[EDITOR’S NOTE: BTB Founder/Publisher Scott Schaefer is on the Board of Discover Burien, a local business non-profit.] Discover Burien’s Annual Membership Meeting and Board Elections is scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Revelle Hall at NAVOS, located at 1210 SW 136th Street. At this annual meeting, members will vote on the election for five board positions. The Nominating Committee is proud to announce this year’s nominations; they are, in alphabetical order (and in the candidates’ own words):
Lori A. Alden, Branch Manager & Managing Broker, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest: Lori’s experience and passion for the Burien community plus her community connections makes her a perfect fit for Discover Burien. As a former President and Vice-President of Discover Burien, Lori has the experience & working knowledge to help guide Discover Burien to move forward in many new and exciting directions. She is currently involved with the Burien Farmer’s Market, Cove to Clover Run, the B-town Beat, plus supports many of Burien’s monthly activities such as Empty Bowls, Clean Sweep, Burien Bites, Olde Burien Block Party, Winterfest and Boo in Burien, just to name a few. Lori is the Branch Manager & Managing Broker for the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate office located in Olde Burien. She is a licensed Real Estate broker since 1993. She is also a licensed Real Estate instructor. Her passion for the Burien area is evident in all that she says and does. Her involvement on a daily basis in the Burien community is well known. Lori is always looking for new ways and progressive thinking to encourage folks to move into our beloved Burien as well as promote the local businesses. From balloons up and down the streets of Olde Burien to her popcorn stand outside her office…it is all about community for her. Lori would appreciate your consideration for a position on the Discover Burien Board. Heidi Pomeroy, Chef and Owner of The Maven Mercantile & Maven Meals: With an MBA in Sustainable Business from Bainbridge Graduate Institute and a Bachelors Degree in Restaurant Management from Cornell University, Heidi has integrated her professional and practical training to create these two complementary ventures combining her passion for sustainability, service and exceptional food. Being an entrepreneur has taught her the true value of community and not to be too proud to ask for help. In the past three years she has gleaned tremendous knowledge from the business owners she has worked side by side with. After three years as a successful entrepreneur she has a solid foundation to continue to build on and she feels the time is right to get involved in her new business community to help shape the future of Burien. Heidi feels that it’s now her turn to pay it forward and volunteer her expertise in organization and planning to benefit this burgeoning community. Scott Schaefer (current Discover Burien Board Member) B-Town Blog Founder/Publisher, Director/Producer, The Maury Island Incident film: Scott Schaefer has lived in Burien with his wife Theresa and family since 1995. He is a three-time National Emmy Award winning Writer (BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY), Producer and Director for TV/Film with over 27 years’ experience in the northwest and Hollywood. He is also Founder/Publisher of The B-Town (Burien) Blog, which was awarded “Best Hyperlocal Website” by the Society of Professional Journalists for 2010 and 2011. Most recently he Directed and Produced a short film called “The Maury Island Incident,” which will have its North American premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 25th. Scott is running for his second term on the Board of Discover Burien, in an effort to continue to “make Burien awesome!” He is proud to have donated thousands of dollars worth of free marketing space to Discover Burien – as well as other local non-profits and fundraisers – in his popular blog since starting it in 2007. He was named Discover Burien’s “Business Leader of the Year” for 2012. “I love Burien, and as a small business person I have a lot of passion and ideas on how to make things better,” Scott said. “One idea I’m working on is developing a Film Office here. This would encourage filmmakers to shoot in Burien by making it easier and more affordable than other cities. One model is the City of Shoreline, which provides services, incentives, venues, and production support for local film, gaming, theater, and sound professionals in that city of 53,000.” “I kindly ask for your vote so I can help keep making Burien awesome!” His full bio and credits can be found at http://scottso.southkingmedia.com. Ron Steinman, General Manager of Boulevard Park Place Active Retirement Apartments: Ron has been managing this retirement community for over 10 years. Boulevard Park Place is a family owned and operating senior apartments since 1996. Duties have included construction, accounting, marketing, leasing, resident activities and hiring. I would like to tell you a little about Boulevard