as the Director of Outdoor Leadership for the YMCA of Greater Seattle. Through his work he engages youth, families, and adults in environmental education and outdoor adventures that build leadership skills, support social-emotional learning, and cultivate community. Geoff grew up in Vermont and has been based in the Cascade neighborhood of Seattle since 2012. As the South Lake Union area has changed over the last ten years he has been an avid supporter of efforts to activate and connect people to parks, gardens, and outdoor spaces. In addition to his work with the Y, he has served in an advisory role for Woodland Park Zoo’s Seattle Youth Climate Action Now, Nature Consortium, and the University of Washington Youth Environmental Education Network.

Jacqueline Gruber - Vice President

Jacqueline Gruber serves as Public Policy Director for Vulcan Inc, tracking land use and transportation policy at the local level. Her background includes working with public agencies and private-sector stakeholders to balance the functional needs of growing communities with the careful art of hospitality, placemaking, and community. Jacqueline holds a Master’s Degree in Urban & Regional Planning from Portland State University and is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Her work is inspired by her love for travel to other cities where she partakes in adventures such as riding transit during rush hour, frequenting local markets, and lingering in pocket parks.

Julie Holland - Treasurer

Julie moved to Seattle and the South Lake Union neighborhood from Los Angeles in 2017. Seattle has quickly become home. Julie earned a Bachelor of Bioscience and MBA in Finance, which led to a business career spanning technical, marketing, and executive management positions. Her experience has largely been with early-stage companies introducing new products using new technology in fields such as medical instrumentation and software. There are two exceptions. She was responsible for the successful fund raising and development of a business incubator at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona that initiated the development of its successful 56-acre technology park. The last five years of her career were spent at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center launching a Technology Transfer Program. In 2008, Julie retired and was drawn to community engagement. She has served as a board member and treasurer of the Los Angeles Opera League, a 501 c3. She also was a docent and board member of the Symphonians, the volunteer docents for The Music Center of Los Angeles County. Julie currently serves as the treasurer of the Mirabella Seattle Residents’ Association and co-chair of the Mirabella Seattle Foundation’s annual fundraiser.

Sara Lazkani

Ross Leventhal

Ross is a principal at NBBJ where he has practiced for over 20 years. He was a young designer on the team that did feasibility studies on multiple sites around Seattle, which resulted in the move of the 350 person office from Pioneer square to South Lake union in 2006 to a new NBBJ designed office building, developed by Vulcan. He has been deeply involved in many projects in the neighborhood during the last decade of rapid change to the neighborhood. His goal for joining the board is to be active in helping to continue to shape and improve the neighborhood through an additional path, beyond projects. Beyond his busy life as an architect, Ross loves all that the greater Seattle environment provides for recreation. He has been an avid bike commuter since 1998. Weekends are spent in the mountains riding his mountain bike or climbing mountains for the pleasure of skiing them.

Terry McDonnell

Dr. Terry McDonnell is the chief nurse executive and senior vice president of operations for SCCA, leading the organizations clinical professional staff and services areas including lab, pharmacy, radiation oncology, and imaging as well as serving as design team chair for the SCCA’s clinical expansion project. In these roles, she is responsible for ensuring the delivery of oncology specialized patient-centric care. She is also an acute-care-certified, doctoral-level nurse practitioner who specializes in treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Prior to moving to the Seattle area, Terry was the director of cancer center clinical services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), served as president of the Boston Oncology Nursing Society and currently serves on the Washington Board of Advisors for the American Cancer Society.

Shawna McMahon - President

Renee Notkin

Von Perkins

Aaron Swain

Usonian houses, Aaron has been interested in architecture since high school, but took the long way around. Before attending graduate school in Eugene, OR, he studied German Literature at the University of Wisconsin and Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat in Freiburg, Germany. After Graduating in 1997, he spent a few years working in finance, publication, and finally construction work (single-family & multi-family/office), while taking a nomadic route to Seattle via Colorado and Utah for some epic winters on the slopes. Aaron has since built his experience in master planning, urban design, mixed-use, sustainable design, construction documents and now high-rise construction. His passion in architecture can be found in projects that relate to urban density, usually including some aspect of mixed-use occupancies, restoration/renovation of existing structures, and/or sustainable design. Aaron is currently working on his first High-rise project at Weber Thompson: The Waverly in South Lake Union. Although the tower is an all-residential building with no retail, the site is shared with Seattle Unity Church (designed by Olson Kundig), bringing the complexities and coordination efforts of a mixed-use building. The Waverly is scheduled to start construction in July of 2019.

Paul Wohnoutka

A local resident since 1988, Paul joined the Allen Institute in 2003 and has held leadership positions in facility development and operations most notably shaping the ground up design and 2015 occupancy of the Institute’s new headquarters in the South Lake Union neighborhood.  Paul is also a member of the Lake Union Village Community Advisory Committee reviewing operations, social services, needs and concerns for 42 tiny houses fully occupied by those experiencing homelessness.