Janet Levinger, President
Janet Levinger is an active community leader in the Seattle area. She is passionate about education, believing that investments in children improve their lives and have enormous positive community outcomes. Janet joined the LEVF board in 2009. Currently, Janet is Board Chair of Social Venture Partners Seattle and serves on the boards of United Way King County, Thrive by Five Washington and Eastside Pathways. She is a founding board member and Emeritus Trustee of Eastside Prep School. She previously served on the boards or committees of the Child Care Resources, Bellevue Schools Foundation, Children’s Alliance, Foundation for Early Learning, the Early Care and Education Coalition, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Janet worked in high tech for 16 years in Boston and San Francisco. She has a BA in English with honors from Brown University. Janet lives in Bellevue with her husband and two cats. She has a son and daughter both in college. She likes to cook, travel, and SCUBA dive. She and her husband ride a tandem together.
Hope Teague-Bowling, Vice President
Hope Teague-Bowling is a National Board Certified teacher at Clover Park High School in Lakewood, WA. She teaches Humanities while advocating for education reform by serving as secretary for CPEA and participating as a member of Teachers United. She volunteered as coordinator for the Northwest Teachers of Social Justice Conference for three years.Tired of encountering small thinking around educational dilemmas, I wanted to join a dynamic organization that was grounded in social justice, focused on systemic issues, and worked for change from a variety of angles. I was drawn to LEV because of it’s sound education philosophy, the diversity of its members, and the emphasis on financial follow-through to support authentic change that puts students before adults.
Karen Cooper, Secretary
Karen Cooper is a part-time political and fundraising consultant. She retired from NARAL Pro-Choice Washington in 2009 after fifteen years as the executive director. Before moving to Washington State in 1981, Karen taught elementary school in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. Karen holds a Master’s Degree in Public School Administration from Howard University.
Steve Miller, Treasurer
Steve Miller, treasurer, is a founding board member of the League of Education Voters and wrote statewide Initiative 728 and 884. He is a lawyer, vice chair of the Board of Trustees for Bellevue Community College, and previously served for 10 years as a school board member for Bellevue School District. He is also the treasurer for the C-4 Board.
Kathy Binder, Fund Development Chair
Kathy Binder was born in Seattle where she has lived her entire life, including graduating from the University of Washington. Over the past fifty years, she witnessed tremendous changes in this state. After retiring 10 years ago as president of a high technology manufacturing company, she chose to devote her energies towards providing kids in our state the best education possible. She started at the local level by becoming president of her son’s middle school/high school PTA. She was a board member on the Bellevue Schools Foundation for four years. She expanded her local interests to advocating for all kids in our state, with an emphasis on at-risk children. She recently joined the Stand for Children board. She serves on the advisory board of Seattle Urban Academy that is a high school for some of the highest risk children in the greater Seattle area. She has served as a LEV board member since 2007, which is an organization that works tirelessly to improve public education in our state.
Jim Fridley
Jim Fridley is a professor in the College of Forest Resources and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. He also serves as the Deputy Faculty Legislative Representative for 2008-09.
Nick Hanauer
Nick Hanauer co-founded the League of Education Voters with Lisa Macfarlane in 2001. He created the Second Avenue Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital company. Nick serves on the boards of the Cascade Land Conservancy, the University of Washington Foundation, the Seattle Alliance for Education, and the University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter and Biosphere 2.
Thelma Jackson
Dr. Thelma A. Jackson is the owner of Foresight Consultants, bringing over 30 years of experience in education change initiatives, restructuring and reform, equity and diversity, policy making, school boardsmanship, cultural competency, community mobilization, strategic planning, educational auditing, school improvement, systemic change, curriculum evaluation for bias and fairness, professional development, and educational transformation. Thelma served on task forces and advisory councils for five Washington governors. She has served in numerous leadership capacities over the years, such as President of the Washington State School Directors’ Association; a member and five-time President of the North Thurston School Board; as Chair of the Commission on African American Affairs; and as President of the Board of Trustees of The Evergreen State College. Thelma has served on numerous boards of community, civic, and service organizations, is listed in Who’s Who in America for 2006 and 2007, and is the recipient of a number of recognitions and awards for educational and community service. She is the Immediate Past President of the Washington Alliance of Black School Educators and serves on the Steering Committee of the Black Education Strategy Roundtable. Thelma has a BS in Biochemistry from Southern University and a PhD in Educational Leadership and Change from Fielding Graduate University.
Erin Hemmings Kahn
Erin Kahn is the Director of the Raikes Foundation in 2007 where she provides day-to-day leadership of the Foundation and works closely with the Co-Founders to develop and execute strategies to help young people reach their full potential. Previously, Erin was Associate Director at Social Venture Partners Seattle (SVP Seattle). During her eight-year tenure, she managed the nonprofit capacity building program and provided leadership to the grant-making programs. Erin has extensive experience as a direct service volunteer working with kids. She also serves on the board of the Ballard Food Bank. Erin holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington and a BA in Political Science from the University of California at San Diego.
Laura Kohn
Laura Kohn is an education policy consultant located in San Diego. Laura was executive director of the New School Foundation in Seattle, a position she held for five years until The New School Foundation merged with LEV Foundation in July, 2011. Laura’s previous roles include policy consultant to the Gates Foundation, director of education for the City of Seattle, program manager for the Alliance for Education and education policy researcher for the University of Washington and RAND. Laura has a BA in Economics from Yale and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington.
Chris Larson
Chris Larson is a 1981 graduate of Princeton University whose successful career in the high-tech industry has led to many philanthropic interests, including public education reform.
Sharonne Navas
Sharonne Navas currently serves as the Director of the Equity in Education Coalition, a cohort of Communities of Color, working towards closing the achievement and opportunity gap for children throughout Washington state. She has also been appointed as King County Commissioner for the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs. Sharonne is responsible for identifying and defining issues concerning the rights and needs of Washington’s State’s Hispanic Community and advising the Governor, the legislature, and state agencies on the development of relevant policies, plans and programs that affect Hispanics. Working with the Commission continues Sharonne’s tradition of working in the political/non-profit realm. Past professions include being a community organizer with Stand for Children and the Executive Director of Para Los Niños, an organization dedicated to supporting the education of Latino children, with a focus on early childhood development. Sharonne is an advisory council member for the Thrive By Five ‘s “Talk, Love, Play” Initiative, a cohort member of Thrive by Five’s “Advancing Racial Equity Theory of Change in Early Learning,” a committee member of the Education Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee, and an advocacy caucus member of the Road Map Project. She also volunteers as a commission member for South King Council on Human Services — Race, Poverty and Policy and as a Board chair for Campaña Quetzal. Sharonne holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from St. John’s University.
Bob Roseth
Bob is one of LEV’s founding board members. He became concerned about education in 1995 when a Seattle school levy failure raised the possibility that his son, a budding fifth-grade musician, would lose access to all school music programs. He’s stayed involved ever since. He served as secretary of SchoolsFirst, the organization that runs the Seattle school levy, for a number of years. Bob’s day job is at the University of Washington, where he has directed the Office of News and Information since 1984. He has been a Seattle resident since 1977. He currently serves on the board of Seattle JazzED, a startup that provides after school ensemble instruction to young people who don’t have access through their schools. He also studies piano and has an outline in his head for a mystery/satire novel. He is the president of the C-4 Board.