In 2003, Catherine Walker co-founded the Seattle-Northwest Chapter of the NACD and currently serves as President.  She is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) in Kent, WA, 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, Catherine 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.  She also served as a mayoral appointee for nine years to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, chairing that board twice during her tenure. 

Catherine is co-founder and director of Plymouth Healing Communities, a non-profit human services organization; she also served six years as the founding Board Chair.  Catherine earned her BS degree from the UW and her JD degree, cum laude, from Seattle University. She holds a certificate from Seattle University’s Executive Leadership Program.

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 President and Chief Executive Officer for Door To Door Storage and Moving, Inc. in Kent, Washington.  Door To Door pioneered an environmentally-friendly container design to provide a convenient, secure and cost-effective alternative to traditional self-storage and household moving. Today, Door To Door operates in more than 20 U.S. metropolitan markets and her leadership will position the company for growth and expansion.
 
Previously, Ms. Jacobs served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SafeHarbor Technology Corporation in Seattle, Washington.  During her tenure, SafeHarbor transformed from a dot-com company to a technology leader serving Fortune 100 enterprise clients. Its primary solution, SmartSupport™, developed under Ms. Jacobs’ leadership, combined software and business services to dramatically improve Web product support and was recognized with more than 16 industry distinctions. SafeHarbor received a Stevie Award for “Best Overall Company” in June 2007, while Ms. Jacobs was honored with 2 Stevie Award finalist distinctions as CEO and Chairman of the Year.

In addition, Ms. Jacobs had a 24-year executive career, managing multi-billion dollar business units in wireless and telecom with GTE Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Qwest Communications and AT&T. Ms. Jacobs' positions, as well as her board involvement, have spanned the country. She is currently lead independent director for Alaska Communications Systems (NASDAQ:ALSK), serves on the board executive committees for the National Association of Corporate Directors-Northwest (NACD) and the Seattle Humane Society.  She is a member of the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board for the Albers School of Business and Economics and has been an adjunct professor for Seattle University.

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.

Ed received his BS in Economics and Political Science from State University of New York, College at Oswego; a Master of Arts, Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma; and, a MBA from Santa Clara University. 

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.

Anne Farrell, President emerita and former President and CEO of the Seattle Foundation.  Service on the boards of REI, Washington Mutual, Blue Cross and Girl Scouts of USA.  Enjoys skiing, hiking and sailing.

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 he 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 the Firm, Mr. Felton has served companies in a number of industries, most notably energy, industrial, consumer, and financial services.  He has helped these companies on a wide range of issues including sustaining profitable growth, business restructuring, operations improvement, strategy, organization, international growth, compensation/incentive systems, M&A, and board/corporate governance.  He has worked extensively in North America and Asia, and has a great deal of experience in Europe, South America, and the Middle East.

He started the McKinsey’s Board Governance practice in the early 1990’s and until recently lead the Firm’s governance activities globally.  In this content, 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 helped a number of boards, including POSCO’s, improve their activities.

Mr. 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.  Lastly, in 2003 Consulting Magazine named him one of the twenty-five most influential management consultants in the world.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Mr. Felton worked for General Electric Company for several years in engineering and manufacturing positions.  He has an M.B.A. with distinction from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University.  He grew up in a small farming town in Eastern Washington.

Rick is an independent director of companies in diverse industries. In addition he provides consulting services to entrepreneurs and the financial services industry. 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 the Treasurer and a member of the board of directors of The Seattle Foundation and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors of the Fuqua School of Business, DukeUniversity. He serves on the board of directors of Premera Blue Cross, a Northwest managed care company, Flow International (NASDAQ – FLOW), a machine tool manufacturer, Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), an online travel service and Univar Inc., an international chemical distributor as well as several private equity backed technology companies. 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) and aQuantive (NASDAQ – AQNT), an on line marketing company, until it was sold to Microsoft (NASDAQ – MSFT) in August 2007,

Rick has an undergraduate degree in business with a major in Accounting from OhioUniversity, an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, DukeUniversity and is a CPA in WashingtonState.   He is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren.

Chuck Gottschalk is a VP – Financial Advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management.  He also is currently President of the Seattle chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.  For the seven years prior to joining Bernstein he was a Managing Partner for Tatum, a national financial and technology executive services firm, where he led the Pacific NW practice from start-up to 50 professionals and one of the firm’s consistently top performing markets.  Earlier in his career Chuck was a senior executive in three venture-backed emerging technology companies (CEO in two and CFO in one), where he successfully led equity and debt financings, strategic partnering initiatives, the spin-out of a corporate division (that ultimately went public), and the sale of two of the businesses to publicly-traded companies.  He spent the first 15 years of his career at Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Linda Killinger is the President of Olympic Consulting Partners, a venture capital and consulting firm. She is also teaching classes at the MBA school at the University of Washington. Before moving to Seattle she was the Executive Vice President of the Mercy Health Network (a 24-hospital firm), and Managing Director of Consulting Services for Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Recently she was also Vice Chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, a for-profit $45 Billion AAA rated GSE. She served as Chair of the Audit and Compensation Committees.

