Luke is a writer, organizer and lifelong Spokanite who has spent his career telling stories, building community and working to make the region more just and livable for all of our neighbors. He is the founder of RANGE, a worker-owned newsroom, and co-founder of the Spokane Workers Cooperative, a holding company designed to scale cooperative ownership as efficiently as possible. He is the co-founder of the arts nonprofit, Terrain, and a founding board member of Feast World Kitchen, an incubator that helps immigrants and former refugees start food businesses. He founded Fellow, Spokane's first coworking space, and helped launch Treatment in 2015, a branding and storytelling studio, which he and his partner sold to its employees in 2022.

Brian is a principled and high-integrity builder of extremely impactful teams with over 15 years of leadership experience in technology solutions. He excels in high growth early stage companies and situations requiring creative leadership. He has demonstrated expertise in hiring and scaling teams across product strategy, engineering, marketing and operations, and has successfully built two multibillion dollar businesses. Brian is passionate about developing diverse talent.

As a WACEO steering committee member, Cindy is participating in the evolution of business thinking that promotes thriving communities. Supporting business and community ecosystems grounded in meaningful assumptions like local ownership are essential to building regional capacity in times of change. She is a student of Regenerative theory and practice, applied in professional development, business and life.

Andrew Cline is a leadership and organization-development consultant, coach, trainer and mediator.

Based in the Pacific Northwest and working worldwide, Andrew helps individuals and teams develop their ability to lead and work collaboratively. Leading with empathy, candidness and authenticity, he brings a calm and focused demeanor to the issues, solutions and processes of organization development.

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Chris Cooper is the Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) at Kent State University. In his 20-plus years at the OEOC, he has done almost everything at one point or another, but now focuses primarily on ownership culture education and coordinating Ohio’s Employee-Owned Network; working with business owners on succession planning and sales to employees; and business development and employee-owned start-ups.

He was formerly a contributor on the COSE Mind spring website (an online resource for small business in NE Ohio), the Small Business Advocacy Blog of the Small Business Advocacy Council (Chicago), and formerly to Slate.com’s now-defunct BizBox small business blog. In 2010, Chris was designated a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) from  the Exit Planning Institute (EPI).

Chris is also active in the Center’s training programs on employee ownership, developing and implementing the OEOC’s numerous training modules and programs. He has been a featured speaker at conferences and programs across the US as well as Bermuda, Canada, and the UK, and co-written numerous articles and book chapters on employee ownership and business succession planning. Prior to joining the Center, he was a substitute teacher with the Kent City Schools; worked at SEIU Local 47 in Cleveland, OH; and is a graduate of Kent State’s Political Science program.

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After owning and operating A-1 Builders (now A1DesignBuild), a local, design/build, Sub-S, contracting corporation for 43 years, it is the transformation of the company into a worker-owned cooperative that tops Rick’s sense of personal and community accomplishments. In retirement now, nothing surpasses his joy in observing the employee owners thrive and evolve as a team so active in building responsibly and promoting community and environmental well-being. Rick is driven to help other aging business owners embrace employee ownership as their preferred exit strategy into their next phase of life.

A fourth-generation Spokanite and active community member, Lu has over 20 years of experience supporting the intersection of people and systems working together for change in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and small business sectors. As EHF’s Community Engagement & Strategy Director, she is responsible for holding space, centering care and supporting connections that lead to a more just community, where those closest to community realities are the ones providing the guidance. Lu’s expansive career includes 8 years with Boys & Girls Clubs in Las Vegas, Oregon and Spokane, a prior stint with EHF as a Senior Program Associate, and 4 years in the cannabis industry where she implemented best practices in management, finance, and manufacturing.

Lu currently serves as founding board president of Spectrum 2SLGBTQIA+ Center, along with serving on the boards of Inland Northwest Business Alliance (INBA), Spokane Neighborhood Action Program (SNAP), SNAP Financial Access, and Northeast Youth & Family Services. Lu obtained her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Eastern Washington University and a Master of Business Administration from University of the People. Lu enjoys spending time with her wife and sons, reading, connecting with friends & family, attending live music events, and cuddling up with her fur babies.

John is the Co-Executive Director of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center which he joined in 2014. John has 26 years of practical experience in the worker cooperative world with Union Cab of Madison. John holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration and a Masters in Management: Cooperative and Credit Unions from Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) and teaches in the Master’s program as part-time faculty. He co-edited a collection of essays titled Co-operatives for Sustainable Communities (2015) with a chapter on Social Auditing and wrote a chapter in Humanistic Governance in Democratic Organizations (2022). John serves on the Washington Employee Ownership Commission and the Executive Committees of the Union-Coops Council and Policy & Advocacy Council of the US Federation of Worker.

Fred Miller is retired from a career in sales and marketing and numerous volunteer and community causes. His enthusiasm for employee ownership began while he was on the board of the Whatcom Community Foundation, and he continues to evangelize the benefits of EO in both Washington and Arizona.

In her role as Director of Special Projects, Alexandrea is leading efforts to establish the Washington Center for Employee Ownership and is the project lead on The Millworks, a mixed-use, community-focused development project on the Bellingham waterfront.

Alexandrea’s diverse background includes corporate communications in the tech industry, co-ownership of a fair trade toy business, administrative leadership at a nonprofit farm center and independent consulting for small business and nonprofit organizations. She holds a dual major bachelor's degree in Business Economics and Communications from UC Santa Barbara.

Michael partners with nonprofit organizations and donors to achieve their philanthropic goals through endowments, supporting organizations, and fiscal sponsorships. His personal philanthropic interests and passions include social justice, undoing racism and oppression, youth development, health and wellness, and the environment.

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Michael brings years of high-level professional service experience and over 2 years of leading a dynamic and successful community foundation to his work at Seattle Foundation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Montana. During his free time, you can find him volunteering, in one of the nearby mountain ranges, coaching soccer, or trying his hand at woodworking.