Join us! KPCF is looking to add Board Members as we transition from a part-time working board to a governing/strategic board. Board members provide creativity, guidance and support to KPCF to ensure it fulfill its mission, vision, and goals. Board members from all walks-of-life are welcome. We can always use experience in areas such as finance, marketing, fundraising, strategy, community engagement, and board governance. Please reach out to us to apply!
Gemma Aronchick grew up in Lacey, WA, attended WSU and lives in Kirkland with her husband Chris, their three kids, and their dog. Gemma worked at Microsoft for 20 years, with the majority of her time in Microsoft Philanthropies. There, she worked on the company’s international, national, and hometown giving, most recently managing Microsoft’s local investments in nonprofits focused on enriching the region’s arts and culture.
Gemma is an avid photographer, a big fan of Kirkland’s parks, and is always looking for new ways to engage and help in her community. She has been an active volunteer at her kids’ schools in recent years and was awarded the Golden Acorn Award (volunteer of the year) in June 2023 for her years of service at Lakeview Elementary. She is also currently the VP of Communications for Kirkland Middle School’s PTSA.
Gemma can often be found out and about walking her dog through her neighborhood in Houghton, biking along the Cross Kirkland Corridor with her family, cheering from the sidelines at her kids’ sporting events, or capturing waterfront sunsets through her camera lens.
She is absolutely delighted to start this new chapter as Executive Director of the Kirkland Parks & Community Foundation.
Jonathan is passionate about Kirkland’s outdoor spaces (favorite park: Crestwoods). Along with other neighbors he co-founded Crossing Kirkland to celebrate them in an annual citywide block party. He’s an entrepreneur in both for and non-profit realms; his broad background includes product management, marketing, film, video, public radio, and developmental biology. He co-founded HomeSquare to transform the home maintenance experience, and he leads the technology and marketing efforts there. He is active as a parent and PTA member in local schools, serving as a trustee on the Lake Washington Schools Foundation and as a mentor with AVID and YearUp. He lives with his wife and daughters in Kirkland.
Tammy moved to Kirkland WA from western New York at the end of 2017, trading harsh winters for the milder, always green Pacific Northwest. She and her husband chose the Norkirk neighborhood to be near downtown and close to the lake; and to have easy access to all the amenities that Kirkland offers. They also calculated that the walkability would be a great draw for their five adult children to come and visit, and they haven’t been disappointed!
Tammy is a health and human services senior fundraising executive of more than 25 years. Most recently she retired from the Stroum Jewish Community Center of Greater Seattle as senior director of advancement to focus on the needs of her aging parents and the joys of travel. She believes her roles in philanthropy and management make her a strong advocate for Kirkland residents as she serves on the Park Board.
Tammy enjoys volunteering to decorate downtown for the July 4th Parade and volunteers at Summerfest and other outdoor festivals. She enjoys walking and biking along the Cross Kirkland Corridor, swimming laps in the outdoor pool, and boating on Lake Washington. Tammy and her husband Barry are expecting their first grandchild and they look forward to exploring each and every playground in Kirkland when the time comes. Tammy’s favorite park is Heritage Park.
Sally grew up in the north end of Seattle and spent a number of years in other parts of the U.S. and overseas before ending up in Kirkland in 2007. She has been actively involved as a volunteer in the community the last 13 years.
Currently she is the co-executive director for the Kirkland Parks and Community Foundation. In addition, she works with her husband in TorrX, their start-up business as well as working part-time raising funds for a large international NGO.
In her free time, Sally likes to travel, exercise, various sports including pickle ball, hiking, etc. and visiting with friends and family.
Tom has been an active volunteer in Kirkland for number of years. Most recently he served on the Kirkland City Council after serving 8 years on the Kirkland Transportation Commission. Tom is currently CEO of TorrX, Inc. a small startup in Kirkland and he brings a background in business and organizational management to his role.
Tom was lucky enough to grow up in Kirkland and has been a big user and fan of our parks. When he was growing up, Kirkland was known as “Baseball Town U.S.A” so like many he used all our baseball parks heavily. In more recent times he runs and walks our waterfront and its parks every week.
Nona has lived in the same house in Juanita for 40 years and has been a park advocate for many years. She was a Park Board member for 8 years, a City Council member for 11 years, and has been involved with every park bond since 1984. She has worked with the Green Kirkland Partnership since 2005 and is the Steward of Juanita Bay Park directing the removal of invasive plants and restoring the planting of native trees and shrubs.
