United Way of King County is honored to announce that Steve Hooper, Jr., a board member, has been named the organization’s board chair for the fiscal year 2025, which began on July 1. Hooper is president of partnerships and business development for TipHaus. He succeeds outgoing chair Luis Masieri.

United Way of King County recently named five new members to its board of directors while offering appreciation to those stepping down from the panel.

The new members are:

Cortnee Blayton, the head of social media and influencers with Amazon. She launched Amazon Finds social media accounts, which were recently adopted into the overall Amazon marketing campaign. Blayton is also a recent graduate of Project LEAD, a nonprofit board training program open to skilled, passionate, and equity-centered Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. This empowers them to take the first step toward board leadership. “United Way is my top choice for serving the community and ensuring everyone has access to resources, quality education, food, and shelter,” Blayton said.

Marianne Bichsel, vice president of external affairs for Comcast’s Washington region. Bichsel oversees all community impact, government affairs, and external communications functions. Before joining Comcast, she was the founder and president of Bichsel Public Affairs, helping organizations align their communications strategies with their mission and values. Her experience spans both the private and public sectors. She was a senior staffer for a member of Congress and then worked as a communications strategist at Group Health Cooperative.

She spent eight years as CEO of The Wiley Brooks Company, a public affairs firm in Seattle, before joining former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as a senior advisor. “I chose United Way because everyone deserves a chance to be lifted up, if needed, and live in a caring community,” Bichsel said. “That’s what the United Way does every day.”

Alvaro Celis, the vice president of Global ISV – Commercial Solutions and Breadth. Alvaro and his team lead the ISV strategy for Microsoft’s Commercial Solution Areas. The team oversees global relationships with the most iconic ISVs in each of these markets and has created a holistic engagement approach with the ISV ecosystem that enables deep transformational partnerships at scale.

“I joined the board of United Way of King County because I believe in their mission and values,” Celis said. “I have seen firsthand the impact they have on the lives of people who are struggling with homelessness, poverty, and inequity. I have also witnessed the passion and dedication of their staff, partners, and volunteers who work tirelessly to create positive change in our community.”

Julie Wolfe, the News Director at KING 5, who oversees the station’s news content across all platforms, including twelve hours of news a day across KING 5 (NBC), KONG (Independent), and K5+ (Streaming). Julie joined KING in 2021 from WHAS in Louisville. There, she launched multiple newscasts and the new investigative unit, FOCUS. Before that, Julie spent more than a decade at WXIA in Atlanta, most recently as a Digital Director and then Assistant News Director.

Julie started her career as an MMJ/ Reporter in Cheyenne, WY; Buffalo, NY; and Atlanta, GA. “Big problems require big thinking,” Wolfe said. “I am a relentless optimist when it comes to addressing the issues facing our communities, and I am inspired by United Way’s vision to create communities where we all thrive.”

Felipe Mendez, the General Counsel of the Seattle Sounders. Felipe leads the front office Legal & External Affairs team, focusing on the delivery of strategic and practical legal solutions that empower the business enterprise while minimizing risk. Before joining the Rave Green in 2021, Felipe spent 13 years representing quasi-municipal entities as a litigator and in-house counsel with various school districts throughout Washington State.

“I chose to support United Way of King County through volunteerism because of its outstanding dedication to serving communities of color by improving outreach and reducing barriers to access resources,” Mendez said.

United Way also offers appreciation for the service of its outgoing board members: Kate Behnken, CVP of Microsoft Philanthropies; Shankar Sundaram, major account executive at Snowflake; former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best; Jeff Bradley, former senior vice president of AT&T; Tiffany Johnson, head of underrepresented founder startups, AWS Active; Fred Rivera, executive vice president and general counsel of the Seattle Mariners; and Jonathan Sposato, chairman of Geekwire.com.

In addition to Hooper’s appointment, United Way is also pleased to announce its new board member officers: Our new vice chair is Lisa Chin, principal consultant for Clear Wind Group; our new treasurer is Jonathan Burks, partner of Pricewaterhouse Coopers; and our new secretary is Denise Stiffarm, partner of Pacifica Law Group.

Join us in welcoming United Way’s new leadership and expressing appreciation to our outgoing members!