Since taking office in 2000, Sam Reed has led the State of Washington into the 21st Century and secured its legacy. In 2004, he launched the nation's first state government digital archives to rescue disappearing electronic history. Reed fought and won the battle to save the Washington State Library, the State's oldest cultural institution. The State Library is now a division of his office. Throughout Reed's past two terms in office, the Secretary has worked diligently to make Washington a more business-friendly state by allowing corporations to file electronically. Thanks to Reed's efforts, new laws are in place to strengthen transparency, accountability, and trust in charitable organizations.

Prior to his service as Secretary of State, Reed was elected Thurston County Auditor five times and served as the Assistant Secretary of State under Lud Kramer and Bruce Chapman. Governor Dan Evans appointed Reed Director of the Urban Affairs Commission and the Constitutional Reform Commission. Secretary Reed is past President of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). Reed also served as an advisor to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from 2005 to 2007. Secretary Reed is currently a member of the Olympia Kiwanis Club and sits on the Washington State Historical Society Board of Trustees, TVW's Board of Directors, the YMCA Youth and Government Board, and the State Capitol Committee.

Secretary Reed attended Washington State University where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Social Studies and Master's Degree in Political Science. Reed and his wife Margie make their home in Olympia. They have two adult children, David and Kristen, and two grandchildren.

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Click here to read Frank Blethen's Madison Award Speech.

Frank Blethen, a Seattle native, is publisher of The Seattle Times/seattletimes.com, the second largest newspaper/website on the West Coast. Known for its strong local coverage and its aggressive investigative reporting, The Seattle Times has won eight Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2010 Pulitzer Price for Breaking News Reporting. Currently in its 113th year of Blethen family stewardship, The Times is one of America’s last independent and locally owned newspapers.

Frank is one of nine members of the family’s fourth and fifth generations active in The Seattle Times’ management and governance. He is a strong advocate for independent journalism, family-owned businesses, and a long-time active participant in the national grass-roots movement opposing the consolidation of newspaper and media ownership.

The Blethen family and The Seattle Times are known as advocates for diversity, education and community service. The family also owns the Yakima Herald-Republic, the Walla Walla Union–Bulletin and several Seattle area weeklies, including the Issaquah Press.

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Stan Marshburn has worked for Washington State public policy for 33 years. After graduating from The Evergreen State College he began his career as a budget analyst in 1976. A progression of fiscal and policy jobs in both the executive and legislative branches of state government culminated in his appointment as Policy Director for Governor Booth Gardner in 1988. In 1992 Stan teamed with Denny Heck to create TVW, Washington State’s pioneering public affairs network. After successfully launching TVW, Stan returned to employment with state government, recently completing a ten year stint as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Social and Health Services. He is currently the Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Management.

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Denny Heck retired as president and founder of TVW in 2003 after leading the organization for 10 years. For five years, Denny produced and hosted an award-winning weekly public affairs discussion program, Inside Olympia. While at TVW, Denny wrote and directed a documentary about the State Supreme Court, entitled Supreme Justice, which was awarded an Emmy™. Denny graduated from The Evergreen State College and attended graduate school at Portland State University. In 1976, at the age of 24, he was elected to the first of five terms to the State House of Representatives where he rose to the position of Majority Leader. While in the legislature, Denny authored the state’s historic Basic Education Act. He later served as Chief of Staff to Governor Booth Gardner (1989-1993). Denny recently served as one of Governor Gregoire’s four citizen commissioners to Washington Learns, her 18-month intensive study committee charged with making recommendations to restructure Washington State’s education system.

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Jolene Unsoeld is a former member of the Washington State Legislature and United States House of Representatives. As an independent lobbyist in Olympia from 1971 to 1984 and then as a state legislator from 1985 to 1988, Unsoeld was Washington state’s major advocate for open government where she protected and strengthened the Public Records Act, the Open Public Meetings Act, and the Public Disclosure Commission and the laws that it enforces. Unsoeld collected petition signatures in 1972 to put Initiative 276, the Open Government Act (now often referred to as the Public Disclosure Act) on the ballot, and was part of the campaign that enacted the initiative that year through overwhelming voter support. More recently, Jolene served as a Member of Congress from 1989 to 1995 and worked there on behalf of the federal Freedom of Information Act and campaign spending reform.

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Paul Wright is the editor and co-founder of Prison Legal News, the longest publishing independent prisoner rights magazine in US history. He is the co-author of The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the US Prison Industry (Common Courage, 1998), Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor (Routledge, 2003), and the forthcoming Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Imprisonment (New Press, 2008). His articles have appeared in a variety of publications. He is also the National Lawyers Guild Jailhouse Lawyer national co-vice president. A former prisoner, Paul was imprisoned for 17 years in Washington State until his release from prison in 2003. During and since his incarceration, he has successfully litigated a wide variety of censorship and public records issues against prison systems around the country both pro se, as a plaintiff, and on behalf of Prison Legal News. He is on the advisory board of Stop Prison Rape. Paul is a former Military Policeman and a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Soviet history. Paul founded PLN in 1990 while imprisoned.

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Since Rowland Thompson grew up working at the family owned weekly newspapers he learned at an early age an understanding of fitting the story to the news hole, spelling the names correctly and getting the paper to bed on time. Rowland attended Whitman college and after graduation he returned to the family newspapers for a few years before being offered a position with Washington State House and then the Senate working for the Democratic Caucuses. In 1990 he assumed his present position as Executive Director of Allied Daily Newspapers with the retirement of his predecessor, Paul Conrad. Rowland has been appointed to numerous boards and commissions in government and the judiciary as well as those of a professional and charitable nature.

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James A. Andersen has had a long and distinguished career as an attorney in both private practice and the Washington State judiciary. After serving in World War II and completing his Bachelor of Arts and Law Degrees from the University of Washington, Justice Andersen began his legal career as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King County, Washington State, in 1953. He later went into private practice and became a partner with the firm of Clinton, Andersen, Fleck and Glein in Seattle. While in private practice Justice Andersen served as a citizen legislator in the Washington House of Representatives from 1959 to 1967 and in the Washington State Senate from 1967-72. Justice Andersen started his career in the judiciary in 1975 when he joined the Washington State Court of Appeals in Seattle where he served until 1984. He became a Justice on the Washington State Supreme Court in Olympia in 1984 and served as Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court from 1992 until his retirement in 1995. As Chief Justice, Justice Andersen was host judge of the National Conference of Chief Justices and gave the first ever State of the Judiciary Address to a joint session of the Washington State Legislature. After retiring from the Washington State Supreme Court in 1995 he served as Special Assistant Attorney General and received the University of Washington School of Law Distinguished Alumnus award. In addition to being a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Washington Coalition for Open Government, he presently chairs the state’s Legislative Ethics Board.