-Good afternoon and welcome to Seattle Metro Chamber's
142nd Annual Meeting.
My name is Krishna Thiagarajan
and, in addition to my role as president and CEO
of the Seattle Symphony,
I'm also a proud member of the Chamber's Board of Trustees
and its Nominations and Governance Committee.
While our world is full of politics today,
the Chamber is a place for good policy and advocacy.
Great policies like Doors Open
which will support the arts in King County
with 100 million rebuilding the creative sector
and creating resilience and strength
in our inner cities and Downtown Seattle.
The Seattle creative sector attracts many
of the world's leading artists.
And, last week,
the Seattle Symphony was proud to announce Xian Zhang
as our next music director.
She isn't just the former music director
of the Milan Symphony in Italy
or the New Jersey Symphony in New Jersey,
but she currently is conducting the Opera Tosca
at the Met in New York.
And she will be the first Asian American woman
to hold this position in a major orchestra in the United States
and the first woman to do so on the West Coast.
[ Applause ]
Such positive change is only possible in a community
like ours where we look for innovation
and inspire creative excellence,
which connects us to the theme of today's event,
Inspiring Courageous Leadership.
You see, at the Chamber of Commerce,
Rachel Smith and Ada Healey
were crucial supporters of Doors Open when it counted.
They understood that making a significant change
requires courage and determination
to take a position for growth,
for diversity of ideas with inclusion of all communities.
And, so, I'm excited to get the program started
by introducing one of the Chamber's inspiring leaders,
immediate past board chair, Ada Healey.
Please join me in welcoming Ada. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Okay, good afternoon.
And I've got my remarks here,
but I'm going to start with a public service announcement
because we have UW here and we have WSU here
and I think there's a big football game this weekend!
And I also checked this morning,
there are still a few choice seats available.
So, if you don't have your ticket yet,
you can go on Ticketmaster or UW Football or WSU Football
and score a ticket.
So, I think it's going to be a great game at Lumen field
and look forward to seeing you all there.
Anyway, good afternoon,
Seattle Metro Chamber members and partners.
I've had the pleasure of serving as chair
of the Seattle Metro Chamber Board of Trustees
for the last year.
When I stood here at our annual meeting a year ago,
I said I had three priorities:
Improving public safety, downtown revitalization
and regional transportation. I, also, said
that while we were no longer doing candidate endorsements
at the Chamber,
we would not shy away from political engagement
given our role as an advocate for the business community.
From a political perspective,
this year has been very successful for us.
And the business community is better positioned
than it has been in more than seven years.
From a policy perspective, it's been a mixed bag.
I think my son would say it's been meh.
I learned what that meant recently.
While the Chamber has had a significant role
in many policy successes,
our government partners need to demonstrate
more urgency and problem solving at scale.
Last fall,
the Seattle City Council passed legislation allowing city --
aligning city and state
laws and allowing the prosecution
of public drug use and possession
while prioritizing diversion and treatment.
The Chamber strongly advocated
for Mayor Harrell to deploy
a public safety technology pilot program
that uses closed circuit TV cameras
and includes real-time crime center technologies.
This spring,
the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance
to improve recruitment and retention
within the Seattle Police Department.
And Seattle's new third force for crisis response
to non-emergency calls known as the CARE Team
was launched in 2023 with great success
and there's an expansion plan in place
where 21 more people will join that team.
Let's give that a hand, absolutely.
[ Applause ]
On downtown revitalization,
we worked in lockstep with our partners at the DSA
and the Office of Economic Development
to implement all aspects of the mayor's
downtown activation plan.
The City Council passed several land use changes
that will allow for taller residential buildings
in parts of downtown,
that will make it easier to convert office buildings
to residential and that will increase flexibility
to build hotels in Belltown.
We, also, worked successfully in getting the city of Seattle
to wave street use fees for temporary
and year-long food trucks
and for small- to medium-scale street and sidewalk
events and activities.
And, last, but not least, there's transportation.
And there's going to be an applause moment in a minute.
Since April,
East Side residents have been riding light rail
between Belltown and Redmond.
Wait for it, I'm not ready yet.
Light rail finally reached Snohomish County
with four new stations between Northgate and Lynnwood
that opened on August 30th.
And, last, we look forward to connecting stations
across the lake in 2025 and in Kent in Federal Way in 2026.
Now, let's have an applause. And we have a number
of our Sound Transit board members in the audience.
So, special thanks to that group for their leadership.
We, also, made sure our priorities
of transit and freight along with safety,
maintenance and preservation
were funded in the next Seattle Transportation Levy,
which will be on the ballot this November.
The Chamber enthusiastically supported this measure.
And please vote "Yes." But the most important successes
we've had in the past year have been political ones
which impact many Chamber priorities.
First, we changed the narrative about the issues
we care about most in the city.
For example, we no longer debate about defunding the police;
there's broad agreement on the most pressing issues we face,
public safety, homelessness and affordability;
and also broad agreement on the solutions.
