Howard Cohen
A resident of Seattle for 29 years and a 35-year
veteran of the hotel business, Howard is the Vice President-General Manager for
Clise Properties – Hotel Division since 2002. He previously worked for Red Lion
Hotels for many years in the Seattle and Northwest Region. He is very involved
in community service and activities, having been raised with the understanding
that giving back to one’s community is very important. Howard is currently
serving as the President of the Seattle Hotel Association; Board Member for the
Seattle Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Washington Lodging Association;
Chair of the Seattle Tourism Improvement Area; Co-Chair of the Seattle Street
Scene Task Force; Secretary of the Hotel Employee Restaurant Employee Pension
as well as Health and Welfare Trusts; Vocational Chair for the Emerald City
Rotary Club and Incoming Chair of the Technical Advisory Council for South
Seattle Community College’s Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Program. He has
a BS in Business Administration from the SUNY at Buffalo and a MBA from the
University of Washington.
He is very pleased to be asked to serve on the GSBA
Board as he believes this will mesh his commitment to the community for both his
professional and personal life.
Jenny Harding
The founder, owner, and Senior Event Planner for
New Chapter Weddings and Chapter 2 Events, Jenny Harding has been helping
people plan weddings, events and celebrations for over 12 years. Prior to
beginning her own business in 2004, she held a Catering & Sales Manager
position with Columbia Hospitality, where she got her start focusing on
weddings and parties. She believes that every individual has a special story,
and that story should always be reflected in the event that is being celebrated.
Creating that personal reflection through celebration is the most gratifying
part of her job.
Jenny joined GSBA in 2007 and occasionally attended
GSBA events beginning in 2002. For her, GSBA was a support system that offered
inspiration and strength. She could be out and proud in the community as a
successful professional lesbian business owner and mother, and as she says, “it
was okay to be ME!” As her involvement with
and commitment to the GSBA has grown, strong business relationships have been established
and she has had the pleasure of working for many of our very own members on
their personal or professional celebrations.
Jenny and her partner, Lindsay, have been together
for 3.5 years. She has two AMAZING boys, Jayden (13) and Justin (11), who are her
“game changers”. She believes the future is strong and will do everything in her
power to continue to work for the GSBA, its future leaders through the
scholarship fund, and all our membership.
David Hernandez
As chair of the membership committee one David’s primary missions
is to ensure GSBA members find value in their membership, whether it is for
advocacy, business or social reasons. He would like to see this mission carried
throughout the membership so GSBA is strengthened as a whole. He has found his
GSBA membership incredibly valuable both personally and professionally because
of the wonderful people who make GSBA a great organization.
Professionally, David is a Financial Services Professional with
New York Life and NY Life Securities. In his role he provides insurance and financial
strategies for both long-term as well as more short-term needs. Protecting
one's human capital or one's ability to continue to earn and save is one major
area of his work. He has been with New York Life since 2004. Previously he worked
with Premera Blue Cross for 16 years as an Account Executive, working primarily
with school districts, as well as state and federal employees. He has a BA in
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences from the University of Washington. In
addition to serving as the chair of the membership committee for GSBA, David is
on the board of trustees for Unity Church in Lynnwood. He lives in Bothell, with
Dan Richardson, his partner of 19 years.
Dena Levine
Dena is the owner of
DML Insurance Services, an independent insurance agency she started in 2004. She
has been in the insurance industry for over 25 years and really loves what she
does. She helps all types of businesses and individuals, especially those in
the LGBT community, to find the perfect coverage at an affordable price. Dena
also works with them on providing risk management so that buying insurance is
not the only way they can protect their homes and/or businesses.
Dena has been active
in the Seattle community for 20 years. Some of her past community involvement
includes chairing the West Seattle YMCA Partners with Youth campaign, being a
board member of City Year Seattle and providing time (and money) for other
non-profits such as Westside Baby, Birthday Dreams and Building Changes. She
has been a member of the GSBA for more than 8 years and has been active in the
GSBA Scholarship Fund, serving as an interviewer and a team leader the past
four years.
As a board member, she
aims to bring enthusiasm, wisdom and laughter to the GSBA.
Jay Petterson
As a small business owner and
campaign consultant, Jay is excited to bring his financial management and
political engagement experience to the GSBA Board of Directors. He is a Principal
of H+P Political Compliance, a political compliance consulting firm with more
than 10 years’ experience helping Democratic campaigns achieve financial
success and comply with campaign finance regulations. Their nationwide
portfolio includes clients ranging from state legislators to congressional,
senate, and presidential candidates, as well as federal and state political
action committees.
Jay has been a proud member of the
GSBA since 2010 and serves on the Public Policy Task Force. As a new board
member, he looks forward to helping GSBA and its members play a leading
role in shaping policies that affect our community.
In addition to his work with GSBA, he
is the Vice President of the Board for the Youth Suicide Prevention Program
(YSPP), an organization that brings together communities, educators and health
professionals to reduce the rate of suicide and bullying in Washington
State. A graduate of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee,
he relocated to Seattle four years ago with his husband, Michael. When not
working, they enjoy spending time walking the Green Lake community
with their dogs Petey and Grover.
Gordon Prouty
Gordon
joined the Puget Sound Business Journal as Publisher and President in July of
2011. Prior to that, he served as the Advertising Director for three years at
the San Francisco Business Times. His background before joining American City
Business Journals has been primarily on the advertising sales and business
development side of the media business, holding key management positions in
Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco before making his way up to Seattle.
He started his career back in his hometown of Syracuse, New York after
graduating from Syracuse University, where he spent number of years with The
Syracuse Newspapers and serving as an Adjunct Instructor at his alma mater.
Gordon
and his partner of 14 years, Stephen, live in West Seattle, where they are enjoying
their new-found home in the Puget Sound region.
Monique Ramos
Monique has been with US Bank for over 10 years. In
addition to being a Branch Manager, she is also the Washington Multicultural
Coordinator. She is responsible for organizing and budgeting events and
sponsorships for all of our Multicultural and Diversity segment, which helps
serve and impact the community. She enjoys educating people, and helping
individuals grow both personally and professionally. She loves being able to
share her interests, passions and knowledge with all.
She is very excited to bring her knowledge and skills to advocate for diversity
in the communities.
Paul Villa
Paul is a VP, Account Director at Publicis
Seattle. He has worked in advertising for over 17 years developing national
integrated marketing communications for brands such as Mazda, Acura, AT&T
Wireless and most recently T-Mobile. He grew
up in Southern California and moved to the Bay Area where he graduated from the
University of California at Berkeley. After eight years in San Francisco he
moved to Seattle, where he has lived for the last ten years.
A GSBA member since 2009, Paul and his domestic
partner Curtis Bigelow are the owners of The Lobby Bar, which was the 2010 GSBA
New Business of the Year. Paul has served on the GSBA Business and Humanitarian
Awards committee for the last two years and is constantly humbled by the
outstanding achievements and philanthropy of GSBA members.
Through The Lobby Bar, Paul and Curtis support
many LGBT organizations and nonprofits in Seattle and sponsor events,
fundraisers, and sports teams. He has also been a supporter of Lambda Legal for
the last ten years and has donated his bar’s resources to the annual Garden
Party fundraiser for the last two years. Most recently, this summer they helped
raise over $21,000 in one afternoon for Washington United for Marriage at a
fundraiser at their home.
