Biography and Information Page
David Ammons is communications director and senior policy adviser to Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and the Office of Secretary of State. The agency includes the executive office of the secretary, the Elections Division, state Archives, state Library, Corporations Division, and a number of programs approved and funded by the Legislature, including address-confidentiality for domestic violence victims, domestic partner registration, charities registration, and oral history. The agency is the moving force behind a new state Heritage Center for the capitol campus in Olympia. David brings to the agency a 37-year background as political and state government journalist for The Associated Press. He was president and dean of the capitol press corps, the longest-serving capital reporter, wrote a statewide weekly column and hosted "Inside Olympia" public television show on TVW, the state's version of C-SPAN. He is active in church and community activities and was for 10 years a trustee of the Washington State Historical Society. He is a communications graduate of the University of Washington, with an emphasis in political science and education. His daughter, Jennifer, is a Duke University graduate, practiced poverty law with the Northwest Justice Project and now is in private practice in Olympia. His son, Jonathan, is a graduate of The Evergreen State College and works for the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.
Ram Arumugam is a programmer-journalist and the founder of Cascade Software Corporation (http://CascadeSoft.net). Cascade Software Corporation is a civic software company that creates apps with public data and three of their iPhone/iPad apps were once ranked #1 on Apple’s Top Charts for the News and Finance categories. Ram has invested resources on building apps with federal government data because he believes that civic apps and open government promote civic engagement and contribute to the social good. Prior to founding Cascade Software Corporation, Ram worked at Microsoft for several years in roles such as Software Design Engineer and Principal Development Manager.
D. Edson Clark, CPA, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Washington in 1977. He obtained his license to practice in the State of Washington as a certified public accountant in 1980. After several years as a tax partner in a multiple partner local accounting firm, Ed co-founded Clark, Raymond & Company in 1991, where he continues to serve as the executive professional.
During his years in public accounting, Ed has been the engagement principal on numerous client engagements that involve the preparation of audited, reviewed, or compiled financial statements, and has extensive experience providing commercial and personal income tax advice. He also has extensive experience in the estate taxation and estate planning arena.
Ed is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Washington State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He was a founding Director and former Board Chair of the Rotary Wishing Well Foundation and a former Board member of the Make A Wish Foundation of Washington.
Ed received a Key Award from the Washington Coalition for Open Government in recognition of his success in unlocking government secrets related to the improper regulation of the accounting profession in the State of Washington and currently is a Board member of the Coalition.
Mike Fancher retired from The Seattle Times in 2008 after 20 years as executive editor. Fancher served as a 2008-2009 Donald W. Reynolds Fellow in the Missouri School of Journalism. He received a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Oregon in 1968 and a Masters degree in Communication from Kansas State University in 1970. He received his MBA degree from the University of Washington in 1986.
Fancher currently serves as chairman of the ethics committee of the American Society of News Editors. He serves on an advisory committee to the Fordham University Graduate School of Business and is a member of the board of directors of the University of Oregon Alumni Association.
In 2009, Fancher was a consultant to the Knight Foundation Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy and to the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Communications and Society. Also in 2009, the Western Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists presented Fancher its award for Distinguished Service to Journalism. He was inducted into the University of Oregon’s Journalism Hall of Achievement in 2002.
He and his wife, Elaine Bowers, live in Seattle.
Bennett Feigenbaum is President and Chief Administrative Officer of Executive Mediator Services.
Feigenbaum began his legal career as clerk to the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court and then was with a prominent Seattle law firm. From 1964 to 1973 he was the Seattle-based assistant general counsel to Pacific Northwest Bell, the area's telephone company.
Feigenbaum and his associates founded the Coalition for Open Government in 1971. He chaired the Coalition from 1971 to 1973. Feigenbaum left Seattle in 1973 to head a legal department at the AT&T headquarters in New York City, where he worked for over 20 years. Since 1991 He has owned and managed a company advising businesses and government agencies on controlling their legal expenses.
He currently serves on the Board of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, and has met its stringent requirements to be designated an Accredited Professional Mediator. He is a New Jersey Court-Approved Mediator, a National Association of Securities Dealers trained Arbitration Chairperson, and a member of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association.
