Solid Ground’s Board of Directors inducted five new members this summer, and we’re still actively recruiting – especially young professionals ages 18-26 – to build a strong and diverse new cohort to guide us into our next Strategic Planning period and beyond. Here’s a bit about each new member, followed by information you can share with people potentially interested in serving on our Board.

Meet our newest members

Chrissy Glaister: Rep: Community | Legislative District: 43rd  

As a Design Researcher in Medical Devices and Healthcare, Chrissy is an expert in user-centered design who’s spent her career developing products and services to make a positive impact on society at both early-stage startups and established large companies. She’s used her skills and experience to intimately understand the needs of the people she serves to develop medical devices to improve: ⇒therapeutic outcomes for a myriad of medical conditions, ⇒consumer devices to make them easier to use and more effective, and ⇒insurance companies’ delivery of healthcare services for their members.

Among many career highlights, she helped develop a passively-cooled vaccine transport device used to deliver Ebola vaccines in remote areas of Africa. Chrissy holds an MS of Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University and a BS of Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University. She enjoys creating things with her hands and exploring the great outdoors in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, toddler, and rescue pitbull. She’s also on the Board of Rebuilding Together Seattle.

Vince Iaci: Rep: Community | Legislative District: 37th

Vince retired in 2014 after holding various positions in Commercial Finance at Microsoft and GE Capital. His most recent position was Worldwide Director of Risk Management at Microsoft Financing Corporation. He has a strong interest in nonprofit groups focused on homelessness in our city as well as poverty and racism among our citizens.

Born and raised in Seattle, community involvement is important to Vince. Over the years, he’s held volunteer positions as a Childhaven Board Member and coordinator of Plymouth Housing Group residents’ gatherings. A graduate of the University of Washington in Business Management, Vince enjoys cooking, hiking, reading, and spending time with his family and friends.

Val Pate: Rep: Community | Legislative District: 32nd

Val is newly retired but most recently served as Director of Asset Management and Compliance at the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC). In that role, she oversaw the state’s effort to monitor project compliance with the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. In addition, Val focused on facilitating the long-term sustainability of Multifamily Housing Projects in WSHFC’s portfolio, as well as continually promoting an anti-racist approach to the work done within and by the organization.

Val brings over 20 years of affordable real estate finance experience to the Board, including appraisal, underwriting, nonprofit development, and investment. She earned her BA in Geography and MA in Sociology at Humboldt State University in California, and did additional graduate work in Urban/Social Geography at the University of Washington. When not volunteering, Val enjoys spending time in the outdoors running, hiking, biking, and gardening.

Mary Ruffin: Rep: Community | Legislative District: 36th

Mary is a recent graduate of the University of Washington (UW) School of Law. Following the Washington state bar, she’ll join the Real Estate practice at Foster Garvey, PC. She’s held various advocacy-focused leadership positions in her community and at UW.

A former Solid Ground Sand Point Housing campus resident, Mary was a founding member of Solid Ground’s Community Accountability Council and remains deeply connected to the Sand Point community. Mary is eager to use her analytical skills and personal experience to empower the communities Solid Ground serves.

Hannah Won: Community | Legislative District: 36th

Hannah is an advocate for Basic Income, AAPI (Asian American/Pacific Islander) representation, and the arts. A longtime Seattle-area choral performer, she has several years’ experience serving on nonprofit arts boards, including the choral ensemble Seattle Pro Musica, and Ballyhoo Theatre, which provides musical theatre training to children and young adults. Hannah speaks publicly on organizational diversity and making the practice of choral music and other art forms more accessible and inclusive, and she recently presented From Orientalism to Equity: A Case Study in Inclusive Programming at the 2021 Chorus America Conference.

Outside of the arts, Hannah is politically active as a former strategist for a congressional campaign in Los Angeles, co-Founder of Testify For UBI (Universal Basic Income), Conference Manager for the 2021 North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress, Board Member of Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment (APACE),  contributing author for DeConstruct Collective, and community organizer with Ground Game Los Angeles and Income Movement.

We’re still recruiting new Board members!

To ensure a well-rounded and representative Board, our current recruitment prioritizes applicants with the following experience or expertise:

Underrepresented demographics:  

• Under 35 or over 45  (especially youth and young professionals ages 18-26!)
• BIPOC  (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color)
• Gender nonconforming

Representation:  

• Lived experience with poverty, oppression, and/or homelessness
• Elected officials or their representatives
• Young professionals (18-26)

​​​​​​​Experience or expertise with: 

• Domestic violence (DV) and/or DV support systems
• Tax credit and housing development
• Food systems
• Human Resources/labor engagement/employment law
• Anti-racism and community coalitions
• Board governance
• Transportation systems

If you or someone you know is interested in Board service, we’d love to talk to you about joining our dynamic Board of Directors. For more information or to apply, visit our Volunteer webpage to view the Solid Ground Board Member position description.