Park Place, which is our family-owned and operated active retirement community. We have been in the hospitality business for over 50 years in the Seattle area. This community is the dream and proudest accomplishment of my parents, Merle and Vi Steinman. After a construction career beginning in 1949, my father, with my mother’s help, built Boulevard Park Place as a retirement community for both sets of my grandparents. Frustrated trying to find a high quality environment that offered a family friendly retirement lifestyle, dad finally decided to build one himself. It has been a labor of love. For the last 25 years we have called this community of senior apartments our home away from home. My father passed away in 2004, but my mother still works here 5 days a week. The beautiful grounds reflect her love of flowers and her hard labor. My parents taught the four of us the value of hard work. The construction and management skills we learned are used daily in maintaining and upgrading Boulevard Park Place. The operations and management was passed along to me more than ten years ago. With the help of family members and live-in managers, we work to keep my parent’s dream a warm, welcoming, safe and lovely home for all of our residents. Our residents are extended family. Matthew Wendland, Burien Press: Matt has been working with local non-profits and businesses in Burien for over six years. Originally from Sun Valley, Idaho, he attended the Collage of Southern Idaho in 2005 and finished degrees in Pre-Law and Political Science. In 2008 he moved to the Highline area and since studied Urban and Community Development, as well as Non-Profit Management and Business Management, at Seattle Pacific University. Since moving to Burien, Wendland has spent over five years managing a team within a nonprofit often made up of teams between 30 and 40 individuals and has worked as a consultant with numerous local businesses. Most recently Wendland has worked as a columnist for Robinson Newspaper’s Westside Weekly/Highline Times and become a main street brick and mortar business owner by taking over the local coffee shop, Burien Press. In addition to writing and running a local business, Wendland is a founding member of the B-Town Beat Music & Art Walk, the Chair and acting President of B-Town Biz to Biz, and was appointed by the Burien City Council as a member of their economic and business advisory board, the BEDP. “I absolutely love my community here in Burien and when I first moved to the area in 2008, I quickly realized that I had found my home. My wife is a third generation resident of Highline and after getting married, we decided to plant deep roots in this community. Since then we have purchased our home here, invested in local businesses here and spent countless time working with local nonprofits and volunteer organizations to help make Burien an even better place to live in. “I believe in a simple saying taken from the early days of the Kennedy campaign: ‘A high tide raises all boats.’ To me that means that the better our local businesses do, the better jobs our city has; the better our students do, the better our entire community will do. I’m throwing my name in the running for one of the open Discover Burien board seats because I believe that this is an organization that has already done some great things in Burien and had the potential to do even more. If the members of this organization would like to have me as one of their representatives along with the current members of this board, I would be happy to do by best to serve them and this community.” Matt Zielinski, co-owner, Burien Azteca Mexican Restaurant: Matt along with his wife Angela are the owners of Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Burien. As a graduate of John F Kennedy High School and a former Burien resident firefighter he knows the Burien community well. Matt would like to help the community grow by serving on the Discover Burien Board.Any member in good standing of Discover Burien has a right to run for a position on the Board of Directors. Such candidates will need to submit a petition signed by nine members in good standing of the Association more than 20 days in advance of the annual meeting. Since this year’s annual meeting is scheduled for June 11th, 2014, the petition must be submitted to the Association’s office no later than this Friday by 3:00PM, May 23rd. ABOUT DISCOVER BURIEN The Discover Burien Association is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation working on economic development, business recruitment & retention, education, promotion and marketing of the Burien community. We are a membership based organization, but do not limit our services to only members, we include the entire Burien business community. We work with Burien businesses to find solutions to their problems to help educate or direct to resources that are available. We also work as a liaison between businesses and city hall to help streamline issues. Membership and contributions are tax deductible. For more information, visit www.discoverburien.com.]]>