Advisory Board

Throughout 2020 and 2021, people from across the region helped chart the course ahead for the Maritime Washington National Heritage Area. Guided by a Management Plan Steering Committee and several working groups, this process culminated in a Management Plan that outlines the vision, goals, strategies, and policies for Maritime Washington.

Now, a new Maritime Washington Advisory Board—alongside a standing Tribal Working Group—takes the helm as Maritime Washington begins to implement that vision. The Advisory Board strives to be representative of the many perspectives, communities, geographies, areas of expertise, and organizations participating in the National Heritage Area, providing ongoing insight into the needs and priorities of Washington’s diverse maritime landscape. Advisory Board members serve two- to four-year terms and meet regularly to provide strategic guidance on the programming and administration of Maritime Washington.

Jay Baersten

Director of Heritage Outreach, Washington State Historical Society

Jay Baersten works as the Director of Heritage Outreach at the Washington State Historical Society, where her team works to develop and implement statewide programming that advances the field of public history and builds capacity for local and regional organizations dedicated to public history. Jay also manages the Heritage Capital Projects grant program which supports capital projects for history museums and historic buildings across the state. Previously, Jay worked as the Outreach Director for the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, supporting communities statewide in best historic preservation practices and managing several programs including Washington’s Most Endangered Places, Youth Heritage Project, Valerie Sivinski Fund, and Heritage Barn Grant Program. Jay holds an MS in Architecture History and Theory with a Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Washington in Seattle. She also currently serves as a commissioner on the City of Tacoma’s Landmarks Preservation Commission and as a board member for Historic Tacoma.

Kevin Bartoy

Chief Sustainability Officer, Washington State Ferries (WSDOT)

Kevin Bartoy has worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) since 2009, and Washington State Ferries (WSF, a division of WSDOT) since 2016. Kevin is the first Chief Sustainability Officer for WSF and recently helped to establish the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Services within WSF. Kevin’s work includes being lead author of WSF’s first Sustainability Action Plan, published in 2019, and its second plan which was published for the 2021-2023 biennium. Kevin’s work in establishing a sustainability program at WSF and leading WSF’s efforts to help recover the critically endangered southern resident killer whale was recognized with the Washington State Governor’s Leadership in Management Award in 2021. Kevin holds a BA in history from the University of Oregon, an MA in anthropology with an emphasis in historical archaeology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a PhD in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.

Jake Beattie

Executive Director, Northwest Maritime Center

Jake Beattie is the Executive Director of the Northwest Maritime Center and creator of the Race to Alaska. At the NWMC, his work has been focused on growing the mission and impact of the organization to serve the greater region—helping school districts holistically embrace maritime education, growing new and existing programs and signature events, and acquiring both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. In its 10th year, the Northwest Maritime Center now has programs and mission impact that span from Tacoma to Ketchikan, Alaska. Beattie grew up in Bellingham, then graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in international politics and economics. After graduation, he spent a number of years sailing on the east coast on various educational tallships. Beattie has been professionally connected to the water for more than 20 years in sail training, U.S. sailing instruction, instructing for Outward Bound, and has spent time as a mate on tugs and coastal freighters serving remote Alaskan villages. He came to the Northwest Maritime Center in 2010 after a six-year stint as Deputy Director for Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats.

Dr. Allyson Brooks

State Historic Preservation Officer/Executive Director, Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation

Dr. Brooks is the State Historic Preservation Officer and Executive Director of the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. She has been appointed to this position by three consecutive Governors. As the Agency Director, Dr. Brooks is the CEO, CIO, and CFO of the department, as well as the tribal liaison to 36 Native American tribes. She supervises staff in the areas of archeology, physical anthropology, historic preservation, grants and contracts administration, Information Technology and policy development. In addition to this role, Dr. Brooks has served as an instructor for the National Preservation Institute since 2004. Previously, she held positions with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, BRW Inc, the South Dakota State Historical Preservation Center, and USDA Black Hills National Forest. Dr. Brooks holds her Ph. D in Anthropology from the University of Nevada, her M.P.A. from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, her M.Sc. in Industrial and Historical Archaeology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and her B.A. from McGill University. She is active with Preservation Action, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, the National Academy of Sciences, the Thurston County League of Women Voters, and Temple Beth Hatfiloh. She currently serves as an ex-officio board member for the Association of Washington Archaeologists and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

