Craig Cole is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Brown & Cole Stores of Bellingham, Washington, the oldest grocery company in the region. Brown & Cole is a regional supermarket chain of 31 stores and approximately 2,000 employees, and one of Washington's largest privately-held companies.

Mr. Cole graduated from Western Washington University's Fairhaven College. He was a state legislative aide and held management  ositions with the State of Washington and Foss Launch and Tug Company before joining Brown & Cole as Vice President in 1979, becoming its President and CEO in 1989. Mr. Cole has been a local elected official and has received several assignments from Washington's Governors, including appointment to the Governor's "Kitchen Cabinet", the State Human Rights Commission, Board of Trustees of Western Washington University, Governor Commission on Early Learning and the Governor's Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. He has also served on a blue ribbon panel on state school construction funding, on the State Public Lands Advisory Committee, and on the Washington State Energy Strategy Advisory Committee. In his home area of Whatcom County, he led a citizen task force in developing and implementing a long-range plan for preserving highly valued natural areas.

Craig serves on the Board of Directors of Puget Energy (Washington's largest energy utility), on the Board of Regents of the University of Washington, and on the Washington Roundtable, an organization of 40 CEOs of Washington's top companies who are involved in shaping public policy. Craig also has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Associated Grocers of Seattle, the region's largest grocery wholesaler. Brown & Cole is its largest shareholder. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Food Marketing Institute (Washington, DC).

Brown & Cole is the recipient of numerous local, state, and national awards for entrepreneurship, strategic leadership, and public service. Craig has been named Citizen of the Year (Whatcom County Board of Realtors), Business Newsmaker of the Year (Bellingham Herald), Businessperson of the Year (Whatcom County Business Pulse Magazine), one of 100 newmakers in a Century of Community History (Bellingham Herald), and Western Washington University's 18th Distinguished Alumnus (2002). He was also awarded the prestigious Spirit of America Award for Washington State for civic leadership (National Grocers Association); and, in 1994, he was spokesperson for a delegation of business leaders who met at the White House with President Clinton on the topic of healthcare reform.

Among the companies that he has represented in well over 100 corporate transactions are Starbucks; VoiceStream Wireless; Westin Hotels; Sur La Table; Aventail; Maveron; HaloSource; Seattle SuperSonics; Classmates.com; Oh Boy! Oberto; Cucina! Cucina!; and Sambazon.   He has been recognized by Lawdragon Magazine as one of the 500 Best Lawyers in the United States, by Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Business Lawyers--Corporate/M&A,” by Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Governance, and by Washington Law & Politics as a “Super Lawyer.” He currently serves as a director for Sahale Snacks, Inc., InSpa Corporation, and Calidora Skin Clinics, Inc., and between 1986 and 2000 was outside general counsel and corporate secretary to Starbucks Corporation.and corporate secretary to Starbucks Corporation.

Annette Jacobs is currently the West Area President for Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:  LEAP) which operates under the Cricket brand name. She is responsible for customer growth, field management and profitability for Cricket operations from Kansas/Nebraska to the west coast, which represents more than $1 billion in annual revenue and 2 million customers. Jacobs joined Cricket in 2010, with more than 25 years of experience in the wireless, telecommunications and technologies industries. Prior to joining Cricket, she was president and CEO of Door to Door Storage Inc. Additionally, Jacobs has held executive leadership positions at SafeHarbor Technology, Qwest Communications, Inc., Verizon Wireless, GTE Wireless and Contel Cellular. Jacobs currently serves as an independent director for Alaska Communications Systems (NASDAQ:   ALSK), where she was previously lead director for 4 years.  In addition, she is co-chair for the Seattle chapter of Women Corporate Directors (WCD) and a former adjunct professor for the Albers School of Graduate Business and Economics at Seattle University.  She was recognized as a Women of Influence by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2009 and has twice been a Stevie Award finalist.

Catherine Walker is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), the largest consumer co-operative in the U.S. Prior to joining REI, she was Vice President for Administration/University Counsel for Seattle University and Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for Westin Hotels & Resorts. While at Westin and Seattle University, Walker served for nearly eight years on REI's Board of Directors, chairing the Nominating & Governance Committee and the Audit & Finance Committee and serving as Vice Chair of the Board. Walker is co-founder and director of Plymouth Healing Communities, and she also served six years as the founding Board Chair. In 2003, Walker co-founded the Northwest Chapter of the NACD and currently serves as Secretary and Past President.

