Speakers

A successful entrepreneur and passionate impact leader, Spencer Oberg is an active partner in several for profit and non profit companies. He is an accomplished public speaker, with a TED Talk under his belt, an educator who has created and hosted entrepreneurship seminars and events, and the president of several Toastmasters clubs.

Spencer also spent a total of 8 years in prison. His experience with the criminal justice system taught him that we have much to learn about how to successfully deal with crime and other social issues, and from this he developed a passion for informing public opinion on criminal justice reform.

Karen Olson is the Chief Marketing Officer of the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass. An innovator who has spent more than 25 years developing compelling customer experiences, Karen has received national attention for launching a series of digital experiences at the Space Needle, to help keep its landmark experience tech-forward, in the news and, more importantly, in the hearts and minds of its guests.

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Blair Payson joined Olson Kundig in 2004 and has worked on both architectural and exhibit design projects, including the Century Project for the Space Needle, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center, and [storefront] Olson Kundig, as well as several residential projects across the Western United States and Mexico. A maker at heart, Blair is an architect who revels in the details.

MATT HAYES joined the staff of the Museum of Flight in March 2006. However, he really began his involvement with the Museum in 2000, as a B‑17 restoration volunteer, something he did until the aircraft went on display in 2009. Hayes has held many posts, from Controller, to Vice President of Finance and Administration and CFO, to Executive Vice President. In his current role as President and CEO, Hayes is responsible for directing the Museum’s long-term strategic planning process and ensuring that the Museum reaches its vision of becoming the foremost educational air and space museum in the world.

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REBA GILMAN is the founder and first principal/CEO of Raisbeck Aviation High School (RAHS). In this role she successfully built the program from the ground up, recruiting students and families and developing key partnerships to ensure stakeholder support for the school’s mission of “preparing students for college, career, and citizenship, in the context of aviation and aerospace.” The school has become a nationally recognized model of excellence, with students achieving in the top 1% in the nation; annually, approximately 70‑80% transition to STEM education post-secondary programs.

Kevin Wallace oversees all development and acquisition activity for Wallace Properties. He is also responsible for all legal matters for the company’s three divisions: Brokerage, Property and Asset Management, and Investment/Development.

Wallace Properties builds sustainable, transit-oriented mixed-use development projects in urban centers throughout the Puget Sound region. Under Kevin’s leadership, Wallace was awarded NAIOP Developer of the Year in 2012 by the Washington Chapter of NAIOP.

Ben Hammer, CFA, is a sales executive for Vanguard, where he is dedicated to forming and sustaining long-term partnerships with Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) in the Pacific Northwest. In this role Ben consults with advisors on portfolio construction, economic research, financial planning, investment advice, and RIA business management topics.

Serving his third-term as King County Executive, Dow Constantine leads one of the largest regional governments in the United States. He is focused on meeting two of the greatest generational challenges of our time: building equity and opportunity, and confronting climate change. Guiding every initiative is the goal of becoming the most forward looking, best run government in the nation. Throughout his public service career, Dow has been an outspoken advocate for environmental protection, public transit, and government reform.

Since he was elected Executive in 2009, Dow has worked to instill a culture of performance, engaging and empowering employees to continuously improve how King County does business. His reform agenda put King County on sound financial footing, his biennial budgets have consistently maintained costs below the rate of inflation and population. Since 2009, King County has taken advantage of its strong bond ratings to strategically re‑finance 14 times for total debt service savings of more than $500 million.

Since his arrival to Bellevue in summer 2018, Ray has been the catalyst for the new vision of PACE: bringing together arts, culture, and technology for a unique 21st century cultural arts hub to serve Eastside residents and their families for generations. He has an extensive history working on the development of new performing arts spaces, both commercial and not-for-profit, and on the programming of exciting arts and cultural events all over the world.

Ray’s work in the development of innovative performance spaces ranges from small Off-Broadway Theaters on 42nd Street in New York City, to the recently opened 650,000 sq. ft./$450M (USD) Zorlu Center for the Performing Arts in Istanbul, Turkey, to a new 2000-seat Theater designed specifically for Broadway productions located in Shanghai’s North Bund neighborhood.

Sue Desmond-Hellmann is a physician, scientist, and philanthropist, who has devoted her career to improving the human condition. As a pioneer in healthcare for more than 30 years, she hass driven major developments toward the eradication of disease, poverty, and inequity. She credits a move to Uganda in 1989 — to work on HIV/AIDS and cancer alongside her husband, Nick — as a turning point. “It was so profound to recognize … that all the learning I had done to become a doctor didn’t matter at all if I didn’t make a contribution,” she says.

Today, as CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann leads the organization’s vision for a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. Drawing on her diverse experience in both the public and private sectors, she creates an environment for talented and committed individuals to help more children and young people survive and thrive, combat infectious diseases that hit the poorest hardest, and empower people — particularly women and girls — to transform their lives.

Michael DeAngelo is a Partner at HolacracyOne, helping organizations make the transition to self‑management organizational models. HolacracyOne was founded in early 2007 to help the emerging Holacracy practice expand its reach and impact, and to offer guidance in self‑management through coaching, training, and software tools.

Prior to joining HolacracyOne, Michael worked as a Director and C‑level executive in multiple industries, including healthcare, government, natural resources, entertainment, and information technology.

Mark Hallenbeck is the Director of the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC), a cooperative, interdisciplinary transportation research agency, at the University of Washington (UW.) Mark has been with TRAC for over 33 years. He currently teaches Intelligent Transportation Systems and Urban Transportation Planning in Civil Engineering at the UW.

Much of Mark’s research involves the collection, use, summarization, and reporting of data that describe transportation system use and performance. He is currently working with multiple agencies in the region to examine how “big data” and new technology can be used to improve regional mobility, while examining how changing mobility options are affecting land use decisions.