Second, a new group of leaders
was ushered in to Seattle City Council Chambers.
And these members support employers
of all types and stripes.
While City Hall is not going to vote our way 100% of the time,
this council cares about what
the business community has to say.
They come from a place of pragmatism
and they want to get results.
And I think it's important to remember
that rebuilding our city will take more time
and continued perseverance,
but we're now in a much better place as a business community
to influence the issues that we care about.
I'm so proud of the Chambers's results in the past year
and I'm also delighted to pass the gavel
to an incredible business leader
who will continue to guide the Chamber in the year ahead,
Susan Loosmore, Executive Vice President,
Financial Planning and Analysis at T-Mobile,
will serve as our chair of the Board of Trustees
for the next program year.
Susan is well known for her financial
and operational savvy and for leading T-Mobile to success.
As we look at the many tasks ahead of us,
we could not ask for someone
with more experience and expertise than Susan.
Thank you, everyone.
And please join me in welcoming Susan.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you. -And thank you.
-Well, good afternoon. Thank you all for being here.
Again, my name is Susan Loosmore.
I serve as the executive vice president
of Financial Planning and Analysis for T-Mobile.
I could not be more thrilled to be here today
and honored to take on the chair
of the Chamber Board of Trustees.
Now, first things first, sorry, I always wanted to do that.
And, Ada, this is great. It feels good.
All right, on a serious note,
I'd really like to take a moment to thank Ada.
Ada, thank you so much for this last year.
Thank you for your stewardship,
your energy, your humor, your mentorship of me,
but, most importantly,
your unwavering commitment to the Chair.
Our theme for this year's annual meeting,
Inspiring Courageous Leadership,
is exactly what Ada has done this last year.
And my goal is to build on this momentum that she has created.
As I've been getting ready for this next year
thinking about the journey ahead,
it's become very clear
that my leadership will need to be the exclamation point
at the end of Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Regional being the emphasis.
Now, some people here may be surprised to learn
that 40% of our Seattle members
are actually located outside the city of Seattle.
My Bellevue-based company, T-Mobile,
has been part of the Seattle Chair
now for over eight and a half years.
And we are very proud to be part of that 40%.
Now, T-Mobile is also a very active member
in the Bellevue Chair.
And I've got some exciting ideas of
how we can partner together on a go-forward basis.
Of course, the Chamber deeply, deeply is invested in
and advocates for the city of Seattle.
It is the growth engine of our region
and we cannot take our foot off the gas here,
not even for a moment.
I will tell you, I also love to see
how intentional our Chamber leaders are
about improving quality of life throughout our region,
whether it be improving transit connections
or going down to Olympia to advocate for statewide policies
that benefit all of our cities. For example,
every spring, the Seattle members -- Chamber of Commerce,
coupled with the Portland Chamber of Commerce,
jointly fly into Washington DC
to meet with our congressional delegates
and federal agencies
whose work impacts all of our Pacific Northwest region.
Additionally, regionalism is rooted in the Chamber's
award-winning Community Business Connecting Program
which serves small businesses,
BIPOC and women-owned in 26 cities
and unincorporated areas of King County.
The Chamber team also shows up
to connect these regional aspects.
For example, up north, this last month,
the team met with Snohomish County community members
to hear about their priorities,
talked economic development strategy with our partners
at the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County,
visited Everett City leaders on light rail expansion plans,
participated in the recent opening
of the light rail extension in Lynnwood
and briefed the Shoreline City Council on economic development.
Now, heading over to the East Side,
staff participated in One East Side's
Economic Outlook Summit at the Microsoft campus
and also joined partners at the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce
for their State of the City with Mayor Kelli Curtis.
They, also, participated in the opening of the 2 Line
in both Bellevue and Redmond. In addition,
they strategized in affordable housing
down south with our Tacoma City Council members.
So, when we say the Chamber has been everywhere,
we mean it and we do it with purpose.
We believe working together and showing up
is what leads us to success and prosperity
for everyone in our region.
And the momentum is building in our region.
I personally feel this every time
I see a light rail swish by me on I-5
or whether I see a new small business open up its doors
on the street of Seattle. In addition to this momentum,
this is paired with optimism of new regional leaders.
We have great confidence in new SAM Transit leadership
and in Sue Rahr,
who just stepped in as the interim Seattle police chief.
Plus, as we all know,
right around the corner
we're going to be ushering a whole new set of leaders
at the state level, including governor,
attorney general and other legislators.
We need strong leaders who will face challenges head on.
We need leaders with a bias towards action.
And we need to set expectations of results and outcomes,
not just winning hearts and mind.
Now, by staying laser focused, we can together,
with these inspiring leaders,
make difference on progress on quality of life challenges
and growing prosperity for everyone.
I'm going to call it a wrap here.
Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
And, if you don't mind,
please join me in welcoming our
very own Seattle Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Rachel Smith.
[ Applause ]
-Well, thank you to Ada, our intrepid board chair,
who has been an amazing leader for our organization and partner
to me over the last year. And thank you to Susan
for stepping up for our business community.
