Team

Nick Quinlan

Executive Director
[email protected]

Nick is an alumnus of Washington Business Week offshoot Junior Achievement Business Week, attending every year of high school, it was his favorite part of the summer. He credits Business Week with giving him the foundations to succeed in his career. Prior to joining as WBW’s Executive Director, Nick was a passionate volunteer, serving as a Company Advisor and appointed Chair of the Week.

A graduate of Western Washington University’s College of Business and Economics, Nick’s professional experience includes marketing and engineering roles for Washington based Ethoseo and NYSE listed Twilio (formerly SendGrid). Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of the Certified B-Corp Major League Hacking, a company focused on providing experiential technical education to high school and college students. Nick also served on the board of Northwest Education Access a Washington non-profit supporting low-income young people in their education.

Nick lives in Seattle. He is always on the lookout for a loon and will passionately tell you about the birds he’s seen recently, or a new favorite read.

Gena Post, Ed.D

Director of Educational Programs
[email protected]

Dr. Gena Post is a dedicated leader in the nonprofit educational sector and a lifelong Northwesterner. She holds a Doctorate in Education from Seattle University and a Master’s in Public Health from Oregon Health & Science University.

Gena began her career at Washington Business Week (WBW) in 2019 as a Program Recruiter and was swiftly promoted to Director of Operations within the same year. In this role, she led the transition of the curriculum to a virtual platform and introduced industry-specific content, significantly enhancing the organization’s offerings. After serving as Interim Executive Director in 2022, Gena was officially appointed to the position in January 2023. As she now transitions into her role as Director of Educational Programs, she continues to apply her deep expertise in strategic learning design to significantly impact WBW.

In addition to her professional roles, Gena is a board member at Northwest University and a council member in the Kent School District, where she focuses on policy development and the enhancement of educational quality.

Gena has been happily married to her husband Travis since 2020. They enjoy life in West Seattle with their dogs and cat. An avid marathon runner, Gena has completed 15 marathons, with the most memorable taking place in Honolulu in 2022. Currently training for her 16th marathon, she is often spotted running along Alki Beach, rain or shine.

Samantha Peart

Bookkeeper

Samantha is a Pacific Northwest native, she grew up in Gig Harbor, WA. Her first job right out of high school was an accounting assistant in the Accounting department at the University of Puget Sound. She decided that Accounting was a great career choice and then went on to get her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Central Washington University. She has over 15 years of accomplished work in the field of Accounting and has worked for very large and small organizations. She enjoys working with nonprofit organizations and feels that providing them with her accounting knowledge is her way of helping further their mission. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and is an avid gardener, she loves to grow fruits and vegetables in her garden.

Danielle Ina Urmaza

Marketing and Program Specialist

Dani comes from a small town in the Philippines, but she considers herself as a citizen of the world. She graduated with a degree in Business Management in 2014, and she has then started and managed small businesses throughout the span of her career.

In 2022, she joined Washington Business Week as a part-time dedicated assistant. A few months after, she joined the organization full-time as a Marketing and Program Specialist.

Outside of work, she enjoys language learning, cooking, traveling, and leading a healthy active lifestyle.

Aiyana Holloway

Operations Manager

Aiyana grew up in the Pacific Northwest lived on Vashon Island for the first 20 years of her life. She earned her associate degree in Psychology from Seattle College in 2018. She is now a senior at the University of Washington Tacoma and will be graduating with her bachelor’s degree in Communications in 2022. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the national parks near where she lives and playing with her dog.

Brandon Rosenbaum

Student Recruiter and Program Assistant

Brandon has a passion for helping others achieve their goals and objectives through careful planning and accountability. He believes by taking this experience and the desire to teach and guide students about finance, business, and sales processes will be an asset to the Washington Business Week programs. 

Brandon is a graduate of Washington State University with a BA in Finance and Economics and is a member of the Board of Advisory for the school of business at Washington State. He started his career in San Francisco as part of the financial services industry including insurance, banking, investments, mortgages and more. He moved back to the Puget Sound area nearly 20 years ago and enjoys the outdoors and all the area has to offer. Brandon also has two teen daughters of himself that keeps him on his toes.

