In November 2014 Jon Scholes became President and CEO of DSA following six years as the organization’s Vice President of Advocacy and Economic Development. He believes downtown Seattle is an essential voice of leadership in a rapidly growing and evolving city.

Jon’s passion for taking on big issues is reflected in his 15 years of work in nonprofit advocacy, local government, and senior positions on statewide political campaigns. At DSA he leads a diverse team focused on creating a healthy, vibrant and inviting downtown.

Jon is a member of the Visit Seattle Board of Directors and the Downtown Transportation Alliance and has served on a number of city and county task forces on transportation, homelessness and housing. He is a Puget Sound Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner and a graduate of Leadership tomorrow. He attended the University of Texas in Austin before graduating from the University of Washington.

Jon lives in downtown Seattle with his wife and seven-year-old twins, Parker and Avery. In his spare time Jon sails, skis and rides motorcycles. He loves how much mental focus and presence each activity requires.

As Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Callahan drives the vision, strategy and overall direction at Urban Renaissance Group (URG), a full-service commercial real estate operating company with approximately 6.2 million square feet of office space, nearly 80 employees and multiple award-winning acquisitions and redevelopments.

With more than twenty years’ experience in the real estate industry, Patrick has been directly involved in numerous multi-million dollar lease transactions, acquisitions, development projects, assimilations, asset repositions and renovations. His firm has placed more than $500 million in capital on behalf of clients in downtown Seattle and Portland in the last 24 months alone.

Prior to founding URG in 2006, Patrick held numerous key roles at Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP). As Senior Vice President, he oversaw a business unit of 18 million square feet, 114 buildings, 300 employees and more than $450 million in revenues in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Denver, Co. He was also directly involved in more than 30 million square feet of acquisitions and 2.5 million square feet of completed development projects across nine markets. He played a significant role in one of the largest transactions in U.S. history when EOP acquired Spieker Properties for $7.2 billion in February 2001.

Dave Cuthill is the CEO of Clise Properties, Inc. Founded in 1889, Clise Properties owns and manages

more than 3 million square feet of properties throughout the State of Washington, with a focus in

Downtown Seattle. Dave joined Clise in 2017 as President & COO. He was promoted to CEO in April of

2023.

Born and raised in Everett, Dave attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, earning a

business administration degree (accounting concentration). Dave was a 3 year letter winner on the UW

Men’s golf team. Following the UW, Dave earned his law degree from Seattle University. He passed

both the CPA and Bar exams.

Professional experience includes time with Touche Ross (now Deloitte & Touche), Moss Adams,

Nordstrom (Divisional Vice President of Real Estate) and GGP, Inc. (Vice President of Development, West

Coast). GGP, Inc. was the 2 nd largest mall owner in the US and is now part of Brookfield.

Dave serves on the Executive Committee of the Downtown Seattle Association, is the Vice Chairman of

the Board of Directors of the NW Center and is on the Runstad Advisory Board at the University of

Washington.

Dave lives in Bellevue with his wife, Marikay and his daughter Maci. Dave has two older daughters,

Meagan and Katie.

Michelle Chen is an associate in Stoel Rives’ Real Estate

group. Michelle is an experienced problem solver working

at the intersection of law, public policy, and finance. She

has extensive knowledge of real estate and land use

matters from her work in government on affordable

housing and community development projects in Seattle.

Before joining Stoel Rives, Michelle held several positions

with the City of Seattle: general counsel with the Mayor’s

Office (2018–2021), deputy city attorney in the City

Attorney’s Office (2017–2018), senior policy advisor with the

Office of Planning Community Development (2015–2017),

strategic partnerships manager in the Office of the

Waterfront (2014–2015), senior policy advisor with the Office

of Policy & Management (2006–2010), and regional affairs

manager with the Office of Intergovernmental Relations

(2004–2006). From 2011 to 2014, she was policy & program

manager with the Seattle Housing Authority. Earlier in her

career, Michelle was an attorney in private practice and

legislative counsel to U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.

Joy Shigaki is a fourth-generation Seattleite and national leader in helping fund and deliver civic projects and initiatives like major parks. She recently joined

Friends of Waterfront Seattle as President & CEO. With over 25 years of experience in the non-profit, government, and community-based arenas, Joy previously served as Campaign Director building the new Presidio Tunnel Tops Park in Golden Gate National Recreation

Area in San Francisco, a $98 million effort. Previously, she spent a decade in senior leadership fundraising roles with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and Coro New York Leadership Center. And in Seattle, she served as Capital Campaign Manager of

Wing Luke Museum, creating the first permanent home for the museum. Joy has deep roots in Seattle’s communities and her early experiences in Seattle shaped her lifelong commitment and belief in parks, public spaces and public lands, which make for dynamic

cities.