Nona is pleased to be on the board of KPF working to implement community-desired improvements and activities in parks that enhance our quality of life.
When she is not working as a steward at Juanita Bay Park, Nona enjoys hiking, skiing, kayaking, and gardening.
Kathy Page Feek, Ed. D. is a lifelong champion of the value that the arts bring to the cultural and economic life of a community. For many years, she has worked to establish Kirkland as a centerpiece for arts and culture on the Eastside. She is the founding Chair of the Kirkland Cultural Council, Chair Emeritus of the WA State Kennedy Center Alliance and Chair Emeritus of the U of Washington School of Drama Board. Kathy is the Art Consultant for Evergreen Hospital and also consults with several other hospitals and hotels throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In addition to her work in the arts, Kathy is involved with Kirkland Summerfest, Kirkland Conversations, the Eastside Timebank, the Marina Park Summer Music Festival, Kirkland Uncorked and the many varied projects of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce.
Kathy is a particular fan of all of the Kirkland waterfront parks. She and her family especially enjoy Waverly and Marina parks almost every day.
Chris is a long-term Kirkland resident, moving here with his family in 2003 after surviving Silicon Valley’s first dotcom boom-and-bust. Kirkland was the first and only place they thought about living upon returning to the PNW. Twenty years later, that instinctive decision now seems like a stroke of genius. With two daughters successfully raised in the Lake Washington School District and now ranging the world on their own, Chris and his wife are fully enjoying all that Kirkland has to offer. Chris brings a varied breadth of financial, operational, and general management experience to the KPCF board and has served on and worked with a variety of for-profit and non-profit boards, including most recently PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company and the Lake Washington Schools Foundation. Chris has a personal mission to advance equity and inclusion and is proud to be part of the work that KPCF can and will do to support our community.
Heather Knox has been a Kirkland resident for most of the last three decades, raising children in the Lake Washington school district, spending many evenings and weekends supporting Little League, parades, art walks, fun runs and other community activities in our community over the years. Heather is passionate about all the PNW has to offer and can be found running along the Kirkland Corridor trail, walking the waterfront, playing pickleball or having coffee or a laugh with friends on Park Lane. She enjoys travel, hiking, skiing, kayaking and is a four-time marathon runner (who is slowly transitioning to less demanding athletic endeavors). She is an advocate of the arts, STEAM programs for youth, and loves to cook with friends and family, including her two children who are young professionals in the area. She has spent most of her career as a communications executive at technology startups and multi-national companies, with two, three-year assignments in France and one in Japan, and is now happy to be back home in Kirkland where she will enthusiastically seek to help make a positive impact on the community through the KPCF.
Dave is currently enjoying his “next phase” with a combination of non-profit board work and volunteering. He is currently serving on the boards of the State of Washington Transportation Improvement Board, Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Policy Committee and is excited to add Kirkland Parks Foundation to the list. He volunteers for the Washington Park Arboretum, tutoring and Neighborhood Walking Ambassador for Feet First. Prior to this he had a 36-year career in local government including serving as City Manager for the cities of Kirkland and Glendale, CA. He also served for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
An avid walker, Dave enjoys both walking and hiking in the Pacific Northwest, as well as long distance walking in Europe.
Dana is a Northwest native, a Certified Professional Horticulturalist, avid urban farmer and raiser of chickens. Professionally, Dana has worked with companies large and small including REI.com, HomeGrocer.com and Microsoft. She has worked internationally in marketing and branding, as well as locally training underserved high school students in the greater Seattle area. Dana has a fine art background and is actively involved in the arts in Kirkland currently serving as vice-chair of the Kirkland Cultural Arts Commission and has been working with the City on many of the 1% for arts in our park CIP projects.
Lynn retired from the City of Kirkland in 2006 as Assistant City Manager where he worked twenty-one years, serving as Director of Parks and Community Services from 1985-1997 during a time of significant acquisition and development of Kirkland’s parks system. Lynn also helped fundraise extensively to retain many of Kirkland’s popular bronze sculptures that are now part of the City’s permanent art collection.
In his spare time, Lynn follows his passion of long-distance backpacking and hiking here and in different parts of the world. It’s his goal to backpack in a different National Park each year. Closer to home Lynn can be found trail running in St. Edwards State Park, getting out in his sea kayak, and now a proud member of the Kirkland Park Foundation Board.
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