2023 PROGRAM SPEAKERS
Dr. Steven McKinnon
Dr. Steven McKinnon is a professor at Renton Technical College (RTC). He has facilitated business classes at RTC for the past two years. Dr. McKinnon started his higher education career at Fayetteville Technical Community College as the Chair of the business department.
Preceding his higher education career, Dr. McKinnon spent fifteen plus years in the restaurant and hospitality industry. There he gained an extensive amount of hands-on leadership and management experience with roles in general management, district management, and regional training management.
Dr. McKinnon can often be found speaking at DECA Leadership Conferences, during WBW programs, and at the Black Male Summit at Highline College. He gets to live out his life-long dream lakeside in Kirkland, Washington. His interests are education (life-long learning), jazz, and learning to play chess.
Dr. McKinnon will be teaching Business 101, Teamwork, and Leadership at all of WBW’s programs.
Tony North
Tony will be speaking at both of our virtual camps and at University of Puget Sound.
Stacey Black and Ruth Kaneko from BECU
BECU is a credit union originally established to serve employees of The Boeing Company. BECU was founded as Fellowship Credit Union in 1935 by 18 Boeing employees, and was named Boeing Employees’ Credit Union for much of its history. Its headquarters are located in Tukwila, Washington.
Stacey Black – Stacey Black is a fierce advocate for financial literacy, and through financial education, she’s able to help people act on their finances and make a real impact on their lives. For over two decades, Stacey has frequently spoken on behalf of BECU’s financial education programs for adults, school-age children, teenagers, and college students. These programs cover topics such as budgeting, understanding credit, debt reduction, and more.
Ruth and Stacey will be holding a Financial Reality Fair at both of our virtual programs.
Cynthia Seidel
Cynthia Seidel is an educational consultant and is the owner of On Course College Consulting. She supports students throughout their college planning process – from identifying majors and career interests to deciding which colleges to apply to and helping students develop strong applications. She works with students who are applying to colleges in the U.S. and internationally.
Cynthia will be the College Knowledge speaker at both of our virtual camps.
Dr. Scott Kronlund
Dr. Kronlund is a Family Physician and Certified Physician Executive. He holds a medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine as well as a Master of Science degree in Preventative and Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin. He has devoted more than 30 years working in healthcare as a private practitioner, hospital and clinic executive, and healthcare consultant to hospitals and medical staff around the country.
Dr. Kronlund’s participation with Washington Business Week dates to 2008 when he first volunteered to serve as a Clinical Advisor (“CA”) for the newly-created WBW Healthcare Pathway. The transformation that he witnessed among the students was amazing as they moved from a shy group of strangers upon arrival into an integrated team of colleagues and friends delivering an outstanding work product by week’s end. Since that time, Dr. Kronlund has served as “Chair of the Week” on multiple occasions and looks forward to this one week out of the year when he can share his professional life experiences with young, eager minds.
Dr. Scott Kronlund will be one of the Telehealth breakous speakers for our virtual camp on June and our day program at Renton Technical College.
Dana Allison
Dana Allison is a 3x founder and the CEO and Founder of Trova Health, building the foundational infrastructure for mental healthcare globally. Dana started Trova Health with a team of amazing people after stepping down from CEO of IM Your Doc, a real-time, HIPAA compliant mobile messaging application. Under her leadership, IM Your Doc went from beta to market launch and, since, has strategically scaled to reach more than 400 practices and thousands of patient users and is profitable.
Having lived in 6 countries and having been trained in medicine, research and entrepreneurship, Dana has been central to building Trova from ground up, leveraging her own professional experiences to help hone and evolve the product. With an unparalleled commitment to care, innovation and the rapidly-evolving healthtech market, Dana has worked to create and develop a platform that meets the unique needs of the global mental healthcare market.
Prior to starting Trova Health, Dana was the founder of Women’s World Health Initiative which leveraged technology to improve prenatal, delivery and postpartum health of women in rural Senegal. She has also spent time in Ethiopia and Thailand, focusing on healthcare in the developing world, and working with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). She holds a double H.BA in political science and public policy with honors from the University of Chicago and attended medical school at the University of Utah.
Dana Allison will be one of the Telehealth breakous speakers for our virtual camp on June and our day program at Renton Technical College.
Fred Foose
Fred is currently the Marketing Director of True World Foods. He has over 40 years of retail and wholesale experience. During those years he has mentored and coached multiple people up through the ranks of corporate leadership. He is a proven leader with expert knowledge in all aspects of retail advertising, marketing, merchandising, operations, and sales.
Fred has been involved with Washington Business Week for the past three years and has enjoyed the role of CA, and Judge during our virtual programs. He also sits on Washington Business Week’s Board of Directors and serves as the Treasurer.
Fred will be the Business breakout speaker at our first virtual camp on June.
Tracey Turcotte
Tracey has past facilitating/professional involvement with Washington DECA, FBLA, The Pacific Institute, Cispus Learning Centers, Gene Juarez and Skills Inc. Tracey is very passionate in helping young adults succeed in career and life.
Tracey will be the Closing speaker at both of our virtual camps.
Clark Roberts
Clark Roberts is the Executive Director and founder of Ultimate Vision. Ultimate Vision “Inspiring Others to See in New Ways” is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that teaches people of all ages that life does not stop when adversity occurs. It is not a matter of if, but when, life is going to happen. At age 24 Clark lost his sight to Retinitis Pigmentosa. He discovered that when life hits, you must learn how to embrace the challenge, find your potential and live life to its fullest!
