Tonight, with NPI’s 2016 Spring Fundraising Gala just four weeks away, we are thrilled to announce that we have a wonderful Master of Ceremonies lined up to run this year’s speaking program: Tina Podlodowski, former Seattle City Councilmember and current candidate for Secretary of State.
Tina has a long history of public service in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region. After working for Microsoft in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she joined the Seattle City Council, where she chaired the Public Safety, Health, and Technology Committee and the Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Planning Committee. She was involved in passing several ordinances to guarantee LGBT and worker rights.
In the early 2000s, after leaving the Council, she ran the Lifelong AIDS Alliance and then the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Puget Sound. She was a senior vice president for Porter Novelli during much of President Barack Obama’s first term, and became a senior adviser to Ed Murray following his election as Mayor in 2013.
Tina is now running to become Washington’s next Secretary of State, in what will be one of the nation’s most contested SOS racees. Incumbent Kim Wyman is the latest in a long line of Republicans to have held the office since the 1950s. She is also the last statewide elected Republican official on the Left Coast.
Since Wyman was elected in 2012, Washington has had three straight consecutive elections with poor turnout. Last year, we set a record for the worst turnout in state history, at least since we started registering voters in the 1930s. Podlodowski believes we need new leadership to address this crisis. She says she believes the state needs a “chief voting officer”, not merely a chief elections administrator.
At NPI, we believe participation is vital to the health of a democracy. While we don’t endorse candidates for office, we believe contested elections are a good thing. Voters have more reason to participate when they have credible candidates to choose from. By stepping up to run — which is no small sacrifice — Tina is opening up a new chapter in her history of distinguished public service.
Tina is a fabulous speaker, and we’re so glad to have her as the host of our most important event of the year. We hope you’ll consider joining us and Tina for our eighth Spring Fundraising Gala. If you haven’t yet bought your ticket yet, we urge you to do so now using one of the buttons below.
A household ticket admits all the members of an immediate family and is a good value if you plan to attend with your spouse or children. (The gala is a family-friendly event, and young people of all ages are welcome!).
These are our ticket rates:
$120
$75
$25
Click above to buy a ticket using a credit card.
Here’s what else you can expect at our 2016 Spring Fundraising Gala:
If you’d like to RSVP for the gala on Facebook, you can do so here.
Students who want to volunteer to help put on the event can get in the door free. If you’re interested in volunteering, please get in touch with us.
In the weeks to come, we’ll be sharing more details about our 2016 gala, including the names of our other speakers. We hope you’ll help us make our biggest event of the year a success by buying your ticket and committing to attend.
See you on April 1st!
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