I so looking forward to our time together.
Thank you to our sponsors of this fantastic
and re-imagined celebration,
to the elected officials and community leaders
who partner with us,
to the Westin leadership and workers hosting us here today
and, perhaps most importantly, to all of you,
the amazing members
of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
I recently mentioned some of you,
some of our regional superstars,
in an editorial for the Seattle Times
where I made the case that despite our challenges
the West Coast is the best coast.
Some of you may know that I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
but I've been on the West Coast almost 25 years,
over 20 of those here in the Puget Sound region,
and I really can't imagine living anywhere else.
Everything about this region makes me excited and proud.
The aquarium's Ocean Pavilion that just opened,
the waterfront,
light rail making its way to Snohomish County
and on the East Side, the World Cup coming in 2026.
Oh, yeah.
UDub and WSU facing off this weekend at Lumen field,
Microsoft celebrating 50 years,
Amazon returning to the office,
Fair Start reopening and, fingers crossed,
another professional basketball team coming soon.
Our members are doing amazing things.
I always say that this is the best business community
in the world,
and it is, and I get to experience
that every single day. For example,
I recently got to better know Shubert Ho
from restaurant and catering group Feedme Hospitality.
I got to spend some time with him in his hometown of Edmonds,
then got to eat his amazing catering,
including his specialty, Lobster,
at a Seattle Art Museum event.
And I was just so impressed that I ended up featuring him
as a must-know leader on my LinkedIn.
Fun side note, Seattle Art Museum, also a Chamber member,
just announced that their new leader hails most recently
from the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa.
So, obviously, we are going to be best friends.
In Washington DC, which was mentioned earlier,
retiring Congressman Derek Kilmer captivated
and had in stitches 150 Seattle and Portland Metro Chamber
members with a nearly hour-long speech.
As we all know, he is retiring.
And the guy has a real future in standup.
That's all I'm saying.
Although I think one of his staffers was about to faint
with one of the more colorful one-liners that he gave us.
In Detroit, we got to see an old friend,
Ryan Gustafson, formerly of the Sounders,
now CEO of Ilitch Sports and Entertainment,
meaning Detroit Tigers and Little Caesars Arena,
who treated us to a fantastic panel
on our Inner City Study Mission there.
I am honestly delighted with every opportunity
I have to engage with our 2,500 members.
It is the best thing that I get to do
and it is one of the reasons
that I really am an eternal optimist.
I am also a pragmatist.
Despite all of the positives that we have going,
we have issues that persist.
Too many people gather in Downtown Seattle
in open-air drug markets.
Too many people get away with repeatedly breaking
into business with absolutely no consequences.
Too many people need help and aren't getting it.
And, as a pragmatist,
I know that we are often like playing the game of politics.
And we know politics is part show,
it's how you get your message out,
it's how you persuade people to your cause,
it's how you distinguish yourself from your opponent.
And we know that you need to be strategic and good at it,
pick the right battle, the right time, the right team.
Determine if your goal is to die on the hill
making a righteous point
or doing whatever you have to do to win.
Understanding how to use the mechanics of government
or a campaign
or just your positional power to achieve your objectives.
Michelle Obama is so good at everything,
but also at reminding us that too often the political theater,
not the actual results, gets top billing.
Too often the performance is the only outcome.
Too often the loudest voices,
but not the majority, win the day.
And too often there's just a failure to see the ball,
hit the ball,
instead in preservation of the performative politics.
So, to that end,
in addition to the regionalism that Susan talked about,
and I am a regionalist,
this program year for the Chamber
is going to be all about results and accountability.
Save the spin,
skip the stunts and spare us the smoke and mirrors.
Instead, show us how you are making progress.
Everyone in this room knows that the stakes are high.
The stakes are high for Boeing, who is embarking on a new era,
whose machinists will vote this afternoon on a contract
and who is helping a new CEO get settled here in this region.
And that matters to us
because the aerospace industry employs 75,000 people
in Washington State
and generates $71 billion in business revenues.
[ Applause ]
The stakes are high for restaurants in Seattle
with a minimum wage policy change coming soon,
one that was conceived over a decade ago
and that couldn't take into account
the impacts of a global pandemic or the public safety costs
that are really burdening these businesses.
And that matters to us
because restaurants are an essential element to the places,
the neighborhoods and the cities where people want to be.
The stakes are high for Sound Transit,
who is simultaneously victoriously cutting ribbons
on long-awaited and well-delivered projects,
as well as resetting in places
where the agency's having some struggles.
And that matters to us
because the transformative power of light rail
needs to finally hit Everett and Tacoma,
as well as branch deeper into Seattle and the East Side.
The stakes are high because on the ballot
this fall we will see a statewide initiative
that would both claw back progress
we have made on addressing climate change
and slash much needed transportation funding.
And that matters to us
because our region and many of the companies in this room
have set aggressive climate reduction targets
and we need to be able to meet them.
By the way, vote "No" on Initiative 2117.
