Executive Board
Kenan Block
After a long career in journalism, Kenan currently heads up Kenan Block Media and Communications, a firm that helps a variety of clients tell their stories. A fifth generation Seattleite, Kenan’s award-winning journalism career spanned over a dozen years in Washington, D.C. covering politics and national affairs for the PBS NewsHour and later MSNBC. Kenan covered four presidential campaigns, the Congress, White House and Pentagon during his career. He was a founding member of MSNBC, serving as the Chief Washington Producer for The News with Brian Williams. Kenan was a founding board member of Town Hall. He currently is a board member of the World Affairs Council of Seattle. He lives in Fremont and is active in civic and political affairs.
Sandeep Kaushik
Sandeep, a partner at Sound View Strategies (SVS), does political and public affairs consulting work in Seattle. In addition to his extensive public relations, political communications and strategic advisory work for elected officials and civic leaders, governments and non-profits, he has worked on multiple political campaigns in the Northwest, including numerous issue and ballot measure campaigns. Prior to forming SVS, Sandeep worked as deputy communications director for then-King County Executive Ron Sims, and prior to that he worked as a political columnist/writer for Seattle’s alt-weekly, the Stranger, and as Seattle correspondent for Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. He has a B.A. in history from Reed College and an M.A. in history from Princeton University. He serves currently on the boards of the Downtown Emergency Services Center and HistoryLink. He lives in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood with his wife and two children.
Stephen Page
Stephen is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, where he has had the privilege to teach and work with hundreds of public leaders from across Seattle and around Washington state. His research and teaching interests include leadership, management, collaboration, and strategy. He’s published academic articles on how these topics play out in the areas of education, health and human services, public safety, and transportation. He also consult regularly to local governments and nonprofit organizations.
Stephen Paolini
Stephen is a principal at Bottled Lightning Collective, a political consulting firm helping candidates, organizations, and causes win across the US. He grew up in Orlando, Florida and got into advocacy work shortly after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Fed up with inaction on gun violence he quit his job and joined the campaign to put common sense reforms on the ballot in Washington State. Over the next decade he ran multiple successful statewide ballot measures, legislative efforts, and campaigns to elect gun violence prevention champions up and down the ballot. Stephen serves on the board of Community Passageways, a restorative justice organization supporting youth and families in Seattle. He lives in Greenwood with his partner and their cat Waddle Dee.
Kiana Scott
Kiana Scott is Principal and Founder of Kiana Scott Strategies, where she supports mission-driven organizations at the intersection of philanthropy, government relations, and public policy. Her career has spanned nonprofit leadership, politics, and higher education, always united by her belief that powerful stories inspire the strongest action. She earned her MPA and her Ph.D. and MA in political communication from the University of Washington, studying contemporary American political discourse and gender. Prior to grad school she worked on political campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and President Obama’s 2008 campaign. Kiana is President of the Board of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Immediate Past President of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, and teaches Policy Leadership for the EMPA program at the University of Washington.