Jeff Bird is a shareholder at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in the Portland Office. He has over 25 years of experience assisting clients with complex business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, tender offers, proxy contests, divestitures for public and private companies, corporate finance, securities law and venture capital transactions. Bird is a business transactional lawyer who has extensive knowledge of SEC compliance matters and advises companies on Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance issues, corporate governance matters, and compliance with the periodic reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He advises and works closely with boards of directors, board committees, special committees, and management. In 2008, Bird served as interim General Counsel of Movie Gallery, Inc. Prior to joining Schwabe in 2006, he was a senior associate in the corporate group of Jones Day in Washington, D.C. and was an equity owner at Garvey Schubert Barer, where he was a former co-chair of the Business Practice Group and head of the firm's securities law practice in the Portland office. Bird is Co-Chair of Schwabe's Corporate Finance and Securities Group and serves as outside general counsel to public and private companies. Currently, he is chairman of Business for Culture and the Arts and board member and chairman of the National Association of Corporate Directors Northwest Chapter – Portland. In addition, Bird serves on the board of Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation.

Ed Borey is an experienced Chairman, CEO and Board Member that has focused on growth and turnaround opportunities in a variety of global technology companies. He is the Past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WatchGuard (WGRD) Technologies. Prior to that Ed served as Chief Executive Officer of PSC (PSCX), Chief Operating Officer of Intermec (UNA) and in a variety of Executive positions in General Management, Marketing and Finance. Currently, Ed serves on the Board of AROTECH (ARTX). Prior Public Board experience includes WatchGuard (WGRD), PSC (PSCX) and MBrane (CNRT). This is augmented by experience in the Snohomish County YMCA Board of Trustees and participation in a number of Advisory Boards.

David Eskenazy currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of AegisLiving, a company located in Redmond, Washington specializing in assisted living and memory care. He spearheads Aegis's financial management, real estate development and strategic planning as well as their M & A activities. His business and financial experience spans 25 years and highlights an impressive history of fiscal planning and management expertise. Mr. Eskenazy served as the Chief Operating Officer of Investco Financial Corporation from April 2008 to September 2008, and its Chief Investment Officer from January 2007 to March 2008. Prior to joining Aegis, he spent 20 years in the hotel development and management business serving a variety of roles including Controller, Chief Investment Officer of with R.C. Hedreen Co. From October 1987 to November 2006, he held a number of financial positions, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, at R.C. Hedreen Co. Mr. Eskenazy served as Vice President of Investments for R.C. Hedreen Co. Prior to that, he served on the audit staff of Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now known as KPMG). Mr. Eskenazy has served on the board of directors for Coinstar for over 10 years. He is the Chair of the Audit Committee and has served on every committee of the board during his tenure with Coinstar. Mr. Eskenazy was involved in Coinstar as an investor prior to Coinstar Inc. initial public offering and at that time, he served as a board Observer on behalf of one of the largest stockholders, Hedreen Joint Venture.

Anne Farrell is President Emeritus of The Seattle Foundation and previously served as President and CEO of The Seattle Foundation. Previous volunteer commitments include: Trustee of Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Board member and officer of Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Board member Council on Foundations and Independent Sector. She has chaired the Boards of the Seattle Public Library Foundation, Lakeside School, Leadership Tomorrow, Nature Conservancy of Washington, Pacific Northwest Grantmakers Forum, The Seattle Rotary Club and The Alliance of Education. Currently she serves as Board member of KCTS Channel 9 Public Television, Seattle Symphony Foundation, Seattle University and the University of Washington Foundation. Anne chairs the Board of REI, previously served on Washington Mutual Bank and previously chaired the Board of PREMERA Blue Cross. 

Bob Felton is a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, Inc. Prior to retiring on August 1, 2005, he managed the Firm’s Seattle office, and managed the Seoul, Korea office from 1996 to 2001. He previously was a leader in the Los Angeles office from 1974 to 1996. During his time with McKinsey & Company, Mr. Felton has served companies in a number of industries, most notably energy, industrial, consumer, and financial services in North America and Asia, and has a great deal of experience in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Felton started McKinsey’s Board Governance practice in the early 1990’s and until recently lead the Firm’s governance activities globally. In this context, he has helped boards of directors on a wide range of issues, including board organization and processes; board recruiting; board roles in strategy, leadership development and risk assessment; director recruiting; and CEO recruiting, development and evaluation. While in Korea, he worked with the government on governance legislation, established a Director Training Institute and helped a number of boards improve their activities. He sits on the boards of Saltchuk Resources, Simpson Investments, and CoCo Communications. He is on the advisory board of BDA and is a board observer for PivotLink. He is recent past chair of the Board of Governors of the Washington State University Foundation. Felton writes and speaks frequently on the topic of corporate leadership and board governance. In the past year he has had articles published in Directors and Boards, Directorship, ISSue Alert, and the McKinsey Quarterly. He has been quoted in Business Week, Fortune, New York Times, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal and a number of other publications on corporate leadership and board governance matters. In 2003 Consulting Magazine named him one of the twenty-five most influential management consultants in the world and he was honored as a Directorship 100 member.

