From left: Satpreet Kahlon, Tracy Rector and Asia Tail on site at King Street Station

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. It only seemed natural for Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, to take on a leadership role at the Bullitt Foundation 27 years ago. Under his direction, the environmental philanthropic nonprofit…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. The Ivar’s Seafood Restaurants president has been a tireless advocate for businesses along Seattle’s central waterfront and also served as the public face in the campaign to raze the dilapidated Alaskan Way Viaduct. Bob Donegan…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. The Pacific Northwest was swept with grief when Southern Resident orca Tahlequah carried her dead calf for 17 days last summer. The death of Tahlequah’s calf wasn’t the first or the last loss to the…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. Tom Norwalk is in the business of selling Seattle to the world. During his 11-year tenure as president and CEO of Visit Seattle—a private, nonprofit marketing organization that essentially serves as King County’s tourism agency—the…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. After smoke loomed on seattle’s horizon for the two summers prior to this one, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz is making her Department of Natural Resources (DNR) a more visible force. Elected in 2016,…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. It’s been 12 years since Aidan Key founded Gender Diversity, an organization dedicated to creating supportive, inclusive environments, both physical and emotional, for transgender and gender-nonconforming children. Key is a powerful public speaker, not with…

Spaceflight Industries CEO Curt Blake

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. This former Seattle Seahawks CEO—who engineered the hiring of coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider—returned last year, after five years with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and three as chief operating officer of…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. Microsoft’s recent renaissance is nothing new; the local tech giant has seen substantial revenue growth since Satya Nadella took over in 2014. (Nadella made our Most Influential list that same year.) This year, Microsoft president…

Hunter Brooks (left) and Todd Fishman

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. As interim program director of the Social Justice Fund, Karen Toering has directed her many talents—as a grassroots organizer, cultural worker, and nonprofit arts and social justice consultant—into the black-led Giving Project. The project, the…

This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. Who hasn’t wondered how much money your boss or cubicle-mate earns? Earlier this year, Seattle-based Molly Moon Neitzel, CEO of Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, launched an ambitious pay transparency initiative that allows everyone to…