[ Applause ]
The stakes are high for city of Seattle leadership.
A mayor starting to look towards a reelection,
a new City Council seeing the 50-yard line,
getting information and starting to move down the field.
And that matters to us because, after a decade of crisis,
discord and, frankly, just not making enough progress,
government has to work
and leaders have to work together to address
our biggest issues, including public safety.
And, finally, the stakes are high for the Chamber
and for our entire employer community.
When we are effective, someone will make us a target.
When we get things done, someone will try to undo them.
When our voice and our point of view is strong,
someone will be angry about it.
And, to that, I say bring it on,
not out of arrogance or somebody who's looking to pick a fight,
but because being angry simply isn't good enough.
The high stakes don't scare us, they fuel us.
And we have earned our right to be at the high stakes table.
And we've earned it by actually doing the work.
And, again, not the theater.
Although it is great to speak from the big stage
and have the press conference
and get the quote in the article.
And we do a lot of that. Being visible is important
and it's an important part of what we do
and how we make an impact.
But you're much more likely to see me
or one of the Chamber team members taking a phone call
from a City Council member as we race between meetings,
helping a member sign up for our technical assistance,
celebrating a business success on social media
or convening all the stakeholders to the table
to help solve the problem.
Also, doing the work makes us more impactful.
Last year, we passed legislation
on public safety and downtown revitalization
as you heard Ada talk about.
We recently worked in coalition to pass Seattle's Housing Levy
and the Countywide Crisis Care Levy.
And a big thank you to the leadership of my former boss,
King County Executive Dow Constantine,
who is in the house today.
We beat back legislation at the state level
that would have negatively impacted our hometown companies.
And doing the work attracts more people to us.
Last year, we had 8,000 registrants for our events,
added 450 new members and kept a 90% renewal rate
and took 250 delegates around the globe.
Doing the work makes us operationally stronger.
Internally, we deployed a new Employee Engagement Survey
and we had each member of our team
complete training on diversity, equity,
inclusion and belonging because it is important
and because we are committed
to being an anti-racist organization
and actually doing the work. So, not just being the talkers,
but being the doers, it gets us recognized.
We won an international economic development award
for our Community Business Connector Program.
So, is it time to take a breather?
Absolutely not.
We have seen what feels of leadership vacuum
here in the region and it isn't good.
Around the office,
we call ourselves the Relentless Chamber.
And we mean it.
We have to be relentless in our pursuit of progress
because, when we rest, they win.
I'd like to take a moment to remember just a few leaders who
were also relentless in their championing of this region.
Acclaimed restaurateur and local do-gooder Tamara Murphy,
former state treasurer and longtime
CDRT member Jim McIntyre and the one and only,
the best of the best, Mayor Charlie Royer,
all made this place better and all will be missed.
[ Applause ]
When I applied for this job at the Chamber,
I said that I was an optimist,
a pragmatist and a true-blue regionalist.
I still am.
There is a lot to be excited about and we are.
The stakes are high, but our ambitions are even higher.
And we will actually do the work for all of you,
for our members, relentlessly.
Thank you all so much for being here.
[ Applause ]
-And now please welcome our presenting sponsor,
Kaiser Permanente.
[ Applause ]
-Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. I'm Carla Costa Sandine
and I have the pleasure of serving as the vice president
of Communications, Marketing and Community Health
at Kaiser Permanente.
Thank you to the Chamber and everyone here today.
It's a pleasure to see so many friends in the room.
And we, at Kaiser Permanente,
are proud to be the Care and Coverage
partner to so many of you and your teams across our state.
I want to go back to what Rachel was saying
about the stakes being high.
The stakes are also very high right now
in health care in our region.
Everyone in our community should have access
to quality affordable care.
Everyone in our region should have access to the things
that keep us healthy and safe,
the things we all rely on every day for ourselves
and our loved ones, like healthy food to eat,
clean air to breathe, places to be outside in nature,
a safe comfortable place to call home,
quality education for our kids and a health care system
that mostly focuses on keeping us healthy
with strong prevention and great primary care
and that provides excellent treatment to us when we need it.
I know this is especially critical to all of you
in the room who employ so many people in our state
and who feel dedicated to keeping your team members
and their families healthy.
This is why our mission at Kaiser Permanente
is to provide high quality affordable care to our members.
And, for those of you who aren't familiar with us,
we're both a health care insurance company
and a health care system.
We have over 30 clinics across the state,
over 600,000 members
and over 1,200 Kaiser Permanente physicians,
100 of them were named top doctors last year
and several of them are in the room today with me.
Yes.
And our mission does not stop there.
We're also committed to improving the health
and well-being of communities across our state
through grantmaking, research
and providing direct access to care for thousands of people
who otherwise would not be able to access care.
I was thinking of this theme
today of Inspiring Courageous Leadership.
And when you work in an organization
like Kaiser Permanente,
you hear stories every day about inspiring and courageous leaders
because of the mission that we have.
