Together Center announced that long-time chair of the Board of Directors, John Spangenberg of Kirkland, has been named Chair Emeritus. He was feted by his fellow board members current and past at a gathering on Feb 11.
One of the founders of the center, past Friends of Youth CEO and also a Together Center Chair Emeritus J. Howard Finck of Redmond, noted, “John deserves all the praise he will receive. We are in awe.” Long-time Board Member W.J. (Bill) Finnegan of Woodinville (a retired Puget Sound Energy executive) said, “Many years we give a deserving board member an award: Board Member of the Year. In my opinion we should give John a Board Member of the Decade plaque as our most effective member.”
Spangenberg joined the Board of Directors in 1993, as one of the first community members recruited beyond those representing the four founding nonprofit agencies. He took over the role of chair on the board when Finck stepped at the end of 1996 and has helped to grow a stable innovative non-profit that increases access to human services at a multi-tenant campus in downtown Redmond.
Spangenberg led the organization during a capital campaign that leveraged the campus to lower lease rates for nonprofit tenants. He has been at the helm as the center has worked to address gaps in services and skyrocketing needs over the last numbers of years.
The center has received awards during his tenure from King County, the Evergreen Society, the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance of Eastside Agencies, as well as being named one of the Best in America by the Independent Charities of America.
One of the first non-profit multi-tenant centers in the nation, Together Center was designed first and foremost to lower barriers to finding help. Where East King County residents once needed to travel from Bothell to Renton or beyond to find help at individual locations, people now find comprehensive assistance at one location in downtown Redmond. Services include food, shelter, medical and dental care, child care assistance, youth and family counseling and more. More than 60,000 were served by the Center and its 18 on campus agencies last year.
Taking over the helm of Together Center is Chair Barbara de Michele of Issaquah. De Michele is executive director of Issaquah Community Network.
Former city council member John Rittenhouse of Issaquah is now vice chair. (Rittenhouse is a manager at Microsoft.)
Scott Harlan, a business owner in Redmond, is Together Center’s treasurer. Redmond City Councilmember Hank Myers is secretary for the board.
Joining the Board of Directors is Donna Batter of Issaquah, a fund-raising consultant. In addition to the officers and past chair, she joins W. J. (Bill) Finnegan of Woodinville, Michael Johnson of Redmond (Lean Environment), Joan McBride, Mayor of Kirkland, Margaret Moore of Bellevue, a retired Issaquah School District Administrator, and Elizabeth Westburg of Beaux Arts, a King County Housing Authority manager.