Feigenbaum earned a bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Maryland, and his law degree from the Georgetown Law Center. He is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and the States of Washington (Inactive) and New Jersey and New York.
Karen Gates Hildt, an attorney with offices in Seattle and Port Townsend, practices in public advocacy, estate planning, mediation, business negotiations and arbitration. She also serves as a facilitator/consultant for public and private educational and cultural institutions in needs assessment, strategic planning, executive searches, foundation development and planned giving. Ms. Gates Hildt was formerly the Executive Director of the Seattle Arts Commission. She is currently a member of the Board of the Seattle Aquarium and the Board of One Reel/Bumbershoot.
Gloria Howell of Stevenson, Wa. was the winner of the 2011 American Society of News Editors (ASNE) Local Heroes award for using the courts to force the disclosure of public records that revealed corruption in the Stevenson County auditor’s office. She was one of three citizens recognized by ASNE in its national contest honoring individuals who fought tirelessly in 2011 to make their state or local public institutions more open and accessible.
The filing of a suite to obtain records resulted in a criminal investigation by the local Skamania County Sheriff’s Office, a criminal referral to the Washington State Auditor, and the resignation of the Skamania County Auditor, J. Michael Garvison. It has been over two long years since the case has finally came to light, and on January 12, 2012, Mr. Garvison was ordered to appear in Superior Court in Skamania County. He was charged with two counts of destroying public records under RCW’s 40.16.010 and 46.16.020.
Carl Hu is a former manager at Microsoft Corporation. He is actively involved in volunteer mentor and college counseling work with local non-profits, including the Bellevue School District and PTSA. Carl lives in Bellevue with his wife Catherine and two daughters.
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Mr. Gorton joined K&L Gates as of counsel after spending 18 years representing Washington State in the United States Senate. Mr. Gorton's years in the Senate saw him appointed to powerful committee posts including Appropriations; Budget; Commerce, Science and Transportation; and Energy and Natural Resources. Mr. Gorton served as the chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee (1995-2001), the Commerce Subcommittees on Consumer Affairs (1995-99), and Aviation (1999-2000). He was a member of the Republican leadership as counsel to the majority leader (1996-2000).
Mr. Gorton began his political career in 1958 as a Washington state representative; he went on to serve as state House majority leader. In 1968, Mr. Gorton was elected attorney general of Washington state where he argued 14 cases before the United States Supreme Court. In June 1980, Mr. Gorton received the Wyman Award, the highest honor accorded by the National Association of Attorneys General.
Mr. Gorton also served on the president's Consumer Advisory Council (1975-77) and on the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission from 1969-1981. He was chairman of the Washington State Law & Justice Commission (1969-76), and served as an instructor in constitutional law to public administration graduate students at the University of Puget Sound (1977).
Jerry Handfield, appointed Washington State Archivist by Secretary of State Sam Reed in 2001, was recruited from Indiana where he served as State Archivist for 14 years.
As State Archivist, he is responsible for the maintenance and security of all public records and establishes safeguards against unauthorized removal or destruction. As a member of the State and Local Records Committees he approves and vetoes, or modifies all schedules for public records.
Jerry's career includes many years of teaching college level history, oral history, and fieldwork for the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Historical Society. Jerry was appointed as Director of the Indiana Commission on Public Records by Governors Frank O'Bannon and Evan Bayh. His professional experience includes leadership in several national organizations, special assignments in Indiana state agencies, and archives consultant to the government of Kazakhstan.
Greg Lane was named President and CEO of TVW in May 2008, succeeding Cindy Zehnder and TVW Co-Founder Denny Heck.
TVW, Washington’s version of C-SPAN, has been broadcasting since 1995 to provide citizens direct access to the public policy process, including the State Legislature, Supreme Court, state government and other public policy events.
Greg has worked in communications and state public affairs for over 20 years, including spending nearly 15 years on staff in the Washington State Legislature. Prior to joining TVW, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.
Greg attended the University of Washington, where he earned undergraduate degrees in both political science and editorial journalism. After working briefly in private public relations, he joined the legislative staff just prior to the 1990 Legislative Session.
