BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors of Hedgebrook upholds the vision and values of the organization by providing creative leadership and sound financial management. Now ten members strong, the Board is a dynamic group of leaders in the Seattle and Whidbey Island communities currently engaged in a strategic planning process in preparation to launch a sustainability campaign.

	Rebecca Aanerud - A teacher in the University of Washington’s Women Studies Department, where her research focuses on feminism, racism, antiracism, and whiteness, Becky has increasingly been working to help private and public school teachers and administrators think through the dynamics of whiteness in school.
	Valerie Curtis-Newton - Associate Professor in Acting and Directing and Head of Directing at the University of Washington’s Drama School - is currently an Artistic Associate at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) where she oversees the Hansberry Project, an African American theatre lab. Valerie is an alumna of Holy Cross College and the University of Washington (MFA).
	Marjorie Hillson - A manager with broad human resources knowledge and oversight responsibility for organizational and employee development initiatives, Marjorie currently manages a broad range of human resources and diversity issues for the Port of Seattle, where she also guided multi-year strategic diversity and affirmative action plans through the Port Commission approval process. Marjorie has a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Washington.
	Anne Katahira - Most interested in developing relationships and connections between people, ideas and resources, Anne’s experience in and understanding of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations is deep and broad. She once oversaw a multi-million dollar charitable giving budget for a former Fortune 100 Company and provided philanthropic consultation to the company’s top management, ran a national nonprofit advocating for mixed heritage people and families, and served as a program officer for The Seattle Foundation.
	Claudia Mauro - founding Director of Whit Press, a nonprofit literary arts organization seeking to nurture and promote literary work from women writers, writers from ethnic and social minorities, young writers, and first-time authors - has also worked extensively in environmental science and aviation in support of private and public environmental management and conservation projects. A Hedgebrook alumna, Claudia has published two collections of poetry, Stealing Fire (Whiteaker, 1996) and Reading the River (Whiteaker, 1999).
	Rosanne Nichols - holds a MBA in Marketing Management and has directed communications, marketing, and fundraising campaigns for global corporate and nonprofit entities. Early in her career she decided to devote herself to nonprofit work for causes closest to her heart: international relief, care for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children, and opportunities for women. Rosanne lived in Italy for eleven years and has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
	Grace Nordhoff - a small business owner and community volunteer - lived in Durham, North Carolina for 25 years, where she worked on the publishing staff of an alternative newspaper, earned her MSW, started a café/bakery that’s still going strong, and served on the Board of the Durham Library Foundation. Since moving to Seattle in 2002, she has continued the Nordhoff family support of Hedgebrook, begun by her mother, Nancy Skinner Nordhoff, Hedgebrook’s founding philanthropist.
<	Mary Willis - Executive Director of the Morris Family Foundation, an organization focusing on helping women, children and youth to better their lives in the hopes of creating a more socially and economically just world, primarily focusing on projects that encourage quality early care and education. A biologist and educator, Mary is also a board member of the Women Donor’s Network and resides on Whidbey Island, where she recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area.
	Shauna Woods - Recently responsible for programming, funding and managing the programs of the World Affairs Council, a membership-based organization that creates a forum for discussion of critical world issues, Shauna currently serves as a member of the Arts Fund Allocation Committee, which distributes over two million dollars in funds among competing arts institutions in the Puget Sound region. She also serves on the board of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and chairs the board of the Center for Women & Democracy, a non-partisan organization that stimulates and fosters women’s effective participation and leadership in local, national and global affairs.