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Love & Wisdom

The Most Influential of 2010

From the arts to sports, from high tech to low profile, we single out those who had an impact on our

By Brangien Davis, Allison Austin Scheff, Shannon O'Leary, Karen Johnson, Elizabeth Economou, Kate Calamusa, Sally James, Deanna Duff, Leslie Helm, John Levesque, Chris Winters, and Sharon Baker December 31, 1969

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This article originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of Seattle magazine.

Publishing a list of the region’s most influential people is an exercise that obviously invites response. And we welcome it. Ultimately, we hope this list provides insight and context to what was happening all around us this year. We try to recognize people and organizations across as many disciplines as possible, thus ensuring a broad sampling of the visionary, the ambitious and the inspirational while seeking to be informative, provocative and maybe a little surprising. And while we do try to accentuate the positive, we recognize that “influence” has many facets—a reality that clearly affected our choice for the 2010 Person of the Year (page 120).

Person of the Year: The Police Officer
We are not accustomed to seeing police officers as victims

Most Influential: Football player Jake Locker
Quarterback for the University of Washington football team.

Most Influential: King-5 News Susannah Frame
King-5 News Investigative Reporter Susannah Frame.

Most Influential: CEO Ben Huh
Pet Holding CEO Ben Huh knows the secret recipe in this era of Facebook.

Most Influential: Sandra Jackson-Dumont
Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs/Adjunct Curator, Seattle Art Museum.

Most Influential: Broker Laura Miller
Former restaurateur Laura Miller is the go-to agent for chefs seeking something more than kitchen help.

Most Influential: Dave Ross and Tom Douglas
Radio host Dave Ross and Restaurateur Tom Douglas show their patriotism and democracy.

Most Influential: Speight Jenkins
Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins is a hands-on ambassador.

Most Influential: Founder Kim O’Donnel
Kim O’Donnel is not only a writer, but the founder of Canning Across America.

Most Influential: Mike McGinn and Dow Constantine
Mayor McGinn and Executive Constantine made their mark.

Most Influential: Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson
Forward Lauren Jackson help lead Seattle Storm to victory.

Most Influential: CEO Paul Davis
Coinstar CEO Paul Davis spent much of 2009 fighting legal battles with movie studios.

Most Influential: Group Health Cooperative
Insurer and Health Care Provider, Group Health is the highest-rated commercial health plan in Washington State.

Most Influential: The Seattle Times Staff
The Seattle Times staff is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.

Most Influential: Senator Tracey Eide
State Senator Tracey Eide has worked since 2000 to pass the primary-offense law for cell phones behind the wheel.

Most Influential: Hanson Hosein
Director of the University of Washington’s Master of Communication in Digital Media program Hanson Hosein is leading the charge to revamp curriculum.

Most Influential: M.D. and CEO Mitchell Gold
Mitchell Gold is CEO of Dendreon Corp. rocked into national headlines.

Most Influential: Activist Keli Carender
Activist Keli Carender organizes protest at Westlake Park.

Most Influential: Co-founder Tad McGeer
Tad McGeer is Co-founder, President, and Chief Engineer of Aerovel Corp.

Most Influential: Real Change’s Tim Harris
People person Tim Harris is Executive Director of Real Change newspaper.

Most Influential: Zoran Popovic and David Baker
Computer Scientist Zoran Popovic meets Biochemist David Baker to collaborate on a video game that enables people to contribute to scientific research.

Most Influential: Robb Hunt and Steve Tomkins
Executive Producer Robb Hunt and Artistic Director Steve Tomkins turns Village Theater into a nationally renowned incubator of powerhouse productions.

Most Influential: Consultant Mike Donlin
Program consultant for Seattle Public Schools’ prevention-intervention services, Mike Donlin spearheaded creation of a new cyberbullying curriculum for Seattle teachers.

Most Influential: Partners on the Cascadia Center
Partners Miller Hull Partnership, Point 32, Schuchart, and The Bullitt Foundation collaborate to develop The Cascadia Center for Sustainable Design and Construction.

Most Influential: F5 Networks CEO John McAdam
CEO John McAdams web traffics F5 Networks from shambles to fortune.

Most Influential: Attorney Thomas Ahearne
Lead plaintiffs’ counsel in McCleary v the State of Washington, Thomas Ahearne is proved to be a force of nature.

Most Influential: Bill Gates Sr.
William H. Gates Sr. is the Yes on 1098 Campaign Spokesman and co-chair for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Most Influential: Ones to Watch
Seattleites whose actions are soon likely to affect our city and our daily lives.

Most Influential: Our Selection Panel
We couldn’t have identified the region’s most influential people without the assistance of our 2010 selection panel.

Published November 2010

 

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