Glen Milner is a peace activist and a researcher with the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington. He has submitted numerous records requests regarding nuclear weapons at the Trident submarine base at Bangor as well as police surveillance of anti-war activists in the region. Milner has found that exaggerated police intelligence often leads to an overreaction by police to nonviolent demonstrations.
Milner also uses the federal Freedom of Information Act in conjunction with the State Public Records Act for research. On March 7, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in his favor in the FOIA case, Milner v. Department of the Navy. The case involved a Freedom of Information Act request filed on December 7, 2003 involving explosives handling issues at Naval Magazine Indian Island near Port Townsend.
Bill Neukom is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the World Justice Project. Neukom is a partner on leave from the Seattle office of K&L Gates and is a general partner in San Francisco Baseball Associates, L.P., the ownership group of the San Francisco Giants, and became its General Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer in October 2008. In 1995, he and his four children founded the Neukom Family Foundation, which supports not-for-profit organizations principally in the fields of health, human services, education, justice, and the environment.
Neukom was Microsoft Corporation’s chief lawyer for nearly a quarter of a century. As executive vice president of Law and Corporate Affairs for 17 years, he managed Microsoft’s legal, government affairs, and philanthropic activities. He led Microsoft’s efforts to establish, distribute, and protect intellectual property rights around the world, and under his leadership, Microsoft initiated the Microsoft Giving Campaign, the Microsoft Matching Gifts Program, the Microsoft Volunteer Program, and Libraries on Line.
He has served on many organizations, including: the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees, the Dean’s Council at Stanford Law School, the Gates Challenge Endowment Campaign of the United Way of King County, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Policy Consensus Center. Neukom is past president of the American Bar Association.
Neukom earned his LL.B. from Stanford University and received his A.B. from Dartmouth College.
Matt Rosenberg began his 28-year career in journalism, public policy and organizational leadership as a local news reporter in suburban Chicago. He's led citizen engagement programs and environmental groups, wrote a regular Seattle Times guest op-ed column for three years, served on staff as a senior fellow at the Cascadia Center For Regional Development, a Seattle-based surface transportation think tank, and blogged prodigiously, though not in his bathrobe.
Rosenberg is the founder and executive director of Public Eye Northwest, a 501c3 non-profit advancing government transparency and public education; and is chief editor of PEN's Public Data Ferret news knowledge base, which sifts online government documents and data, translates them into Plain English and archives the stories by jurisdiction and topic. The Ferret is part of the Seattle Times News Partner Network.
Bill Schrier is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the City of Seattle and director of the City’s Department of Information Technology (DoIT). Schrier was named one of Government Technology’s 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in 2008, and a Computerworld Premier 100 Leader for 2010. He writes a blog about the intersection of information technology and government, how they sometimes collide but often influence and change each other. It can be found at www.digitalcommunitiesblogs.com/CCIO/. Schrier is a retired officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington.
Tracy Vedder began reporting for KOMO 4 News in 1995 and joined the Problem Solvers Investigative team in 2006. A graduate of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Vedder is the recipient of three RTNDA awards and a Regional Emmy for investigative reporting. Her most memorable stories include traveling to Macedonia and Albania during the war in Kosovo and to Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.
Bill Will
Bill Will is the General Manager of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. He has worked for WNPA since 1997, where he helps reporters and editors with access and legal questions and monitors First Amendment issues in the Legislature and the courts. Will has more than 20 years of experience in the newspaper business. After graduating from the University of Idaho in 1982, he worked as a reporter at the Newport Miner and worked briefly as sports editor of the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake, Washington. From 1984-88 he was a reporter, copy editor, and later assistant managing editor at The Daily Idahonian/Pullman Daily News (now the Moscow-Pullman Daily News). In 1988-89, he was managing editor of The Sparks Tribune in Sparks, Nev. and helped convert the newspaper from twice-weekly to daily publication. From 1989-1995 he worked as a copy editor at Outdoor Empire Publishing Company in Seattle. He worked as a contract employee at Microsoft Corp. for two years on the launch of Microsoft Network News and MSNBC on the Internet before joining WNPA.
