We are thrilled to share the news that four outstanding community leaders have joined the Alliance for Education's Board of Directors today! The addition of Lisa Chick, Nate Miles, Estela Ortega and Bob Peters bring leadership and expertise in community service, finance, and public policy. “We are delighted to add such experience and diversity to our board,” says Alliance board chair Pam MacEwan, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs & Governance at Group Health Cooperative. “This group of individuals will strengthen our organization in innumerable ways and help further our mission to ensure every child in Seattle Public Schools is prepared for success in college, career and life.”
Lisa Chick is Vice President and Senior Regional Director for City Year, Inc., leading the success of City Year sites in Columbus, Denver, Los, Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose and Seattle. City Year focuses on addressing the high school drop-out crisis in America by engaging AmeriCorps members in service to our highest need schools. Chick is a Seattle native who began her community volunteer service in high school. She spent three years teaching in public schools in California before joining CityYear as a Service Director. Chick was a member of the Leadership Tomorrow class of 2002, was honored as one of Seattle’s “40 Under 40” by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2009 and was awarded the Marshall Memorial Fellowship in 2011.
Nate Miles is Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for Eli Lilly and Co. In this position, Miles leads the company’s public policy and community outreach initiatives nationwide, working with legislators, grassroots organizations, labor partners and many others. Over 30 years, Miles has held positions in both the public and private sectors and is passionate about effective public-private partnerships. Miles has been recognized by local and national leaders as a driving force in Washington state’s business and nonprofit communities and as a powerful advocate for children and public education. Miles is a native of Washington State, a University of Washington graduate, a Leadership Tomorrow honoree and one of Ebony Magazine’s “30 Leaders of the Future.”
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Estela Ortega is the Executive Director of El Centro de la Raza, a leading Seattle-based civil rights, human services, educational, cultural and economic development organization. In this role, Ortega oversees the strategic and operational management of the organization, which has 80 employees and an operating budget of $5 million. Ortega began a career of service and community organizing as a young adult through participation in a number of advocacy, voter registration and anti-war initiatives in her hometown of Houston, Texas. She went on to join the peaceful occupation, in 1972, of the old abandoned Beacon Hill Elementary School that would later become El Centro de la Raza. For thirty-eight years, Ortega has actively engaged in coalition building and political advocacy. In 2011 Ortega was presented the Women of Valor Award by Senator Maria Cantwell.
Bob Peters is the Senior Vice President and Market Executive for Bank of America’s Commercial Banking business in Western Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and Western Canada. He also serves as the Seattle and Washington State President for Bank of America. In his capacity as Market Executive, Peters is responsible for more than 600 corporate relationships with companies in the region. He began his banking career with Seafirst Bank in 1985. As the Washington State President, he leads the company’s corporate social responsibility activities including philanthropic grants, community development lending and investing activities, diversity efforts, arts and culture projects, associate volunteerism and environmental initiatives. Peters currently serves as an Executive Committee member of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and as co-chair of The Chamber’s Education Task Force. He is a director of the Washington Roundtable where he serves on the Roundtable’s Education Committee and he also is a sitting member of the Community Development Roundtable.
