It was an exciting afternoon this past Wednesday (12/14) when major players from the Seattle LGBTQA business community came together at McCaw Hall for the GSBA Holiday Luncheon and Annual Meeting.
As you entered the main hall and lobby there were booths lined up featuring all the GSBA corporate sponsors including Wells Fargo, Pacific Medical, Microsoft, Amtrak, 1st Security Bank, Sound Publishing, with goodie bags filled with mugs, water bottles, stuffed toys, and even hand sanitizer. The always-fab piano man Victor Janusz provided live background music for the pre-luncheon showcase as he had done at the GSBA's recent Equalux scholarship fundraising gala.
On the McCaw Hall mezzanine level round tables were set up with salad-filled plates and rolls for the luncheon. I was honored to share a table with GSBA president and CEO Louise Chernin and special guest and keynote speaker Washington's former Governor Christine Gregoire.
After a great performance by Diverse Harmony, Seattle's Gay-Straight youth choral group, Louise Chernin paid homage to outgoing GSBA board co-chair, Kevin Gaspari (Windermere) and welcomed the new board co-chair, Drew Ness (1st Security Bank).
After a brief business meeting Christine Gregoire took to the podium to talk about her new project, Challenge Seattle, but first had to say something about the recent election. Gregoire startled the crowd by saying she had been asked to be on Hilary Clinton's transition team and was disappointed that it didn't happen.
After assuring the crowd that Washington is in good shape and is safe from Federal interference, Gregoire spoke about being the CEO of Challenge Seattle, a private sector initiative led by many of the region's CEOs working to address the issues that will determine the future of our region - for our economy and our families to ensure our region continues to grow, transform, and thrive, while maintaining our quality of life.
For more information and updates on the initiative, please visit Challengeseattle.com. For member info for the Greater Seattle Business Association, check out, www.the-gsba.org.
This article also appeared in the Seattle Gay News
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