Megan Bartot, Executive Assistant (Part-Time)

Megan is Paul Shoemaker's Executive Assistant, providing board, fundraising, and logistical support.

Megan spent the early years of her professional career in the account management department at advertising agencies large and small, was Marketing Manager at a local software company, and was Alumni Director at her former high school. Each role relied on her ability to juggle lots of detail while developing meaningful, sustainable relationships.

Megan believes deeply in service to others, having recently berthed a “Day of Giving” at her children’s elementary school. She’s volunteered with youth, the elderly, the poor and on environmental projects as long as she can remember.  Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8121 |  Email: meganb@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Lynn Coriano, Deputy Director

Lynn Coriano is responsible for day-to-day leadership, management, and strategy development at SVP Seattle.

Prior to joining SVP, Lynn provided capacity building support to a network of local youth development and education organizations; managed a local race relations initiative; and researched and wrote policy papers for environmental organizations.  She is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs where she received a Master in Public Administration.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Syracuse University.

In her spare time Lynn enjoys photography, mid-century modern design, movies, and travel. Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8122 |  Email: lynnc@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Sally Gillis, Program Manager – Collective Action

Sally oversees our Collective Action strategy, facilitates the Collective Action Teams and coordinates with other grantmakers around our shared interests in the education and environmental fields. She also manages capacity building efforts with other philanthropic organizations and hosts special events for our younger partners.

Before joining SVP, Sally worked for the Massachusetts Lt. Governor’s special task force on Housing and Homelessness and One Family, Inc. While in Boston, she received her Master’s in Macro Social Work from Boston University. Sally has a bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College in Psychology and American Studies.  Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8119 |  Email: sallyg@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Karen Johnson, Director – Partner Development

Karen Johnson shapes and stewards SVP’s Partner development and fund development efforts. Her goal is to get to know each and every SVP Partner personally – all 500+ of them! – and ensure they all have a unique and meaningful experience with SVP.  Most importantly, Karen helps Partners stretch and challenge themselves, discovering how they can make a greater impact in our community.

Prior to joining SVP, Karen consulted with corporations and non-profits, and worked in Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Before that, she worked in a variety of strategic and financial roles at Weyerhaeuser Company, including serving as the President of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation.   Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8125 |  Email: karenj@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Mike Quinn, Senior Manager – Capacity Building

Mike Quinn manages our grantmaking program and facilitates the committees that select new, and refund current, Investees each year.

A native of Colorado, Mike decided to pursue his passion for engaging people in social change by relocating to Seattle to join SVP.  Previously, Mike worked for El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs in their Fellowship program.  He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was also an active member of the Presidents Leadership Class.  Mike enjoys the outdoors, and has grown to appreciate the beauty of both the mountains and the water all in one spot! Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8120 |  Email: mikeq@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Willow Russell, Communications Director

As SVP Seattle's Communications Director, Willow has the enviable task of sharing stories of amazing individuals and organizations that are changing our world for the better.

Prior to joining SVP, Willow managed and facilitated communications campaigns among regional coalitions working to restore and protect the Mississippi River and Great Lakes ecosystems.  Willow has an MS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA in Environmental Studies from Hampshire College.  She’s a huge fan of farmers’ markets, movie marathons, anything that gets her out on the water, and roller derby (though her extreme klutziness relegates her to fan status only).  Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8124 |  Email: willowr@svpseattle.org |  LinkedIn

Paul Shoemaker, Executive Connector

Paul Shoemaker is SVP Seattle’s Executive Connector.  Anyone who’s met him knows why.  If you’re out to change the world, he’s there to connect you to the people and organizations on that same journey.  (He’s also the boss, so he does a little executive directing as well.)

Paul is committed to work in the community, serving on the boards of several organizations. He is the Founding President of Social Venture Partner International and currently sits on their board of directors, as well as the Board of the Microsoft Alumni Foundation and Partners for Our Children. Past work includes a recent term as Board Treasurer of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (2001-2007), Children’s Alliance in Seattle, (1996-2000) and Treepeople in Los Angeles (1987-1990). Paul was also recently named one of the “Top 50 Most Influential People in the Non-Profit Sector” by The NonProfit Times.  Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8123 |  Email: shoe@svpseattle.org | LinkedIn

Rebecca Stephens, Program Manager – Partner Development

Rebecca supports SVP's Partner development and volunteer matching efforts, working closely with Karen Johnson to help the members of our 500+ network take their giving and community involvement to the next level.