Clark is a subject matter expert who has dedicated his life to sharing a message of hope and encouragement. From CEOs in Corporate America to students ranging in age from Preschool – High School, Clark, accompanied by his guide dog, has shared with thousands of people, providing tools and knowledge to inspire and motivate them to see their life and their opportunities differently. He shows each person how to reach beyond their limitations inspiring them to live a life of significance, one with compassion, kindness, and confidence. Through this increased awareness each person learns how to overcome the challenges that life can bring, celebrate their differences, and live a life that is full and rewarding, inspiring others to do the same. Clark has recently added to his subject matter the importance of “Resilience” and “Adaptability”.
Clark has a natural gift of humor, is married to his amazing wife Karrie, who he met on a blind date, and 2 adult children. His son Jacob is married and has a 1½ year old daughter which makes Clark an enormously proud grandpa “Papa” and a daughter, Rebekah who has just graduated from college and is now taking her Masters. All of them love to mess with him regarding his sight loss but also embrace fun adventures alongside of him. Clark is also an author and enjoys story telling. He is an outdoor and sports enthusiast, who loves to downhill ski, tandem cycle, water ski, drive rally cars, swim, and hike in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Clark will be the Opening speaker at our virtual camp on July and at our program at University of Puget Sound.
Rachel Head
Rachel is the Director of Your Big Year program and produces multiple major events including the Global Citizens Challenge, which hosts hundreds of young people over 4 day events and helps facilitate innovation and overseas multinational research forums organizations such as Microsoft and Google. Despite being remote, Rachel has helped manage on the ground projects as well, including both in Puerto Rico and in Maryland, USA.
Rachel will be the Business breakout speaker at our second virtual camp on July.
Daniel Sherman
Dan Sherman, director of the Sound Policy Institute, has research interests in the areas of sustainability, environmental science, and U.S. environmental law and policy. He co-authored an undergraduate textbook on environmental science and sustainability with W.W. Norton press. He is author of the book Not Here, Not There, Not Anywhere: Local Opposition and the Politics of Low-level Radioactive Waste Disposal (RFF Press, 2011), and many articles on hazardous waste cleanup, citizen activism, and sustainability in higher education. Sherman teaches courses that focus on the environment and its relation to politics and society.
Dan is the Clean Energy Breakout Speaker at our virtual July camp, and at our University of Puget Sound camp.
Ian Farrell
Ian Farrell has been an active supporter of WBW for nearly 15 years. Ian has been involved in each iteration of the Willapa Harbor Business Week Program, a Washington State in-school program for the Raymond, South Bend, and Willapa Valley schools, now in its 14th year.
Ian started as a company advisor and over the years has been a judge, Chair of the Week, leader of the local steering group/task force, and now a member of the WBW’s board of directors. Ian has seen the impact the program has on students as well as the community as a whole, and he is happy that the program has become cemented into the culture of the school districts and students throughout Washington State.
Ian is the Business Breakout Speaker at both of our camps at University of Puget Sound and Renton Technical College.
Bryce Ancheta
Bryce Ancheta is a real estate agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Realty Partners.
Bryce believes that relationships are at the heart of every real estate transaction and brings a personal dedication to each of his clients to ensure he understands their needs and delivers on their expectations. Whether working with first time home buyers, sellers or investor, Bryce’s professionalism and commitment to his clients provide for a smooth process and successful outcomes!
Bryce will be a CEO Roundtable Guest at our camp at University of Puget Sound.
Karen Hansen
Karen will be a CEO Roundtable Guest at both of our camps at University of Puget Sound and Renton Technical College.
Steve Dobosz
Steve taught high school students for 30 years at North Thurston HS and River Ridge HS in Lacey, WA. He coached cross country, track, and soccer at these high schools for 45 years. His teams, both male and female, have earned 10 league high school championships and one 4th place finish at state. He has coached premier league teams to 5 state championships, 1 district championship, and 1 national championship.
Steve has participated as a Company Advisor and/or Chair at Washington Business Week’s in-school, day, and international programs. He sat as a member of the Board of Directors for 5 years.
Steve is the Advanced Business Breakout Speaker at both of our camps at University of Puget Sound and Renton Technical College.
Anthony Covington
Anthony is a highly successful student service director who effectively partners with college staff and admin, community organizations, and industry representatives. He is committed to motivating and mentoring students and professionals in higher education.
Anthony is the College Knowledge Speaker at both of our camps at University of Puget Sound and Renton Technical College.
Jen Reed from Sound Credit Union
Jen Reed is the Vice President of Public Relations at Sound Credit Union.
Sound Credit Union operates as a financial cooperative. The Union provides financial solutions such as saving and checking accounts, loans, investment, credit and debit cards, insurance, ATMs, online banking, and other related services. Sound Credit Union serves communities in the State of Washington.
Jen will be holding a “Bite of Reality” session at our camp at Renton Technical College.
I learned so much about teamwork, leadership, and professionalism. Washington Business Week was my first time in a leadership position (as the CEO of the company). I learned what it meant to lead a team. At University of Washington, we have team projects in every class. Everything I learned directly applies to what I do now.
– Emmeline Vu, WBW alumna and University of Washington Student