Name Selection Committee

A Midwest transplant to the Pacific Northwest, Claire owes her love of nature and birding to a fairly idyllic childhood spent wandering the southeastern shores of Lake Michigan. Though she holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics, Claire also studied conservation biology, has conducted fieldwork abroad, and is a self-professed “bird nerd.” After she completed a master’s degree in nonprofit management, landing at Seattle Audubon in 2014 was a dream come true. When she’s not birding, Claire spends her spare time singing, knitting, and wishing she was birding. She is also a graduate of the 2017 Master Birder class. Claire is always eager to hear about your hottest bird sightings and learn more about why supporting Birds Connect Seattle is important to you.

In kindergarten, David was interviewed by a newspaper about a “really stinky smell” at school that was making kids nauseous. It was toxic fumes from industrial waste just blocks from his school in Barrio Logan, San Diego. He told the reporter “it’s not fair and they should stop” and without knowing it, had taken his first steps as an advocate for environmental justice and stewardship. Twelve years later, he moved to The Bronx to attend Fordham University, only to learn that his new neighborhood was affected by many of the same injustices. He decided then to dedicate his career to ensuring everyone has access to clean air, water, and green spaces to recreate. David now works as an environmental scientist on wetland restoration throughout Puget Sound, and volunteers as a trip leader for Latino Outdoors.

Learn more about Latino Outdoors:

Stuart grew up in Los Angeles, (where he felt he never quite fit in), graduated from Otis College of Art and Design, went to work in the advertising business (where he definitely didn’t fit in), then moved to Seattle (where he finally felt like he fit in). His professional background is in human centered design with a specialization in healthcare marketing and technology. Currently, he’s employed by Optum Care (a healthcare innovations company within the UnitedHealthcare Group), and applies his design skills to medical enterprise software. Prior to Optum, he worked at The CDC, Sound Family Medicine, Kaiser Permanente, and Group Health. Stuart also is a Senior Associate Professor at the University of Washington and loves to mentor students interested in pursuing a career in the human-centered design field. In his spare time, he studies Taekwondo, hikes and bikes, is a doting human, dog, and cat father, a husband, and loves to observe the myriad of birds that stop by the various feeders in his backyard.

Tykee has been a leader in the birding community for more than a decade as an advocate for equitable access to the benefits of nature for all. From his first job as an environmental educator in his own neighborhood, to his current role as a lobbyist at a land conservation organization, Tykee shares his passion for birds to build trust, coalition, and power.

Learn more about DC Audubon

Set to become the community partnerships manager at the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Chris (he/him) moved to Seattle from his hometown of Houston in 2018. He was surprised to see many of the same birds here in the Pacific Northwest that he had grown accustomed to on his hikes in Houston, including the Red-winged Blackbird and the Great Blue Heron. During the worst years of the pandemic, Chris sought refuge in outdoor spaces and fell in love with birding on a trip to Eastern Washington to see Sandhill Cranes at the annual Sandhill Crane Festival in Othello. He continues to foster his love for birding through guided bird walks with Birds Connect Seattle, Outdoor Asian Washington, and the Birdrolls (a collective of bird enthusiasts that met through a mutual aid network).

Learn more about Outdoor Asian

Susan is an entrepreneur who has provided small business and nonprofit consulting in the Seattle area for the last decade. She provides thoughtful communications, leadership, business development, management, design, and strategic planning to help her clients thrive. Susan grew up in the Midwest and has a work history centered on community building and service. She holds a BA in Fine Art Photography and graduated from the University of Washington with a Master’s Degree in Communications. She currently helps graduate students evolve as Affiliate Faculty in the Communication Leadership Program at the University of Washington. Susan is an avid outdoorswoman who enjoys birding, road trips, hiking with her dogs, reading a good book in a hammock, and tent camping in all types of weather.

Melissa is a senior budget analyst in the Chicago School District who has been hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, this spring and summer. She earned her Masters in Public Administration at the University of Washington after getting her degree in Sociology at Grinnel College in Iowa. Melissa began at Birds Connect Seattle as an urban environmental educator through Americorps, then served 19 months as assistant manager in our Nature Shop.

Glenn (he/him) comes to Birds Connect Seattle having served on the Audubon Washington Board of Directors and worked on several projects with the National Audubon Society. He has been a volunteer on our Equity & Justice Committee and was a part of the Equity Project Task Force, which completed a comprehensive audit of our organization’s internal and external practices around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Glenn is a longtime journalist and founder of The Trail Posse (trailposse.com), which explores the intersection of race and the outdoors. A national-award-winning writer, photographer, and web publisher, he also is a founding member of the Next 100 Coalition and the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge.

Learn more about Glenn’s path to Birds Connect Seattle

Chevon was born and raised in Houston, and moved to Seattle after seeing the beautiful landscape of the Pacific Northwest while on a trip. She is an experienced event professional, owner of Golden Bricks Events, which stages Refuge Outdoor Festival, listed by Outdoor Magazine as one of the best outdoor festivals in the country. A community advocate for outdoor access and environmental justice, Chevon also is a hiker, backpacker, camping enthusiast, bird watcher and napper.

Learn more about Golden Bricks Event

Learn more about Chevon

Denice is one of those odd few who was born in Seattle and has continued to reside within 80 miles of the city. Her parents took her outdoors as a baby and she’s been outside getting dirty ever since. After teaching camping skills to small groups for a few years, she formed a non-profit called The Bronze Chapter in the Summer of 2021 to connect BIPOC to nature and the natural world through skill-sharing, knowledge-sharing, and recreation. Through The Bronze Chapter she hopes to infuse underrepresented communities of color with inspiration and curiosity to learn more about the environment to connect or re-connect with Washington’s diverse climate and geography. She and her husband live surrounded by saltwater with dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks.

Learn more about The Bronze Chapter

Andrew has been building growth strategies using marketing technology for more than fifteen years. He is currently the Senior Manager of Creative Operations at Starbucks, where he leads a team responsible for digital content publishing and technical strategy across North America. In his previous role managing email marketing for Teavana, his efforts engaged over two million new customers. He also helps lead Starbucks’ Partners for Sustainability network. He moved to Seattle in 2014, after falling in love with the local flora and fauna, especially the birds. Andrew strongly believes in engaging diverse communities in the effort to protect and renew nature. He was a founding member of Bird Connect Seattle’s NextGen Advisory Council and recently assisted the organization’s launch of its new website. Andrew is an avid birder and regularly attends Birds Connect Seattle neighborhood walks, classes, and the Christmas Bird Count.

Jeremy (he/him) is a Pacific Northwest transplant who fell in love with the gray, the green and his partner after attending Western Washington University in Bellingham. Shockingly different from where he grew up in Las Vegas, the Pacific Northwest ignited a passion for the outdoors, conservation and birds that has taught him much about the world and himself. He has used his degree in journalism to help tell stories about the birds he loves so much and successfully crowdfund a bird-themed educational card game. His favorite bird is the Double-crested Cormorant, but he counts the humble House Finches who frequented his apartment balcony seven years ago as his spark bird.

Suzannah’s admiration of birds began in her youth when, with binoculars in hand, she was delighted to discover that the “little brown birds” in her backyard were not a single species, but instead a great multitude of them. She brought her passion for wildlife with her to the University of Washington where she graduated with a degree in Biology, and works towards protecting birds and other organisms through education. She believes in and strives toward a world where all organisms – feather, fur, scales, of all shapes and colors, are respected and diversity is celebrated. With the council, she works to ensure individuals of all backgrounds have access to inclusive programming, with a focus on introducing and welcoming a broader audience to the wonder and delight of birding.