Kate Dean

Commissioner, Jefferson County

Kate Dean was elected to join the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners in 2017 and represents District 1, Port Townsend. Kate moved to Jefferson County in 1999 and spent 10 years farming and working to grow the local food economy through businesses she co-founded including FinnRiver Farm and Mt. Townsend Creamery. Her experience as an entrepreneur is critical to her understanding of the local economy and community. Kate left the farm but didn’t go far; she started a consulting business that had her working on natural resources issues locally and regionally. Kate coordinated the Jefferson Landworks Collaborative (a farmland preservation and enterprise development initiative), managed WSU Extension’s Small Farm Program, worked for Washington Department of Labor and Industry, and was the Regional Director for the North Olympic Development Council. Kate holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington. Her publications include the USDA’s Farmland Changing Hands and Preparing for Climate Change on the North Olympic Peninsula. In her spare time, Kate can be found gardening, riding her bike, or in the mountains with her two school-aged children.

Liz Ellis

Aberdeen City Councilmember and Association of Washington Cities Representative

Liz Ellis serves on the Aberdeen City Council and the board of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, home to Washington State’s official tall ship the Lady Washington. Liz grew up around boats and boatyards and has an appreciation of shipbuilding, the smell of oakum, and the vital role vessels of all types have in our state’s history, culture, and economy. Liz graduated from Washington State University with a degree in agriculture. She worked for many years for the City of Seattle in urban forestry and was appointed to the Washington State Urban Forestry Council, which she chaired from 1997 to 1998. Liz is inspired by art, music, and storytelling. She coordinated a bicycle relay for Arbor Month in 1997, with cyclists carrying pine seedlings from Washington’s west coast to Spokane. Tribal partners served as hosts and storytellers along the way. She collaborated on creating a found poem for a sidewalk repair project on Madison Street in Seattle and recently constructed a mini wearable ship for the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority’s entry into Aberdeen Founder’s Day Parade.

Amy Frost

Executive Director, Lopez Island Historical Society

Amy Frost has served as the Executive Director of the Lopez Island Historical Society since 2019. Growing up in Michigan, she developed a love of maritime history and being on the water from a young age. Moving to Seattle in 2004 for a graduate degree in Museum Studies at the University of Washington, she was thrilled to learn to sail and was the proud owner of a classic Pacific Northwest Thunderbird 26. Wooden boats hold a special place in her heart, and Amy is now involved in efforts to turn Frank Prothero’s Glory of the Seas into a community tall ship. In her position as Executive Director of Lopez Island Historical Society, Amy is dedicated to an equitable and truthful telling of the complex maritime history of the Salish Sea.

Fred Goldberg

Founding Partner, Saltchuk Industries

Fred Goldberg is the managing partner of Goldberg Investments and vice chairman of the board of trustees for The Evergreen State College. He is currently a board member for the Gates Foundation Advisory Board, Supply Chain. Fred is the co-founder, principal, and retired director of Saltchuk Resources, Inc. He formerly served as a board member for the Initiative for Global Development and St. Peter Hospital. Fred is the retired director of Columbia Bank and Key Bank of Washington, retired chair of Tollycraft Yachts and the Civil Service Commission in Olympia, and previous advisor to USP, a pharmacological nonprofit watchdog group for world drug safety. Fred is a member of the Olympia Rotary Club, Founding Director of the Washington Center for Performing Arts and the Governors Festival of Arts, Founding President of POSSCA (Patrons of South Sound Cultural Activities), and a board member for Washington State Historical Association and Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. Fred has also published in Nature Reviews magazine with a focus on developing incentive for new antibiotic development.

