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Great City Board

Great City is lucky to have wonderful leaders.  For more information about Leadership Roles and Responsibilities click here.

See below to learn more about our board members.

Brice Maryman, Chair
Landscape and Urban Designer, SvR Design Company

Brice Maryman is a landscape architect with SvR Design Company. In addition to his work on Great City, Brice serves as a board member for the Arboretum Foundation and The Cultural Landscape Foundation. He has published extensively, both regionally and nationally, writing about his passion for making urban infrastructure systems that are humane, ecologically-responsive, healthy and equitable. As a Lecturer at the University of Washington, he joined with professor Nancy Rottle to co-direct Open Space Seattle 2100 to “design Seattle’s green network for the next century. In 2009, he won the King County Municipal League’s Doug Mason Award.

Yusuf Cabdi
Founder, United African Public Affairs Committee of Washington State

Yusuf Cabdi is an instructional assistant at Seattle School District. In addition to his work on Great City, Yusuf serves as the chair of Seattle Housing Authority Board of commissions, and sits the Cease Fire board of directors, and he is also the current chair and the founder of the United African Public Affairs Committee of Washington State—social justice advocacy group. He is interested in affordable housing for the low and middle income, economic and, social justice issues, and also developing programs that will foster the safe and productive lives of youth in Seattle.

Yusuf grew up in Somalia, received his associate degree from Shoreline Community College, and working to earn his bachelor degree in Political Science. Some of his hobbies are soccer, community organizing, and following national and international affairs.

Chuck Ayers
Cascade Bicycle Club

Chuck is the Executive Director of Cascade Bicycle Club, a 9,000 member non-profit organization creating more livable communities by promoting health, recreation, and non-motorized transportation through bicycle activities, advocacy, and education. Chuck grew up in Northeastern Connecticut, received his Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan and his Bachelors in environmental sciences and alternative energy systems from The Evergreen State College. His previous employment includes a faculty position in the School of Social Work, University of Washington, political organizing, solar engineering, and instructing Outward Bound programs. Chuck sits on the Seattle Bridging the Gap Transportation Levy Oversight Committee, the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholder Advisory Committee and is president of the North Central (Seattle) Little League and past chair of the John Stanford International School Fund Development Committee. Chuckís job at Cascade allows him to integrate many of the things he loves best – sports and recreation, community building, working with and for kids, and political organizing to build a better community.

Nate Cole-Daum

Senior Account Executive, The Fearey Group

Nate was born and raised at the intersection of Seattle’s Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods.

He earned his BA in History from Western Washington University but it was a summer in New York City that sparked a passion for urban planning, livability, development and transportation issues. He volunteered with the Downtown Renaissance Network in Bellingham and Futurewise (back when it was still 1000 Friends of Washington) in Seattle. He has worked for Downtown Seattle’s Metropolitan Improvement District (MID), the Seattle Monorail Project and since 2004, as a communications consultant for housing and health care non-profits, mortgage and commercial real estate companies, hospitality and aviation brands as well as government and consumer technology businesses.

He is a former member of the Uptown Alliance where he briefly served as the Co-Chair of the Transportation Committee (in reality, more of an understudy to D. John Coney). In addition to his active role as Great City volunteer and board member, Nate is also on the executive committee of the Leschi Community Council and the advisory boards of the Transit Riders Union of Metropolitan Puget Sound (TRUMPS) and FlashVolunteer.org. He is a cycle commuter, occasional bus rider and a condo-dweller in the Central District neighborhood of Upper Leschi.

Dave Cook
Principal and licensed Geologist, Geo Engineers

Dave is a licensed geologist and registered brownfields professional at GeoEngineers. He has a broad environmental consulting background in Washington State. His specialties include MTCA site assessment and cleanups that involve (1) due diligence for property acquisition/disposition and (2) brownfield redevelopment. Know-how, community involvement and collaboration are foundation characteristics that Dave emphasizes while undertaking brownfields projects.