Angela currently works for the City of Seattle as the Waterfront Program Director of the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects. She is an executive directly responsible for overseeing the design and construction of the Waterfront Seattle Program, which includes a suite of projects worth a total of approximately $1.2B. She has over 29 years of experience leading large teams as a Professional Engineer in the fields of civil, transportation, and structural engineering and has successfully managed many complex engineering projects from the planning, policy development, and environmental review phases, through design and construction. Her primary focus includes delivery of complex and transformational transportation projects within dense urban environments. Prior to her work on Seattle’s Waterfront, she led a transportation mega-project called the Mercer Corridor Program, which provided for the transformation of Seattle’s South Lake Union area from a low-density industrial zone to a high-density mix of residential, commercial and business use – now the home of Amazon worldwide headquarters. Prior to her work at the City, Angela worked as an engineering consultant with a focus on structural projects in water and wastewater treatment, hydro-fisheries, and transportation disciplines. She has a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington, is a licensed Professional Engineer in Washington State, and is also a licensed Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute.

After graduating from Columbia University, Jordan started her career in Berlin, Germany, where she ecologically redeveloped prewar buildings. During that time, she started to see how her passion for sustainability could play a role in the future of real estate.

In 2013, Jordan returned to Seattle with the mission to join Martin Selig Real Estate (MSRE) and continue to build on decades of innovation. Jordan now acts as MSRE’s Executive Vice President and has overseen the development of over 1.5 million square feet of space so far, including MSRE’s first multifamily property, The Modern – a project she oversaw from vision to execution.

To diversify her impact in the Seattle region and beyond, in 2018 Jordan started J. Selig Real Estate (JSRE). The company is developing market-rate multifamily buildings that aim to deliver above-average yields to investors with properties that are a step above the competition in terms of architecture, design, management, and sustainability.

Jordan is deeply involved in the Seattle community and passionate about initiatives that enhance Seattle’s built environment and quality of life. She is a board member of the Seattle 2030 District, an organization that aims to dramatically reduce the environmental impacts of building construction and operations. She is also a board member for the Runstad Center for Real Estate at the University of Washington, and a member of the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) Policy Committee.

Aside from her professional endeavors, Jordan is a wife and mom of two. In her free time, she enjoys skiing, yoga, cooking and travel. She is fluent in German & Swedish.

Ivar’s is one of Seattle’s oldest and favorite restaurant companies, operating dozens of locations in Washington. This is to include Ivar’s restaurants, seafood bars, the Kidd Valley hamburger collection, and Grounders Garlic Fries. The company operates 18 locations in sport venues including at the Mariners’ Safeco Field, at the Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field, Husky Stadium and the Tacoma Rainiers’ Cheney Stadium. In each stadium the company’s stores are the

highest grossing stands-one of every 11 fans buys garlic fries! In addition, the company sells its World Famous White Clam chowder in about 13,000 locations nationwide and in China, Japan, and Mexico. Bob Donegan has managed Ivar’s since 9-11, when the company’s prior managing partner died. Prior to that, Bob held the role of CFO at Ivar’s. Previous to his time at Ivar’s, he spent some time at Peet’s Coffee as an Executive Vice President and CFO. He and his wife Lisa live in Richmond Beach.

Ms. Escamilla is a passionate advocate of her local community and the Client Development Manager for Washington and Oregon for Terracon Consultants and Engineers. Ms. Escamilla transitioned over into Client Development from 15 years in the AEC industry delivering high quality technical deliverables and top of the line customer service to her vast network of public and private clients in the field of Industrial Hygiene and Hazardous/Regulated Building Materials Services. Ms. Escamilla is a former Department Manager, Principal in Charge and Shareholder of her previous firm, who lead an amazing team of environmental scientist and CAD drafters. Derica thrives in mentoring and leading her teams to their full potential and being there for them personally and professionally to meet their goals.

Since moving to the Seattle area in 2005, Ms. Escamilla has volunteered and dedicated much of her free time to coaching the youth in her community in various sports (mostly basketball), been involved in local DEI committees, and volunteered on the city boards hoping to make an impact. She has a passion for community activism and keeps a pulse on those that are struggling and less fortunate with her grassroots efforts of always learning from those around her, always being curious, asking the hard questions, and driving change where she can.