But I want to share a story with you all of something
that happened recently in our organization
and something that's also very personal to me.
So, one of our physicians, who is here today,
I am going to pick on her, Dr. Monika Wells,
she's our Seattle District medical director,
and Dr. Wells noticed
that we had a gap in mammogram screenings
in our Rainier Clinic.
It's in South Seattle and it happens to be one of the most --
in one of the most culturally diverse zip codes
in the entire United States.
Dr. Wells realized that our standard approach
to mammogram screening was not working for people
in that clinic because of unique language and cultural needs.
And, so, she spoke up to our health plan leaders
and our clinical leaders
and she shared about the gap and her ideas to close it.
And she was listened to.
We ran a pilot to do direct outreach,
often with interpreters, to not just jump to scheduling,
but to talk to people and answer questions
and then help them feel comfortable scheduling
those visits for mammograms.
And, in over four -- in just four months,
over 200 mammograms were scheduled at our Rainer Clinic
and we're now following the same process in all
of our Seattle clinics to make sure
that no one falls through the cracks.
[ Applause ]
I am a survivor of breast cancer
because my physician at Kaiser Permanente
believed me that something felt wrong
and I was able to get in right away for a mammogram.
So, thank you, Dr. Wells.
It's a pleasure to work with people like you
who I know are leaning in
and speaking up every single day to make sure our mission
of quality affordable care is achieved.
I could share stories like that all day long,
but let me just wrap up by saying Seattle is my home.
I was born here, I have raised my son here,
I love our home and I am so grateful to the Chamber
and everyone here for your leadership
that is continuing to make our region
an even healthier place to call home.
With that,
I am pleased to introduce our keynote conversation today.
It will continue to develop on this theme
of Inspiring Courageous Leadership.
First, I'd like to reintroduce Ada Healey.
Ada is chief real estate officer at Vulcan.
She was the Seattle Metro Chamber's
immediate past board chair
and a passionate advocate for the Seattle business community.
And, today, she will be engaging in a fireside chat
with our keynote, the University of Washington's Ana Mari Cauce.
Excuse me.
Rising from assistant professor to president,
Ana Mari is the first woman,
first Latina and first openly gay person
to lead our institution. President Cauce's
inspiring courageous leadership is displayed
throughout her historic tenure at the UDub,
which is including expand --
included expanding student access by creating
the Husky Promise,
advancing research in patient care through UDub Medicine
and launching the university's Population Health Initiative,
part of a comprehensive strategy to create
and accelerate impact for the public good through learning,
discovery and community engagement.
I welcome you both to the stage
and look forward to hearing your conversation.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Okay, we had a mic check earlier.
Is it working?
-I hope so.
-Sounds good. -Okay.
-Sounds good. Well, thank you so much,
President Cauce for being here with us today.
-Good to be here.
-And, you know, we heard from Carla about some of your --
a few of your signature achievements.
But what she didn't really talk about is your leadership style.
And I had the opportunity over the last couple of days
to talk to a handful of people
who you have worked with for a very long time.
And now I get to start out by doing a little embarrassing.
So, I'm going to tell you,
as well as a thousand of your closest friends,
what people have said about your leadership style.
She's a rock star, she's as good as it gets,
she's a joy to work for. And, by the way,
she's a clinical psychologist so she knows what you're thinking.
That's a little scary to me up here with her, by the way.
She hires great people and turns them loose to do their jobs.
She likes to hear other viewpoints.
And you can imagine, at the university,
there's a few other viewpoints.
Right? She engages in constructive conversation.
She welcomes a spirited debate.
She's not afraid to make big decisions.
And she's also not afraid to take heat for it
because maybe not all of them
are going to be the most popular.
So, it is not a surprise to me
to have heard Carla list your accomplishments.
And it's also not a surprise
that the university is in so much better shape
today than it was 10 years ago when you took the helm.
So, thank you very much for your leadership.
And can we just give her a round of applause?
-Well, thank you, thank you.
I have to say that I am actually an adolescent psychologist.
And I often tease -- you know, do a lot of family therapy,
you know, handling conflict.
There is no better preparation
for dealing with faculty and students.
-Okay. Well, we'll get started here.
So, looking back over your tenure,
both as president and as a faculty member and leader,
what moments stand out particularly defining
your inspiring leadership journey?
-Well, I think that there are, you know --
I mean, you know, it is --
I have to say it's a little strange
because there's a full year ahead and a year is a long time.
And this year is going to be a doozy, no question.
And, so, you know, I'm very focused on the things
I want to get done.
And, so, it's all, you know -- I mean, when it's like,
"Well, you're leaving," and, you know, it's kind of strange.
So, I just want to acknowledge that.
But I do think that there is a number of things and --
that have happened in the 10 years
that I've been president that it's not a question of these
are my accomplishments,
but they're accomplishments that have happened during this period
that, you know, in many cases,
you know, what's really fun about this job
is you get to bask in the reflective glory
of the fabulous people that you've brought on board.
