Kate Snider joined our board at a vital time in the history of the organization: in late 2012, just months before the dawn of our 40th year.
Kate is principal and owner of Floyd | Snider, Inc., an environmental consulting firm, as well as a certified mediator and former Seattle Girls’ Choir board chair. With her networking skills, interest in youth engagement and mentorship, and experience in environmental business leadership, she was just the candidate we needed at this time of opening doors and deepening commitments. As a POL graduate and a great lover of the Whidbey Institute land and mission, Kate was ready and willing to throw her head and heart behind the big job of planning and executing our 40th Anniversary Festival.
Leadership of the 40th Anniversary Festival was the first thing Kate took on when she joined the board, and in that process she enjoyed deep, integrated work with the staff and community. “I learned so much from it,” she said. “Dan Mahle and I co-mentored each other through the festival planning in a delightful way that made our outcomes so much stronger.” Kate felt that the 40th Festival met its goals, which she described as, “to reconnect with people—the whole community—and to help pivot people’s thinking about the Institute from nostalgia to enthusiasm about the current work and the future.” In that light, Kate is excited about the Institute’s emerging identity as an intergenerational organization powered by great work, led by a new generation, in which we can all proudly be involved.
Kate loves the dynamics of our energetic board/staff team. “The board and staff work very well together as an integrated whole,” she said. “I’m really having a lot of fun. It’s the right group of people that we need at this point in our evolution.” She calls the board an energizing and diversely experienced group of peers, describing the group as, “very hands-on, and focused on thoughtful, prioritized work to further address the kind of growth and maturity that the Institute needs at this time.” Kate is currently vice-president of the board and serves on our Development and Strategy committees.
While Kate is busy with her professional and volunteer obligations, her greatest passion is motherhood. Her daughter, Riley (pictured above), studies cultural anthropology and earth science as a junior at Boston University. “She’s wonderful,” Kate said. “She’s one of those people you want for the future of the world.”
“What would Kate do?” – my favorite motto 😀