Prior to joining SVP, Rebecca worked at KidsQuest Children’s Museum as the Development & Marketing Director overseeing the organization’s annual giving program, donor engagement and marketing. During her six plus years at KidsQuest, she managed the membership program, community outreach, special events, advertising and social media. Read more...

Phone: 206.451.8126 |  Email: rebeccas@svpseattle.org |  LinkedIn

Board of directors

Victor Alcantara

Bio coming soon.

Emily Anthony

Emily has worked in the non-profit sector for her entire career, in many different capacities. At different organizations she has acted as line staff, administrative staff, consultant, board member, volunteer, fundraiser, and funder. As a result she has seen how non-profits work (or don't!) from many different perspectives.

Emily has been an SVP Seattle partner for almost 10 years, and helped to design the original SVP volunteer model for the first investees. Since then she has volunteered in many roles for SVP including the grant committee, advocacy policy committee, Lead Partner for Rainier Scholars, and the Portfolio Grant Committee, where she served as its Chair.  Read more...

Fraser Black

Since 1998 Fraser has been an active member of Social Venture Partners Seattle in the following areas:  K-12 Grant Committee, Portfolio Grant Committee, Advocacy and Policy Committee, and lead partner to grantees.  He has served as a volunteer on numerous grantee projects and as a board member for IslandWood and Powerful Schools.

Professionally, Fraser is a Managing Partner at Pioneer Square Properties, a real estate property management and development company.  In addition, he is an active angel investor and advisor to numerous startups in the Northwest.   Read more...

Norm Bontje

Norm and his wife Lisa joined SVP over ten years ago to explore and enhance their philanthropic interests and ideas through SVP’s unique model.  Norm served on and chaired Early Childhood Grant Committees, participates on the SVP Finance Committee, contributes to SVP’s Social Innovation Fast Pitch for-profit investment process.  He also serves on the Board of SVP Investee, College Access Now.

Norm is a graduate of the University of Washington and worked in the finance and investment community for 20 years, most recently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock’s alternative investments group.  Read more...

Janet Levinger, Board Chair

Janet Levinger has been an active community leader in the nonprofit sector since moving to the Seattle area in 1996. She is passionate about early learning and education advocacy, believing that investing in children, and especially young children, will not only improve their lives but will also have enormous positive outcomes for our community. She and her husband Will Poole joined SVP in 1997.

Austin McNamee

Austin joined SVP Seattle as a partner in 2010 after being blown away by the caliber of high-achieving, yet down-to-earth, philanthropists he met at a prospective partner event.

His passions have found a great home within the SVP community: serving on the Out of School Time grant committee, attending a Collective Impact and SVPI conference, planning and speaking at a partner meeting, enlisting in various SVP Seattle board committees, volunteering with Equal Opportunity Schools, and connecting with partners in the SVP Seattle network.  Read more...

Lisa Merrill

Lisa joined SVP in 1998 and has served on the Early Childhood Development Grant Committee, the K-12 Education Advocacy and Policy Committee, and the SVP Outreach Committee.  In 2007, she co-founded SVP’s Family Service Group, which provides opportunities for partners and their children to engage in community service projects.

Lisa is a professional photographer whose travel and cultural images have been published in numerous books, magazines and other media around the world.  Closer to home, she uses her photography skills to help non-profit organizations strengthen the impact of their communications.

Prior to founding Merrill Images, Lisa worked in high-tech marketing.    Read more...

Lisa Norton, Board Secretary

Lisa Norton is an active member of Social Venture Partners in Seattle, currently serving as SVP lead partner for Thrive by Five Washington and Passages Northwest, and as a member of SVP's Early Learning APC.