So, I want to be clear that as I talk about some
of the accomplishments, they're not mine,
they are that of the university and the team
that we've built during that time.
You know, I think one of the things
that I think is really important
is that we've really focused much more singularly
on the student experience.
It's not that we didn't care about students,
you know, 10 years ago. We absolutely did.
We had -- you know, we cared about teaching, et cetera,
but about the whole experience
that students have inside the classroom,
but also outside the classroom,
and really working to create a range
of experiences for students. I mean, obviously, you know,
right now, we're thinking about all the athletics.
And that's important.
And part of the important thing.
And I think that you all saw that last year.
I still -- I don't think I'll ever forget the moment
when Michael Penix opened up his jacket
and it was his teammates names, you know,
that -- you know,
that we do this in terms of the whole person,
that we've created actually with a lot
of your help fabulous internships
for our students working in the community
so that it's not that you've got school here
and community involvement there,
but really bringing those together
and really creating a fabulous experience for students.
I think that the growth of Bothell and Tacoma
have been absolutely amazing.
They really were, you know, these kind of --
you know, those of us that knew them, knew better.
But they were smaller campuses.
Now they are fully comprehensive campuses.
They have, you know, dorms.
You know, I love talking about, you know,
when I think about, for example,
the student body president of Tacoma
from a couple of years ago,
he -- 27-year-old African American man
who had a couple of kids, you know, he had a life.
And without being able to be at Tacoma,
you know, doing the regular residential,
it wouldn't have fit.
Tacoma was the perfect fit for him.
He did his first two years at community college
and then he went on to a full ride scholarship
in terms of public policy at Princeton.
Now he's on a full ride scholarship
in a second year of law school at Yale.
This is University of Washington Tacoma.
We have a range of --
we have more than one full ride scholar
that has been from UW Bothell.
I was just actually last night meeting with a student regent
who was there from a couple years ago.
He's going to go to a top medical school.
That these are full campuses.
They each have more than 5,000 -- actually,
they each have more than 6,000 students on their own.
And it's been wonderful to see that grow.
Seeing holistic admissions really take.
I mean, right now, all these schools across the country
are kind of, you know,
figuring out how do we do admissions now that,
you know, things have changed in terms of --
well, you know, we really have --
we've been doing that for a while.
And it's been wonderful to see that.
The opening of the Intellectual House,
which is a real important home for our native students.
Community partnerships, quite frankly,
previous presidents had been dismissive
of community colleges,
I'll be really honest, and were, you know,
"What are these transfer agreements," et cetera.
And I'm looking at Paul Rucker in the audience
because he played a big role in our really reaching out
and this partnership with community colleges.
It's such -- you know,
it's such a fabulous way for many students.
My brother started at community college.
I mean, it was like the affordable.
I didn't start at community college,
but my parents wouldn't have let me leave home
when I was 18, you know.
And the community colleges are really important
and not just in terms of student transfer,
but in terms of partnerships, in terms of research,
working in the community.
And I think that that's something
that we've really strengthened.
Our health care partnership with Gonzaga,
that has been absolutely amazing.
You know, people used to --
some of our medical students talked about being whammied,
meaning sent to Spokane.
Now it is choice. They want to go there
because it's such a wonderful environment
for going to medical school. And I do have a few notes.
So, we've doubled the size of the RIDE,
our rural dentistry program.
You know, the Population Health Initiative,
which is something that I launched very early on
that included the Rosling Center for Population Health,
I remember in the early days it was so hard
for me to explain to people. People would ask me,
"Why do you care so much about Ebola.
It's off in Africa."
And I would say,
"Well, wouldn't you rather deal with it there than
when it makes it's" -- I think with COVID we all
know that health anywhere can be health everywhere.
And, so, that's been a really important initiative.
There's a couple of other universities
that now have their own Population Health Initiative
in partnership with us.
Actually, one of the things that I did when I was interim
because I kind of wanted to see could I be myself
and be president, I wasn't sure,
I really wasn't,
and so I launched the Race and Equity Initiative.
And I talk very personally about some of the issues
in my own household growing up,
some of the prejudice that I felt from my parents,
some of the difficulties I had when I came out to my mother.
And I talked in a very personal way,
which university presidents don't tend to do.
But I needed to test out could this university deal with me.
And I really think the Race and Equity Initiative has been
really, really important.
So, you know,
I really -- there's a number of things that,
you know, I love the fact we have one
of the most diverse leadership groups in the country.
In terms of our deans, our majority are female.
At this point,
our student body leaders, three of them are African American.
And they were all chosen because they are the best
and they are the best.
But I'm saying, you know,
that what happens is you start growing a team
and then it attracts other people,
I want to be there because I'm not going to be the only
and I will be listened to.
And, so, I really feel very good about what we've built.
And I'll say, you know, this year,
our freshman admissions more than --
in 2015, we had a -- which is when I started,
we had a record number of applicants.
It was about 35,000.
This year, we had 70,000 applicants at a time
when other places are struggling to get students.