Noor Kaur

Office Manager

Noor, born in India, relocated to the United States as an infant and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. After recently graduating from high school, Noor made the decision to take a gap year before heading to the East Coast for college.

In 2021, Noor became a student in the Telehealth program at WBW, honing her skills and gaining invaluable knowledge. A year later, she took on an intern role at the UW Tacoma Camp, further expanding her experience within the organization. Now, as of 2023, Noor has joined WBW on a full-time basis, assuming the responsibilities of an Office Manager.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Noor indulges in a variety of passions during her leisure time – such as reading, shopping, traveling, and engaging in rheumatological research.

Jerry Li

Intern

Jerry was born in China and has enjoyed living on the East Coast and Midwest before moving to Bellevue. He is currently a senior at Interlake High School.

In his freshman year of high school, Jerry joined WBW as part of the Business and Advanced Business pathways, where he developed skills and relationships with the organization. Since then, has worked as a WBW summer intern and researcher before joining WBW’s staff as a full intern.

Outside of school and work, he enjoys replicating restaurant recipes at home, competing at debate tournaments, and going on excursions to the nearest shopping mall. He looks forward to meeting campers and students this summer!

Liam Vanderkolk

Intern at the Virtual Camp

Hi! My name is Liam Vanderkolk, and I’m a sophomore at North Creek High School! I love being active, and my passion is programming! I was introduced to Washington Business Week last summer, and had the privilege of learning a lot from my peers and mentor, Steve! I am very excited to work with Washington Business Week, and to work towards creating an environment that will be fun and challenging! I’m also looking forward to learning new things and making more memories with everyone at WBW!

Smriti Upadhya

Intern at Northwest University

Hi everyone!! My name is Smriti Upadhya and I’m currently a junior at Liberty Highschool. I’m so excited to be an intern at Northwest University!! Last year I was a part of the business pathway at Renton Technical College. I had a lot of fun and learned so much from my amazing mentor and company D!! A little bit about me: I love playing volleyball and I’m also a henna artist! I can’t wait to meet all of you and make amazing memories this summer at WBW!

Abigail Nakimuli

Intern at Northwest University

Hi everyone!! My name is Smriti Upadhya and I’m currently a junior at Liberty Highschool. I’m so excited to be an intern at Northwest University!! Last year I was a part of the business pathway at Renton Technical College. I had a lot of fun and learned so much from my amazing mentor and company D!! A little bit about me: I love playing volleyball and I’m also a henna artist! I can’t wait to meet all of you and make amazing memories this summer at WBW!

Tejpreet Samra

Intern at Northwest University

Hi! My name is Tejpreet Samra. I am an incoming senior at Kentridge High School and am pursuing a business degree at Green River College through the running start program. Throughout high school I have held various leadership roles in community organizations such as The American Red Cross, Sikh Student Association and Paroee Kaurs. Previously, I, along with my company have won the WBW competition as a telehealth company! I look forward to coming back this year as an intern!

Angelina Lim

Resident Assistant at the University of Puget Sound

Hi everyone! My name is Angelina and I’m currently a senior at Columbia River High School. My hobbies and interests are always on rotation, but I love reading, listening to music, fashion, photography and binge watching shows. This will be my third year with WBW, so I’m very excited to come back this time around as a team member!

Kyle Wei

Resident Assistant at the University of Puget Sound

Hi everyone! My name is Kyle Wei and I am currently a junior at Skyline High School. After an amazing experience at WBW last summer, I couldn’t be more excited to return this year as part of the WBW team. I can’t wait to see you all this summer!

Tillie Trinidad

Resident Assistant at the University of Puget Sound

Hello, I am Tillie Trinidad. I am currently a full-time student at Washington State University. Majoring in Elementary Education. I was a RA last year during Washington Business Week and I loved it! This was such an amazing opportunity to see students participating in an event that they enjoyed! I really got to learn a whole different perspective of the business world and learned new ways of engaging with new people. I loved being involved with such a welcoming environment with such passionate and intelligent students! That I thought I should come back again!