Dan Thomas

The Port of Seattle plays a key role in bringing international trade, transportation and travel to the Pacific Northwest, and supports industries as diverse as tourism and commercial fishing. The Port is also a key builder of road and rail infrastructure, partnering with other agencies to improve freight traffic from Tacoma to Everett. It owns and operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport - the nation's 17th busiest - handling more than 31.5 million passengers in 2010. The Port's passenger cruise terminals at Pier 66 and Smith Cove Terminal will handle 195 ship calls and an estimated 858,000 passengers during the 2011 season. State-of-the-art cargo handling facilities helped rank Seattle as the nation's 6th busiest U.S. seaport in 2010, serving 22 international steamship lines moving more than 2.1 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit containers). It also operates four public marinas, and manages a number of real estate assets for financial return and broad economic advantage.

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) is a professional organization that represents over 22,000 public finance officers throughout the United States and Canada. The GFOA is based in Chicago, IL and has more than 21,000 members from cities, counties, towns, school districts, state, provincial, the federal government, and other special districts in the United States and Canada. The GFOA's mission is to advance excellence in government finance by providing best practice guidance, leadership, professional development, resources and tools, networking opportunities, award programs, and advisory services. The organization is dedicated to the sound management of government financial resources and provides professional development opportunities to more than 12,000 state and local finance professionals each year.

Northwest Harvest is a relief agency that provides hunger response programs to food banks, hot meal programs and elementary schools. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.