And, again, it hasn't been -- we don't do -- we do --
we certainly do recruitment work in our local high schools.
We don't recruit out of state. We don't -- it's our reputation.
This -- I just came back a while ago from --
we have an event called Converge that
where we work with all our alumni chapters in Asia.
And it was just fabulous to see.
I mean, I really was a rock star there.
I like to say I was Dubs.
Everyone wanted their picture taken with me.
And, you know,
it's just been lovely to see our global reputation growing
because -- not because of the reputation in of itself,
not because of the number,
but because of the opportunities
that opens up for our students to really,
you know, change the world.
-Okay.
-But, again, this -- none of this did I do by myself.
It was really building a great, great team.
-She's very modest.
As the first woman,
first Latina and first openly gay person
to lead the University of Washington,
how did you navigate the challenges
of being a groundbreaker?
-Well, you know, I love the way that that's phrased,
first openly gay.
We all know that they were out there before.
And, you know -- I mean, you know, on the one hand,
I think representation matters. And I'm very proud.
I mean, I get calls from students,
from faculty members, et cetera,
that, "How did you do it?"
And I hear from people,
"I now think I could do it."
I'll be honest,
I remember at some point someone was talking to me
about being a dean or whatever and I said, "Me?
There's no way."
It didn't mean that I didn't think I could be a leader,
but I thought of myself as leading from the margins.
I just did not think that someone like me
could be in a position like this that, you know,
regents would ever choose me,
that, you know, the legislature would accept me,
that, you know, it just --
and I think that there are now people
who do think they can do these things.
And we have seen the number of gay, the number of Latina,
the number of women leaders go up.
Not that they've been treated that well.
But, you know, my goal is for it to be a not a big deal.
I would love it to just be, "Oh, of course."
You know, it's not a big deal.
But I do think representation matters.
And I do think that at times
I've had to explain myself a bit more
or, you know -- one of the things that's interesting,
I think being a woman in particular,
is that when people -- you know,
I mean, I do quantitative research,
you know, I deal with big datasets, et cetera,
but when people talk, you know,
numbers, especially when men are talking numbers,
they go slow, you know,
like if somehow you don't understand budgets or you don't,
under -- you know?
And, you know -- and there's some of that.
And, you know, you kind of laugh it off.
And you can't let it stop you.
-A lot has changed --
[ Applause ]
A lot has changed both in the field of education
and in the world during your time as president.
How have you balanced maintaining the university's
strong traditions with continuing to innovate?
-Well, you know, I really think that -- you know,
that one of our faculty members,
and now I'm blocking on his name,
but a number of years -- you know,
decades ago talked about universities
of a thousand years.
I mean universities are just about
the oldest institutions after cities.
They really have been.
And I think what we need to do
is balance the timeless with the timely.
So, for example,
that special relationship,
that special spark that happens between a mentor and a mentee,
between a teacher and a student,
that's timeless.
Now, it may happen over Zoom now.
You know, it may happen in a totally different way
than it did before.
But the timelessness of that listening, of that spark,
of that eureka that can happen.
And, so, you know, I do think that, you know,
the -- again, particularly for a public university,
the ties to community, they are so important.
But I think now we're much more focused on a word
that I was introduced to in Japan,
we're much more focused on the glocal,
by which I mean how do you connect the local to the global.
And like, you know, as an example,
when I was introduced to the word,
it was actually because I was talking to an alumni
in a hotel room in Japan and it was in one of the islands.
And, so, there were ferries going back and forth.
And a UW boat came by, a boat came by with a UW flag.
And I was like, "What?"
And it turns out that, basically, you know,
their earthquake fault lines are very similar to ours,
but theirs are better censored.
And, so, we were doing research in Japan
to learn about
how do we better deal with potential earthquakes here.
And, a lot of the times, you know --
I mean, you know,
we're about to launch the Rainier Early Learning Center
and we're going to --
we're very much doing it with an eye on this population here
and the needs of this community. But we are also hoping
that those lessons can help with other learning --
early learning centers across the globe.
And, so, you know, I think that -- you know,
I like to tease, you know, I have a niece, a UDub grad,
and she's got an eight- and 10-year-old
who are dying to go to Korea for K-pop and Japan for anime.
I never even knew that these countries existed
when I was eight and 10.
You know, I do think that that tie, you know,
that we are very --
our main goal is to make Washington State better.
There's no question.
But then how do we tie that
and use those lessons to make the world a better place?
And, so, you know, I do think the scale
at which we work is very different.
Nowadays, a much larger number of our students
are studying abroad.
And I think that that is a fabulous thing.
So, we do want to keep that timeless,
that community tie, that service to community.
But what the shape and what it looks like is going to --
I mean, we have students now
that come in already from day one
they want to start their own companies.
That was something that students couldn't do before
because you couldn't have a workforce, et cetera.
So, we need to be timeless.
We need to make sure that our students know
how to learn writing,
but, guess what,
they're going to use AI as part of their writing.
And we need to -- you know, the toothpaste is out of the tube.