Rick is an independent director of companies in diverse industries. Rick previously held executive, operational and financial positions at CyberSafe, Wall Data and PACCAR and is the former Managing Partner of Ernst & Young's Seattle office. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors of the Fuqua School of Business, DukeUniversity and serves on the Board of Trustees of Scottsdale Healthcare, a three-hospital system in Scottsdale, AZ. He serves on the board of directors of Premera Blue Cross, a Northwest managed care company, Flow International (NASDAQ : FLOW), a machine tool manufacturer, Pendrell Corporation (NASDAQ: PCO), an intellectual property company, and Univar Inc., an international chemical distributor. He served on the board of Shurgard Self Storage (NYSE: SHU), an REIT until August 2006 when it was sold to Public Storage (NYSE:  PSA), aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT), an on line marketing company, until it was sold to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in August 2007, and PopCap Games, a casual game company until it was sold to Electronic Arts (NASAQ: ERTS) in August 2011.

Chuck Gottschalk currently serves on the board of the Northwest chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors and as a committee member in the Seattle chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth where he recently completed his term as president. In addition, Gottschalk serves on the advisory board of Whim W'Him and the investment committee of two nonprofits. For the past three years Chuck Gottschalk served as a VP-Financial Advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management. For the seven years prior to joining Bernstein he was a Managing Partner for Tatum, a national executive services firm. Earlier in his career Chuck was a senior executive in three venture-backed emerging technology companies (CEO and board member in two and CFO in one), where he successfully led equity and debt financings, strategic partnering initiatives, the spin-out of a corporate division, and the sale of two of the businesses to publicly-traded companies. He spent the first several years of his career as a CPA where he was a Director at Price Waterhouse (now PwC).

Timothy Leybold is a partner with the Northwest practice of Tatum CFO Partners and has previously held CFO or board positions with ICO Global Communications, Port Townsend Paper Corp., Ambia LLC, Port Blakely Companies, Forest Legacy Capital, RLC Industries and The Cutler Investment Group He practiced public accounting with the Seattle office of an international firm, holds an MBA from University of Oregon and graduated maxima cum laude from the University of Portland. In addition to leading many capital raising and financing transactions, Leybold has managed several merger & acquisition transactions. He is a founding director of the Seattle chapter of NACD and a member of the Financial Executives Institute.

Neil McReynolds is President of McReynolds Associates, a board governance consulting firm. The firm has consulted with boards and CEO's of for-profit, nonprofit and higher education organizations. For the past ten years he has been an adjunct professor, teaching board governance in the MBA program in University of Washington's Foster School of Business. McReynolds has chaired the board of Washington Dental Service and Horizon House. He is Director Emeritus of HomeStreet Bank where he served for 23 years. He also served on the board of Adinfonitum, an early-stage company, and currently is Strategic Advisor of Montlake Capital. He has chaired the board of many civic organizations such as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Seattle-King County Economic Development Council and has been president of organizations such as the Rainier Club and the Downtown Seattle Rotary Club. McReynolds has served on more than 50 boards, and is currently Vice Chair of the governing board at Eastern Washington University and a board member of the Northwest Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Evelyn Cruz Sroufe is a partner at Perkins Coie LLP, resident in the Seattle office. He practice emphasizes corporate finance, securities, acquisitions takeover defense, and governance matters. From 1998 through 2000, Sroufe was the Senior VP of Worldwide Operations for Visio Corporation, where she oversaw Visio's legal department. She is also a former director of Willamette Industries, served as president and CEO for the Websea Group, and is a former vice-president of the Microsoft Corporation. Sroufe was listed in the Best Lawyers in America (recognized for Corporate Law) and in Washington Law & Politics, "Washington's Super Lawyers". She speaks and writes frequently on corporate governance matters. Sroufe currently serves as a director of the National Association of Corporate Directors Northwest Chapter and Virginia Mason Medical Center.