Board of Directors
DeAnna Poling
DeAnna Poling is a financial services leader with over 20 years experience spanning from securities sales to credit relationship and team management. She is currently the Senior Vice President and Regional Manager at Shorebank Pacific, a unique bank with a mission to profitably assist businesses - and through them their communities - to be sustainable in economic, social, and environmental practices. DeAnna also served on the board of Habitat for Humanity from 1998 to 2008, where she focused on structuring and unifying Habitat's boards across King County.
Aze Malawo
Aze Malawo is an International Development Professional based in Seattle, WA. She is committed to international development issues particularly in areas of socio-economic development, international trade, global health and women's empowerment. Her background includes project and operations management, corporate compliance & risk management, stategic planning and internal and external public relations. She is a frequent participant in discussions related to international development/international trade and women's empowerment and is a member of the Organization of Women in International Trade. She is the US Representative for Leading Women of Africa (LWA) a non-profit organization headquartered in CapeTown, SA, that promotes, advocates and monitors the business and economic empowerment of women on the African continent while building strategic relations with diverse entrepreneurs worldwide.
She is the Pacific Northwest freelance correspondent for AFRIBIZ, an on-line portal of Afribiz activities that include information intelligence, research, media and broadcasting services, and the gateway to business ecosystems situated in Africa and across the globe. She serves on the Board of the African Chamber of Commerce PNW, Advisory Council Member of the Trade Alliance of Greater Seattle and AUDIC Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest.
Dr. Joe Appiah-Kusi
Dr. Joe Appiah-Kusi has been educated in Europe and the United States where he resides as a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is a physician, educator, researcher, policy analyst, strategic planner and humanitarian. He has been a professor at numerous universities including the University of Washington and the University of Phoenix, teaching courses in the humanities, ethics/law, public affairs, history, multiculturalism, international business and comparative health care system. He was a General Practitioner for the U.S. Army Medical Command in Europe, Adviser to WA state DSHS, and Medical Practice Investigator for WA state Medical Disciplinary Board & the Board of Medical Examiners.
He has received a number of distinguished awards including UN/WHO Fellowship, AMA, AHA and SAMA Fellowship and advises several non-profit institutions including LiteracyBridge and Lumana at home and abroad. He is a renaissance scholar and global citizen diplomat serving as an Adviser to Seattle Art Museum on the interpretation of African and the Oceanic Art collection.
Dean DeCrease
Dean Decrease is a naturalist who loves finding unexpected answers to business and community problems in the designs of nature, including human nature. Serving as Vice President at Weyerhaeuser Company until 2007, Dean has run a growing $300 million packaging business, built a global sustainability office, and has served as director of technology, customer service and product development. Dean participated in the "Group of '95" in London, which laid the foundation for the Forest Stewardship Council [FSC], and studied with The Natural Step in Sweden.
Co-founder of Friends of Seattle and Social Business Journal, Dean serves on advisory boards of Bainbridge Graduate Institute and The University of Washington Foster School of Business, and was a past-Chair of The World Affairs Council. He is engaged with BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), The Chefs Collaborative, and Slow Food.
Brett Horvath
Brett Horvath is a designer, an instigator, and an entrepreneur. He is a founding partner at Re-Vision Labs, a Seattle-based company that designs and implements online and offline community-building strategies for world-changing projects, products, and services. Brett is also the Director of Your Revolution, a non-profit that created innovative engagement strategies for young voters in 2008, and has helped more than a dozen community and national non-profits with their social media and organizing strategies. Brett is also the director of Komunikado, an organization that helps both for-profit and non-profit entities evolve by leveraging networked communication, advanced customer interaction, and social media.