We need to make sure that they can learn
to use these technology, not block them away from it.
So, you know, the essence --
you know, think about some of the -- you know,
our medical students and, you know,
the way that they are more and more using -- you know,
are able to use,
how shall I say,
simulations before they're actually working with patients.
And that really trains up their skills.
Or the way in which right now some of surgery is, in fact,
being done with robotics, et cetera.
But the idea of caring about the patient,
listening to the patient, that is timeless.
So, it's really about bringing those things together.
-As you think about UW
and you think about the next five to 10 years,
what challenges and opportunities
will the next president confront?
-Well, you know, I mean, some of that is, of course, unknown.
But, you know,
what I think that we are going to be able to attract --
in fact,
I'm already getting calls from sitting presidents
of great institutions that are thinking about this
as a place that they want to apply
and want to talk to me more about it.
You know, one of the things
that I think is fabulous about where we're at
is we are good enough to sit at any table with anybody.
And I don't just mean athletics.
I know, I really am talking about that,
you know, there is no university
that we cannot compete with in terms of research,
in terms of teaching, in terms of health care.
We are at -- we can sit with anybody.
At the same time, you know, I mean -- you know, I -- you know,
I don't mean to -- but, you know, for example,
when there were openings at UCLA in Berkeley,
I was like, you know,
"There's nowhere to go but down."
You know?
I mean, I don't mean that in a bad way.
But, you know, we still have room to go up.
And, so, you can really come into an institution
where you're already at a place
where you can sit at any table and be taken seriously,
yet you have room to go further and go higher.
And I think that that's going to be incredibly attractive.
I think that one of the things --
the biggest challenge right now and one of the things
that's been most difficult over the last few years
has been public confidence in higher education.
And I really think that that's part of
why we have to do more work going out to communities,
talking to the public, making it clear,
for example -- you know, one of the things
that I am very proud of, this is a program
that I was very involved in putting together
before I was president, is our Husky Promise.
We now have more than 60,000 students
that have gone to the UW tuition free.
And yet I know that there are students out there
that every single one of us know
that they would get not only full tuition,
but plus, but they don't know it.
And they're scared of even applying
because they don't want to come out with debt.
Our average student --
more than 60% of our students come out with zero debt,
but they don't know that.
And, you know, that creates some distrust.
I, also -- and, here, I'm going to say something controversial,
but I don't believe in giving anybody a 100% free ride,
which some universities do.
All of our students are expected to pay for some
of their tuition,
either in terms of we'll give them a job on campus
or they can work 20 hours a week for two quarters
or they can work during the summer
or they can take out a $5,000 loan a year.
It's their choice.
But we don't 100% because we think it's important,
I think it's important
that I can talk to a low-income taxpayer
whose taxes are helping and say,
"No, no one's getting a free ride."
I, also, know from research, for example, in mental health,
that if you charge someone $5 for a therapy appointment,
they're more apt to actually show up and engage
than if you charge them zero.
I want every student to have skin in the game.
Like I say, we're happy to give them a job on campus.
But, you know, yes, it's totally affordable.
You know, for students who can't pay, we'll give them,
but there's a part that they have to do with their labor.
And I think that's really important.
And I think it's a mistake to make it 100%
because then it's very hard to explain to people
who really are struggling to pay.
And the middle class really does have a hard time
sending their kids to college.
[ Applause ]
And I have been criticized for that stance,
but I really believe everyone needs to have skin in the game.
-I know you're not going to be a backseat driver
for the next president.
But what advice would you give your successor
as they pick up the president's role where you've left it off?
Where you will leave it off because you're -- you know,
you've got another year still.
Right? -Yes. Yes.
And I'm not going away.
I just want to know -- Seattle is my home.
I'm an immigrant.
I grew up with my parents' home always being this place
that wasn't -- that was out there.
Home means something to me.
This is my 39th year in Seattle.
This is my home. I'm not going anywhere.
And I want to help --
I want to continue to help the university and our city,
our county, our state in any way that I can.
But I am going to take a little bit of a leave
and, you know, take a few months to relax.
I think the biggest thing that I would say is that, you know --
and I experienced this with other people,
which is part of why during my interim period
I kind of tested the boundaries,
is there is this sense that there is this president suit
that you have to put on and you have to act a particular way.
And, you know, people train you to,
when people ask you questions,
don't give them the answers, tell them what you want them --
what you want them to -- you know,
and all this kind of stuff,
and dress a particular way and whatever and --
you don't wear socks like this.
But, you know, one of -- is -- you know,
is that you've got to be yourself.
You've got to be yourself.
It's just too hard to do the job
and then try to -- I mean, there are occasional times when I say,
"I'm going to put my president's hat on."
I'm not trying to say -- but, you know,
that to really not allow yourself to be overmanaged.
-Fantastic.
Well, I can't tell you what a delight it's been
to have you with us and share your pearls of wisdom.
And, please,
let's give President Cauce a round of applause.
-Thank you.
[ Applause ]