Professionally, Lisa maintains a law practice concentrating on organizational, governance and tax matters for nonprofit organizations. In addition to volunteering through SVP, Lisa volunteers her time to various nonprofits, currently serving as Chair of the Board of World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP), an international adoption and child welfare organization, and as a member of the Finance Committee of Bertschi School.  Read more...

Julie Pham

Julie Pham has served on the board of SVP Seattle and its Outreach & Engagement committee since 2012. She gave an Ignite style presentation entitled “Being Scrappy” at the 2012 SVP Annual Partners’ Meeting.

Julie Pham heads marketing at Avidian Technologies. Before that, she worked at Microsoft as a Windows Phone evangelist and as managing editor of Northwest Vietnamese News, the largest Vietnamese language newspaper in the region. She still co-owns the newspaper with her family.

In her free time, Julie blogs for Forbes.com and holds 9Others dinners. She heads Sea Beez, a capacity-building program for Seattle's ethnic media she founded in 2010. Read more...

Pam Robbins

Pam Robbins made the leap from the for-profit to the non-profit world when she and her husband, John, moved to Seattle in July, 2007. Prior to coming to the Emerald City, Pam had a small coaching business in Hollis, NH. Before that, she worked as a performance consultant for Hewlett-Packard.

Pam is still coaching and consulting, but now she focuses on mission rather than money. Her clients have included Jubilee Women’s Center, Senior Services, American Rivers, Community Youth Services, and ElderHealth NW. She joined SVP in April 2010, and, in addition to joining the board, became the lead partner for Denise Louie Education Center soon thereafter. Although she enjoys helping non-profits in all sectors, she feels particular drawn towards helping educational non-profits. Education, she believes, ends the need for many social services.  Read more...

Chris Rogers, Board Treasurer

Chris and wife Heidi joined SVP in 2001 to improve the quality of their personal philanthropy and in search of a more effective way to integrate their professional skills with their service interests.

Chris' interest in early learning and parent support began in a state of personal fear and wonder with the birth of their first child, and at SVP he has served on the Early Childhood Grant Committee, Portfolio Grant Committee, and Advocacy and Policy Committee.

At RBC Wealth Management, Chris helps families and business leaders harness their time and money to support their values.  He previously spent 10 years in a variety of general management and marketing roles at WRQ.  Read more...

Mimi Siegel

Since 1978, Mimi Siegel has served as executive director of Kindering, a nonprofit neurodevelopmental center helping infants and children with special needs. Kindering is one of the largest and most comprehensive centers in the US; its work has been honored locally and nationally.

Ms. Siegel has published several articles regarding early intervention, therapeutic child care and foster care. She is a founding member and past chairperson of the Early Childhood Development Association of Washington.

Mimi chairs strategic planning and external relations for the board of Amara. She has served on the board of trustees of Intiman Theatre (Vice-President and Chair of Strategic Planning as well as on the Artistic Director Search Committee), and United Way of King County Eastside Community Council.   Read more...

Todd Vogel

Todd joined SVP upon moving to Seattle in 2004.  His roles at SVP have included serving on an Environmental grant committee, chairing another Environmental Grant Committee and serving as member and as chair of the Portfolio Grant Committee.  Between 2009-11, he helped start and chaired SVP’s newly-created Environmental Advocacy Committee.

Outside of SVP, he is Managing Director of Loom, a foundation that funds the intersection of environmental causes and social equity. He also serves as Director of the International Sustainability Institute, a Seattle not-for-profit that brings international best practices in sustainability to the Puget Sound. The organization specializes in making people-friendly places in urban areas.  Read more...

Sherri Wolson

Sherri Wolson likes to joke that she joined SVP to make up for all the bad things she did as a lawyer. Although she likes antitrust law and appellate litigation, her passion is early childhood education. In particular, she believes that every child deserves access to high-quality early childhood programs.

Sherri and her husband, Neil Black, joined SVP in 2006. She has chaired two new grant committees and the Portfolio Grant Committee. She serves on SVP Seattle’s Early Learning Collective Action Team, as well as the boards of Child Care Resources and the ACLU of Washington.  Sherri has an AB from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.   Read more...