Leadership forum raises $100K for scholarships

Gary Locke, former Washington state governor and United States ambassador to China, was the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual Western Washington University Leadership Forum on Nov. 6 in Seattle.

The Leadership Forum is put on each year by the Western Foundation. It brings together corporate and civic leaders, alumni, and parents and friends who are interested in the university and leadership trends, with all proceeds going towards Western student scholarships.

Roughly 450 people were in attendance, and the event raised in excess of $100,000 for student scholarships.

The emcee for the event was Western alumna and news anchor for King 5 News Joyce Taylor. Also speaking were WWU President Bruce Shepard, Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln, 2014 grad and reigning Miss Seattle Kimball Gainor, and Virginia Anderson, former president of the Safeco Foundation.

Before his political career began, Locke graduated from Franklin High School in Seattle, earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a law degree from Boston University. Locke then served as chair of the Appropriations Committee after being elected to represent central Seattle in the Washington House of Representatives in 1987. He was elected King County executive in 1993. During his two terms as the nation’s first Chinese-American governor from 1997 to 2005, Locke was known for making education a budget priority and promoting international trade. President Obama nominated Locke to serve as secretary of commerce in 2009 and then as China’s ambassador in 2011, where he worked to reduce wait times for Chinese citizens to obtain United States visitor visas and encouraged Chinese companies to do business in the United States.