She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Seattle Art Museum, the Board of Directors of the University of Washington Foundation, Board of Trustees of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Governors of the Iowa State University Foundation, and a member of United Way's Million Dollar Roundtable.

She has completed post graduate work at the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, has an MBA from Drake University, and a Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University. She is a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), a Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and a certified design professional (IIDA).

Michael Laney has over thirty-five years of senior level executive management experience as President, Chief Operating Officer or Chief Financial Officer for divisions of Fortune 50 companies (Disney and Warner Bros.) as well as smaller, privately owned for-profit companies and not-for-profit organizations. His expertise is in the areas of board advisory services, strategic planning, SEC and financial operations, marketing and promotion, management information systems, organizational planning, leadership and communication.  He currently serves on two Advisory Boards:  Industrial Metal Supply Co. and Kravitz.  He is also a member of the METRO Audit Committee.

Mr. Leybold is Exec. Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Coast Crane Company. 

Mr. Leybold previously held CFO or board positions with The Port Blakeley Companies, RLC Industries and The Cutler Investment Group. He practiced public accounting with the Seattle office of an international firm until 1986. Mr. Leybold holds an MBA from the University of Oregon and graduated maxima cum laude from the University of Portland. 

He is a founding director of the Seattle Chapter of NACD, serves on the board of Ambia LLC, and is a member of Financial Executives International.

Mr. Meder was mostly recently the President and CEO of Cost U Less, Inc. a public company (NASD) that operated warehouse club style stores in Caribbean and Pacific island communities. He joined Cost U Less in 1999 to  turn around the company. After completing the turnaround and returning the company to profitability and growth, the company was sold to a Canadian retailer in Dec. 2007. Prior to that, Mr. Meder served as co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Drug Emporium NW. He had provided overall direction and vision for that company since 1981. During that time, he led the growth of Drug Emporium to twenty stores and $180 million in sales, employing approximately 1,600 employees. Prior to co-founding Drug Emporium NW, Mr. Meder was employed in the banking industry from 1974 to 1981 with Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio. 

Mr Meder is a graduate of The Ohio State University (BS Business Admin.) and Capital University (MBA).  He is currently a mentor in the Seattle University Mentor Program and sits on the Board of Regents at Seattle University.  He has been a member of NACD since 1990.
 

Arlen I. “Arnie” Prentice is Chairman and CEO of Kibble & Prentice, a Pacific Northwest financial services firm providing commercial and personal property and casualty insurance brokerage, a full range of employee benefit services, and investment advisory services to high net worth individuals and qualified retirement plan sponsors.
  
He also serves on the board of directors of Flow International (nasdaq), Northland Telecommunication Corporation and Pacific Marketing International. Mr. Prentice serves as a member of the USI Executive Management Board. USI is a Goldman Sachs Capital Partners IV Company. He served nineteen years on the Starbucks Coffee Company board of directors and as the non-executive chairman of Percon Inc. (nasdaq) for eight years. He is also a principal of the Prentice Family Partnership which invests primarily in early stage Pacific Northwest companies including the Northwest Drug Emporium franchise (sold to Longs Drugs), Optiva Corporation – maker of the Sonicare toothbrush (sold to Phillips), Wizards of the Coast (sold to Hasbro), Advanced H2O (sold to LaSalle Partners) and Spider Staging (sold to Flow International).
 
Mr. Prentice is a member of many professional and civic associations at the international, national and local levels, including the Million Dollar Round Table, the Board of Trustees for the Seattle World Trade Center, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Business Alliance and the Methow Conservancy.

Ms. Rorem is President and Chief Executive Officer of ClearMedical, Inc. , and serves on the Board of Directors of Flow International (NASDQ: FLOW). Prior to joining ClearMed, Sandra served as Chief Executive Officer of Medalia HealthCare, LLC, a medical practice of 350 doctors in 50 clinics with a $189 million operating budget and $40 million capital budget. In addition, Sandra led and implemented strategic planning efforts for the merger and acquisition of primary care and associate lines of business for two major health systems, and built the infrastructure to manage over 100,000 full risk managed care lives.

Before joining Medalia, Sandra served 17 years with the Providence Health System where she held numerous key executive positions. She was a founding member of the Leadership Institute, and has presented at numerous conferences on a variety of healthcare topics. She is a Board Certified member and Diplomat in the American College of Health Care Executives, and a member of the American College of Medical Practice Administrators. She holds an MBA from the University of Washington.

Evelyn Cruz Sroufe is a securities partner with the law firm Perkins Coie, and a frequent speaker and author on corporate governance issues. Ms. Sroufe also serves as a board member of the Virginia Mason Healthcare System.

Ms. Sroufe is past director of Willamette Industries, Inc., Portland, OR, and Past President and CEO of The WebSea Group, Inc. She was a Vice President with Microsoft Corporation and a Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations with Visio Corporation.