Peter Herzog

Interagency Liaison, Washington State Parks

Peter Herzog currently serves as Interagency Liaison for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Peter has been with State Parks for 30 years, holding early field positions as a park aide, interpretive assistant, and park ranger. He then transitioned to statewide environmental and park planning, prior to accepting management positions leading the agency’s resource stewardship and partnerships and planning programs. For the past 10 years, Peter served on State Parks’ executive management team as the Director of Parks Development before stepping into a new role coordinating recreation management and conservation activities across state lands with other federal, state, and local land management agencies and nonprofit conservation organizations. Peter graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in forest resource management and an emphasis in wildland recreation. He enjoys travelling with his wife Molly, pizza night with his three grown children, and is a proud dual citizen of the U.S. and Switzerland.

Guy Hoppen

President, Gig Harbor BoatShop

Guy Hoppen grew up next door to his family’s boatyard on Gig Harbor’s working waterfront. He has been commercial fishing since 1975, starting out as a purse seine crew member. In 1981, he and his wife Ann bought a southeast Alaska salmon gillnet vessel, and in 1990, they purchased the Ted Geary designed fish tender Beryl E, which they continue to operate. He is the founding director of the Gig Harbor BoatShop, located at the historic Eddon Boatyard, and has been a primary advocate for Gig Harbor’s future commercial fishing Homeport. His service on numerous local waterfront-oriented committees has broadened Guy’s understanding of those issues important in maintaining diverse and vital waterfronts. Guy graduated with a BA from University of Washington and earned a MA in Cultural Sustainability from Baltimore’s Goucher College.

Marie Kidhe

Senior Community Engagement Manager, Friends of Waterfront Seattle

Marie T. Kidhe is an effective and savvy community engagement leader, award-winning project manager, and event curator. She’s the Senior Community Engagement Manager for leading all engagement, outreach, and equitable community initiatives for Friends of Waterfront Seattle, the nonprofit partner to the City of Seattle responsible for helping to fund, build, steward, and program the park—today and into the future. Marie employs her project management, outreach, and event development expertise to achieve the highest degree of success to all projects, large and small. Her leadership has resulted in successful outcomes in her consultancy work with 4Culture, Métier Brewing Company, RVC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, Seattle Chapter Black Panther 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee, and CD Forum for Arts & Ideas. Marie’s warm and collaborative leadership and management style were highly valued assets during her tenure at the Northwest African American Museum. Having cultivated numerous contacts and partnerships across the Seattle community, Marie brings collaborative and skilled organizing and strategic outreach approaches to all of her projects. Marie is a first-generation Ugandan-American and native Seattleite with more than 20 years of administrative and management skills—accompanied by a network of nonprofit, small business, corporate, and grassroots affiliations and relationships.

Mike Moe

Director of Strategic Partnerships and Tourism Development, State of Washington Tourism

Mike Moe is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Tourism Development for State of Washington Tourism (SWT). He manages the new Destination Development and Travel Trade programs for SWT, building tourism infrastructure in rural communities in-state and promoting Washington as a tourism destination internationally. Mike has worked with SWT and its previous incarnation, the Washington Tourism Alliance, since shortly after its conception in 2011. A lifetime Washington resident, Mike lives in Seattle with his wife Shannon and two children Kieran and Mazie.

Philip H. Red Eagle

Artist, Writer, Tribal Journeys

Philip H. Red Eagle was born in 1945 in Tacoma. His mother, Marian Steilacoom, of Salish decent, was born near Port Angeles. Philip’s father, Philip Red Eagle, a member of the Dakota Tribe, was born near the Missouri River on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. Phillip spent the first 14 years of his life in Tacoma, attending Stanley and McCarver schools before moving to Sitka, Alaska, with his family in 1959. Philip joined the Navy shortly after graduating from high school, serving in Vietnam for five years. After Vietnam, Philip returned to Washington and began undergraduate studies at the University of Washington where he earned two bachelor’s degrees. Nearly from the beginning, Philip played an important role in the annual Tribal Canoe Journeys, a tradition started in 1989 by Emmett Oliver of the Quinault Nation. Philip is also the Director of the Carver’s Camp which was formed in 2004 to teach carving to the people of the Canoe Nations. A publisher and a writer, Philip’s contributions to the Puget Sound’s art community are vast. Philip’s writings have since been published by various journals, magazines, and newspapers, and his book, “Red Earth: A Vietnam Warrior’s Journey,” is in its second printing. Through his poetry, writings, art, community engagement, and myriad other ways, Philip promotes the revival of and respect of Indigenous cultures.