Two such nationally recognized projects that Dave led include the Rainier Court redevelopment in Seattle’s Rainier Valley that won a National Phoenix Award in 2005, EPA’s highest brownfield honor. The second was an emergency response action in 1999 related to the Whatcom Creek Gasoline Pipeline Explosion Incident in Bellingham that changed the way fuel pipelines are regulated across the country.

Dave completed The Executive Management Program at the University of Washington School of Business and has received a M.S. in geology from Northern Arizona University and a B.A. in geology from Wittenberg University. Dave is also the Puget Sound Professional Chapter president of Engineers without Borders.

Nate Cormier
Landscape Architect, SvR Design Company

Nate has a decade of experience as a landscape architect in Washington and has led the design of over 25 urban green infrastructure projects, including parks, streetscapes, and environmental education centers. Nate draws inspiration from the allied disciplines of civil engineering and ecological design to forge a contemporary aesthetic rooted in and expressive of landscape performance and the poetics of function. As an emerging leader of the green infrastructure movement, Nate teaches and lectures around the country and abroad on how to create high performance landscapes that embed stormwater and habitat features within inspiring settings for outdoor living. His most recent publication, “Growing Green Infrastructure on the Urban River: Duwamish Stories,” was recently released in the Handbook of Regenerative Landscape Design, a survey of innovative practices edited by Robert France of Harvard University. Nate is currently preparing an urban green infrastructure certificate program for the University of Washington. Nate is also the Chair of Great City’s Green Infrastructure Campaign.

Cheryl dos Remedios
Artist, Civic Activist and Public Art Administrator

Cheryl dos Remedios serves on the Port of Seattle Art Oversight Committee, the Arboretum Foundation Board and the Streets for People Coalition. As staff to the Kent Arts Commission, Cheryl is the primary steward for the Herbert Bayer Earthworks. Her documentary video “A Place for People: The Herbert Bayer Earthworks” tells a story about green infrastructure, site specific art and advocacy. Cheryl is also actively engaged with the 520 Bridge Replacement Project, having organized “grass routes: an environmental arts festival” in 2006. Her knowledge about art, transportation and storm water provided the impetus for the Great City project aLIVe: a Low Impact Vehicle exploration – now a growing partnership between many individuals and organizations. Working as team member on complex projects may not fit the mythic vision of the artist, but Cheryl believes that it is essential for artists to be among the decision makers at this critical juncture in human history. Artists provide unique perspectives on how to transform our existing, disparate systems into highly functional, holistic solutions. As material resources become increasingly scarce, it is our cultural resources that will enrich our daily lives.

Jessie Israel
King County Parks and Recreation

Jessie has a fifteen year track record of bringing together groups to invest in neighborhood, environmental and equity initiatives. She has won numerous awards and trained around the world on performance driven government & building sustainable communities.

At King County, Jessie has been on point to help reshape King County Parks to generate non-tax revenue and ensure public spaces remain open, even during tight fiscal times. Prior to joining King County, Israel ran the Center for Women & Democracy at the University of Washington. In the 1990’s as a consultant, Jessie worked with neighborhood planning groups to establish the Central Area, Eastlake, Denny Triangle, Wallingford neighborhood plans.

Israel also serves on the board of City Year Seattle, Ballard Food Bank and is past chair of the Women’s Political Caucus of Washington. Jessie spent two years in Africa with the Peace Corps and holds a BA in Political Science from Seattle University. Israel’s family history goes back more than 100 years in the Pacific Northwest. She has lived and worked in many of Seattle’s neighborhoods and now resides in a cute red house in Ballard.

Jeff Pavey
Cascade Agenda Project Director, Cascade Land Conservancy

Jeff has been working for CLC since October 2005 as project coordinator for the Cascade Agenda. The Cascade Agenda is a collective 100-year vision for conserving Washington’s remarkable landscapes in the face of a growing population and a changing economic base. Before coming to work for CLC, Jeff was a consultant conducting policy analysis and coordinating projects for a variety of private and non-profit organizations. Jeff is a published writer, an experienced mediator, and holds Master in Public Administration from Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Catherine Stanford
Principal, CA Stanford Consulting Group

Catherine is currently a Principal at CA Stanford Consulting Group in Seattle where she specializes in real estate and assists clients in government and public affairs; strategic planning; property development; and historic preservation. Her clients include municipalities; developers; non-profit community groups and industry associations. Catherine teaches classes in Strategic Facilities Planning and Project Management. Her career spans 30 years in commercial real estate and includes work in both the public and the private sector. She has skills and experience in asset management; property development, rehabilitation, and acquisition; corporate real estate; business development; public and government affairs; urban and community-based land use planning.

