[edited on February 4]
Repair Revolution
New Business of the Year
Eli Allison founded Repair Revolution with a vision very different from the rest of the industry - to empower clients by teaching them about their vehicles and build community for people that want to learn to work on their own cars. Deeply committed to supporting the LGBT community and our youth (including Trans Life Matters, Camp Ten Trees, Seattle Young Peoples Project, Teen Feed), Repair Revolution works to give back as much as possible and create apprentice opportunities for LGBTQ kids as often as possible. They raise awareness of technical trade options available to youth while providing a safe, trustworthy place for people to get car care.
1st Security Bank
Business of the Year
1st Security Bank strives to be uniquely different. When its Board of Directors unanimously voted to support marriage equality, they became the only bank or credit union to do so. With seven branches across Puget Sound, 1st Security fully commits to being a community partner by supporting local events, organizations and initiatives
- ranging from sponsoring food drives and kids days to helping homeless shelters and domestic violence services. It’s not often a commercial business would give up its most valuable asset, it’s storefront property. But, that is exactly what 1st Security did, when shortly after opening its Seattle branch on Capitol Hill, 1st Security donated 250 feet of storefront on Broadway to host our region’s first LGBT Visitors Center.
Mary's Place
Nonprofit of the Year
Mary's Place provides a welcoming environment where homeless women and women with children can find day and night shelter, nourishment, resources, healing and hope in a safe community.
With thousands on the homeless family intake system waiting list, many families turn to Mary's Place when they have nowhere else to go. Women and children, and most especially trans women, are extremely vulnerable on the streets, and Mary's Place provides a safe and accepting place for these women and their children.
Anne Levinson
Community Leader of the Year
Anne Levinson and Community Leader are synonymous. For over 20 years, Anne has been a Washington State leader committed to achieving equality for all. As a leader in the LGBT civil rights movement, Anne provided the leadership in campaigns for Referendum 65and 71 and worked with the Washington United for Marriage coalition to pass Referendum 74. Anne's career of public service is long - she has served as a judge, Chair of the Washington State Utilities Commission, Seattle Deputy Mayor and Legal Counsel to the Mayor of Seattle. She has founded and served on a long list of boards, including Seattle Girls School and Center for Children and Youth Justice, all who continue to benefit from her legal expertise and steadfast commitment to social justice.
Linda Marzano
Corporate Leader of the Year
Linda has been a champion and leader promoting diversity in healthcare, ensuring that diversity is a key priority and cultural standard for Pacific Medical Centers, where she serves as the Chief Operating Officer. Both Linda and Pacific Medical Centers have a focus on improving access to care, providing culturally competent health care and improving care delivery and health care in the community in which they serve. Linda’s commitment to equality and diversity does not stop at the workplace but continues through her volunteerism as a Board member and former Board Chair of the Women’s Funding Alliance and Board member of Project Access, an agency dedicated to removing barriers to health care for all.
Barbara 'b.g.' Nabors-Glass
Business Leader of the Year
As the Vice President of Job Training & Education, b.g.
has spent her career serving and giving voice to people who are usually left out of the conversation, whether it was because they were homeless teens, individuals just out of prison, or new arrivals to this country. Prior to her work at Goodwill, b.g. worked with Seattle Housing Authority and HOPE VI, a federal urban revitalization initiative. The impact of b.g.'s work for equality and inclusion can be felt through the LGBT community which has benefited from her commitment to social justice.
Anne Melle
Special Recognition: Voice for Social Justice
Anne Melle has spent more than half a century being a strident ally for LGBT people - first as part of Parents of Gays in the 1960s and then as the ultimate super PFLAG mom. Anne has been a lifelong activist for social justice, and has helped raise money to build a hospital, volunteered countless hours as a teacher's aide, educated women on finances, collected clothing for children of battered mothers and provided emotional support for the elderly at nursing homes. She continues on with her work on the Board of Seattle Out & Proud.
Cheryl Chow
Special Recognition (posthumous)
Former Seattle City Councilwoman Cheryl Chow left behind a monumental legacy. She was a principal of multiple Seattle public schools, a beloved basketball coach and instructor of the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team. She publicly came out and shared her story prior to passing away last March.
See the press release for more information.
Click here to reserve your seat at the 2014 Business & Humanitarian Awards Banquet on Tuesday, February 25.
