By NAP
Two women landing new leadership positions have made the news of late. On Sept. 13, Joy Shigaki was named the new president & CEO of Friends of Waterfront Seattle. On Sept. 15, the Board of Directors of International Community Health Services (ICHS) announced its selection of Kelli Nomura, MBA, MHP as the health care provider’s CEO.
Friends of Waterfront Seattle is a nonprofit that has been partnering with the City of Seattle since 2014 on fundraising for stewardship, maintenance and free public programming of the new 20-acre waterfront park set to open in 2025. The park is a $100 million project. Fundraising for it just crossed the halfway point.
Shigaki’s background is a good fit to bring the project the remaining distance. She most recently served as Campaign Director building the new Presidio Tunnel Tops Park as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, a $98 million effort.
As a fourth-generation Seattleite, Shigaki is seen as “bringing fresh momentum” to the waterfront park project.
In her view, “Connection is at the heart of Waterfront Park. Through partnership and collaboration, storytelling and lifting up the voices of communities often not heard or seen, we are building a park that includes everyone, centers our diverse histories, and reminds us of this beautiful place that we live in.”
In turn, Nomura brings to ICHS over 35 years of experience in the behavioral healthcare industry. She has served as director of the King County Behavioral Health & Recovery Division, where she has provided leadership to obtain accessible quality behavioral health services for low-income residents. She has also served on the ICHS board for over 10 years.
Since its founding in 1973, ICHS has grown from a single storefront clinic in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, with deep roots in the Asian Pacific Islander community, to a regional health care provider employing over 600 people. It serves nearly 30,000 patients at 11 clinics.