Catherine was previously the Director of Real Estate for the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (PDA). She was responsible for the development of the LaSalle Senior Housing Project and the pre-development assessment of the PC-1 site. She had oversight of commercial and residential property management, farm program, and capital construction and facilities planning. In addition she was the liaison for the Market with other downtown organizations, and the City of Seattle.

Prior to moving to the Seattle area, Catherine was Director of Asset Management for a full service real estate development and management company in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Corporate Real Estate Manager for Varian, a Fortune 500 high tech manufacturing company headquartered in Silicon Valley. She was responsible for procuring space on a national basis.

Catherine’s volunteer time has been spent providing leadership in Downtown Seattle and King County. She served on the Executive Committee of the Building Owners and Managers (BOMA) for Seattle-King County. She is an active participant in the Urban Land Institute Workforce Housing Committee and serves on the EDD Board of PSRC.

Catherine chaired the comprehensive planning process for the five neighborhoods that make up the Seattle Downtown Urban Center and was instrumental in passage of the zoning changes for Downtown Seattle. She serves as chair of the Downtown District Council and is a member of the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee.

Alison Van Gorp
Director of Urban Policy for Cascade Land Conservancy

In her 5 years with CLC, Alison has teamed with diverse stakeholders, to lead the development of urban policy and the effective planning tools necessary to create vibrant, livable communities throughout the region, while conserving working farms, forests and natural areas. Alison oversees efforts to advocate for regional, state, and federal policy to support well-planned growth and directs the Cascade Agenda Cities Program, a regional effort that partners with cities to help them understand their options and make smart choices for future growth. Alison holds a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Diana Vergis Vinh
Advanced Practice Nurse Specialist, Seattle & King County Public Health

Diana is originally from Arizona and came to Seattle in 1991. Before coming to Seattle she worked doing community organizing and health promotion in West Africa and Thailand.

Currently she is an advanced practice nurse specialist with Public Health Seattle & King County working on healthy eating and active living strategies. Prior to this she worked in maternal child health, communicable disease prevention and emergency preparedness. She is passionate about working towards the creation of an equitable and healthy Seattle where all have access to affordable health care, good food and safe places to play.

Diana is vice president of the Southeast District Council, on the board of City Fruit and Operation Sack Lunch and is on the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee.

She is married and lives with her husband, three children, dog, goats and chickens in the Rainier Valley.

Chuck Wolfe
Principal of Charles R. Wolfe, Attorney at Law (Environmental and Land Use Law)

Chuck Wolfe is an environmental and land use lawyer with a graduate degree in regional planning, and 25 years of experience in environmental and land use law, innovative land use regulatory tools and sustainable development techniques. He has held significant leadership positions in both the legal and planning professions, including service as Chair of both the American Planning Association Planning and Law Division and the Washington State Bar Environmental and Land Use Law Section. He has represented private sector and municipal clients in multiple facets of redevelopment, including environmental and land use permitting, regulatory drafting and property remediation issues in the Puget Sound region (including some of the region’s most significant brownfield projects) and several other venues statewide.

He is a Principal of Charles R. Wolfe, Attorney at Law, and an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington, where he has taught several classes related to land use law and has contributed to major research efforts addressing urban center, transit-oriented and brownfield redevelopment. He is currently Treasurer of the Seattle District Council/Urban Land Institute, a Reporter for the national publication, Planning and Environmental Law and writes regularly on land use issues for the local online publications seattlepi.com and crosscut.com. Chuck holds a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University and a B.A., cum laude, with Distinction in History from the University of Washington. Prior to founding his own law firm in 2005, he was a Member and Chair of the Environmental Practice Group at Foster Pepper PLLC in Seattle.