TACOMA – A successful leader of business and nonprofit organizations became the newest president of the Board of Directors for Tacoma Goodwill at a Jan. 27 board meeting. Jane Taylor joins five new board members in leading the organization, nearing its 90th year.
Taylor, of Tacoma, most recently consulted with the Middleton Foundation for Ethical Studies, a non-profit organization based in Olympia. She founded Northwest Kinetics in 1995 and served as its CEO until selling the firm to Charles River Laboratories in 2006. Her community projects include serving as board chairman for the Geneva Foundation, an organization she founded in 1993 to support medical research and education in the military among other projects. She takes over from Bob Bruback, senior vice president at Heritage Bank, who remains on the board as Past President.
“We will work expanding job training and placement opportunities for people with disabilities and disadvantages throughout the 15-county region,” Taylor said. “We will also encourage donations and shopping at our Goodwill stores, which support our job training services.”
In September 2009, Goodwill opened its new Milgard Work Opportunity Center in Tacoma. The facility has transformed job training and placement services to the community. In 2010, public dedications of expanded centers in Yakima and Longview are planned, along with new store openings across the agency’s service area and efforts to expand donations of gently used clothes and household items, which support the agency’s mission.
The agency also launched its new Web site at www.tacomagoodwill.org. The site features ways for young adults, adults and senior citizens to quickly find Goodwill job training and placement programs in the Services area.
Joining Taylor as new members on the 23-member board include: Brian Townsend, Nordstrom Tacoma store manager; C.W. Herchold, Asset Servicing manager at Russell; Judy Swain, treasurer of MultiCare Health System; and James Matteucci, governmental Affairs manager with Merck & Co., Inc. Also new to the board as a University of Washington – Tacoma “student” member is Jeff Durham, with Precision Machine Works Inc., of Tacoma.
Besides new members, the list of officers includes: Chad Wright, executive director, Marine View Ventures Inc., treasurer; Maj. Gen. Frank Scoggins (USAF ret.), secretary; Bob Bruback as past-president and Terry A. Hayes, CEO. At-large members include Cheryl Jones, executive director of Allen Renaissance; Toby Murray, president of Murray Pacific Management Co. LLC; and Dean McSweeney, senior vice president with Columbia Private Banking.
For 2010, Goodwill Board member Buzz Folsom is president of the Goodwill Foundation, which provides the framework for giving to support Goodwill’s job training and placement programs. Folsom follows Murray in the position and he remains on the Foundation board.
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About Tacoma Goodwill
Goodwill is a unique nonprofit business. It turns donations and business revenue into programs that change lives by helping people with disabilities or disadvantages go to work. This year, Tacoma Goodwill Industries will help more than 7,500 people with education, job training and placement so they can become independent self-supporting citizens. Of these, 1,200 people with barriers to employment will be placed in jobs in the community. Job-training services are funded through financial gifts, grants, fees, commercial services and the operation of 25 thrift stores throughout Western and Southcentral Washington. Please visit our Web site at www.tacomagoodwill.org.
