Check your contacts: Here is Mayor-elect Wilson’s 60-member transition team including Capitol Hill and Central District connections

(Image: Wilson for Seattle)

Mayor-elect Katie Wilson has announced a 60-member transition team with a handful of Capitol Hill and Central District connections as she spends December preparing to take office in the new year.

Wilson says the team will focus on “housing, business, labor, arts, community safety, civil rights, transportation and other fields.”

For the city’s residents, business owners, and workers, the roster is an invitation to fire off an email, dig through your contacts to send a thoughtful text message, or make a phone call to speak up for what priorities you want to see the new Wilson administration pursuing first and hardest.

“Over the next several weeks, members of the transition team will identify and reach out to dozens of additional community advisors to gather the broadest possible range of input, identify priorities, and help equip Mayor-elect Wilson to successfully execute her vision as the next mayor of Seattle,” the announcement reads.

As she overcame criticism of her lack of leadership experience inside Seattle City Hall to defeat incumbent Bruce Harrell in November, Wilson has said she hopes her transition effort will help build on her career as a community organizer and leading the Transit Riders Union to help make sure her administration gets off to a strong start with a productive roster of early priorities.

Wilson’s transition efforts will be fronted by a five-member leadership team announced prior to the Thanksgiving holiday with deep experience working in previous administrations and one of the driving forces behind the city’s move into social housing development. Leading the transition planning effort is Andrés Mantilla who served as the longtime head of the Department of Neighborhoods under both Ed Murray and Jenny Durkan. 

Tiffani McCoy who has helped lead the House Our Neighbors effort to create and fund a public Social Housing Developer in the city is also helping to lead Wilson’s team.

Wilson said her new roster of transition team members will take part in meetings and discussions with “additional community advisors” to nail down first priorities and legislative efforts. The transition team also includes six student and youth advisors.

There are several members of the transition team with connections to Capitol Hill and the Central District.

Colleen Echohawk, CEO of Community Roots Housing, is Wilson’s co-lead on affordability and community needs planning.

Community Roots is developing the new eight-story apartment building under construction at Broadway and Pine as part of the Constellation Center affordable housing, youth education, skills training, and employment academy project in partnership with YouthCare.

Echohawk works from the Community Roots Housing offices on Capitol Hill and recently moderated this Capitol Hill public safety forum with discussions about the growth of the new CARE Department and safety investments around the planned Crisis Care Center at Broadway and Union.

Lisa Daugaard of the Purpose.Dignity.Action organization also took part in the recent forum and will be Wilson’s policy co-lead on public safety issues.

Meanwhile, Nakita Venus, Executive Director of Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center on E Pine is also part of Wilson’s transition team focusing on affordability.

Simon Kreft from Broadway’s Seattle Central College will be part of Wilson’s student and youth advisors team.

First Hill community leader and former city council candidate Alex Hudson will be heading up Wilson’s “Civic Narrative & Major Initiatives” transition team.

The Central District is also represented on Wilson’s team including Elisheba Wokoma of Wa Na Wari working on policy and priorities around arts, culture, and the creative economy.

Unlike most recent mayoral transition teams, Wilson did not name multiple small business representatives to her effort though Jon Scholes, president & CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association is joining Echohawk to lead the affordability and community needs policy area:

Transition Team Leadership

Andrés Mantilla, Transition Director; Uncommon Bridges

Karen Estevenin, Transition Co-Chair; Executive Director, Protec17

Tiffani McCoy, Transition Co-Chair; Co-Executive Director, House Our Neighbors

Quynh Pham, Transition Co-Chair; Executive Director, Friends of Little Saigon

Brian Surratt, Transition Co-Chair; President and CEO, Greater Seattle Partners

Housing Affordability & Community Needs

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Colleen Echohawk, CEO, Community Roots Housing

Jon Scholes, President & CEO, Downtown Seattle Association

 

Policy Area Members:

Economic Development & Workers Rights

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Richard de Sam Lazaro, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Expedia

Corina Yballa, Political Director, MLK Labor

 

Policy Area Members:

Transportation & Environment

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Shemona Moreno, Executive Director, 350 Seattle

Anna Zivarts, Program Director, Disability Mobility Initiative

 

Policy Area Members:

Arts, Culture & Creative Economy

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Randy Engstrom, Co-Founder & Principal, Third Way Creative

Ben Hunter, Artistic Director, Northwest Folklife

 

Policy Area Members:

Civic Narrative & Major Initiatives

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Alex Hudson, Executive Director, Commute Seattle

Joy Shigaki, President & CEO, Friends of the Waterfront

 

Policy Area Members:

Standing Up for Our Values

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Roxana Norouzi, Executive Director, OneAmerica

Jaelynn Scott, Executive Director, Lavender Rights Project

 

Policy Area Members:

Public Safety, Parks, & Wellbeing

Policy Area Co-Leads:

Lisa Daugaard, Co-Executive Director, Purpose.Dignity.Action

Dominique Davis, CEO, Community Passageways

 

Policy Area Members:

 

Student & Youth Advisors

Following her victory over the incumbent Harrell, Wilson has said she enters office “with a strong mandate” to pursue policies to attack the affordability crisis, address homelessness, “and build a city for working people” following a sweep of progressive victories in the election.

A strong early focus will be on homelessness.

“I think obviously the homelessness crisis is going to be a very, very top priority for me,” Wilson told CHS following her victory. “We have an aggressive timeline in the first six months of next year, leading up to the FIFA World Cup to really tackle the homelessness crisis as it affects the downtown core and adjacent neighborhoods.”

Another early opportunity in Seattle will be the city’s new Social Housing Developer. CHS reported here as 2026 will bring its first revenue from a voter-approved social tax starting in February. The tax is expected to raise more than $50 million annually. Officials said the funding will give the development authority power to borrow enough to build or acquire 2,000 units of housing over 10 years.

Wilson will also spend December, she hopes, building connections with the new 2026 Seattle City Council following progressive victories by incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck and newcomer Dionne Foster as well as new District 2 representative Eddie Lin.

Meanwhile, Erka Evans easily defeated incumbent Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison in their race giving Wilson another potential ally in her efforts to change the city.

 

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