Marie Shimada

Reserve Manager, Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve

Marie Shimada is the Reserve Manager for Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, the first and only one of its kind in the nation, located in central Whidbey Island. Administration of the Reserve overseen by a Trust board made up of nine appointed members representing the Town of Coupeville, Island County, Washington State Parks, and the National Park Service. Marie was able to return to her hometown on Whidbey Island when she accepted the position with the Reserve, where she remains civically involved in professional and volunteer community organizing. Prior to joining the Ebey’s team, Marie spent most of her time in the nonprofit sector working to protect local farmers. Marie obtained her BA from the University of Washington and her JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, as well as numerous professional certificates. Marie currently serves on the board of directors for the Coupeville Farm to School program.

Sam Shogren

President, Pacific Northwest Maritime Heritage Council

Sam Shogren is Chair of the Pacific Northwest Maritime Heritage Council and Vice President of the National Board for the Traditional Small Craft Association. Growing up in the shipbuilding town of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, he began doing yacht deliveries in eighth grade, worked at Bay Shipbuilding after graduating high school, and later worked as a sailing instructor. He has accumulated over 4,000 miles sailing on the Great Lakes alone. Sam is a former Hagley Fellow in the Industrial History of America and a graduate of the prestigious Seminar for Historical Administration. He holds a BA in Anthropology from Ripon College, a Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Delaware, and an MPA in Public Administration with Advanced Certificates in Nonprofit Governance and Nonprofit Fundraising from the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. He also pursued an MA in Historical Archaeology/Anthropology at the College of William & Mary and an MA in American and Industrial History at the University of Delaware. As an archaeologist, he has worked for Colonial Williamsburg, Old Sturbridge Village, Historic Annapolis, the York Institute Museum, and the Maine Office of Historic Preservation. He conducted the first archaeological survey of the Edwards Dam, the first dam removal in the United States to restore the salmon habitat. Sam was formerly the Curator at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine, where he also served as the founding president of Maine Archives and Museums and on the Maine Governor’s Taskforce for Heritage and Cultural Tourism. As a museum curator, he has curated over 40 maritime exhibitions and led two public program grants funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that led to new permanent exhibitions. He co-founded the Penobscot Bay Network, the PenBay History Conference, and an international tourism conference between Maine and the Canadian Provence of New Brunswick that has continued for over 20 years. Sam has been an AAM Museum Assessment Peer Reviewer for over 20 years and a grant reviewer for NEH and IMLS. Sam is a recovering museum director, having formerly led the Aspen Historical Society, the Working Waterfront Museum, and the Washington County Museum. As a museum consultant, he assisted the Sierra Mono Indians of North Fork, CA, in the redesign of their tribal museum and cultural center. Sam currently serves on the Boards of the Cathlamet Yacht Club, the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, and the Cowlitz Wahkiakum Council of Governments and chairs the Wahkiakum County Marine Resource Committee.

Linda Springmann

Director, Cruise Operations & Maritime Marketing, Port of Seattle

Linda Springmann is the Director of Cruise Operations and Maritime Marketing for the Port of Seattle. Her background is in the cruise industry, having spent most of her career with Holland America Group, which includes Holland America Line, Princess, and Seabourn brands as part of Carnival Corporation. Throughout her career, she has held product marketing, revenue management, and strategic deployment planning roles. Linda is a former board member of the Seattle Aquarium as well as the Alaska Travel Industry Association, where she chaired the marketing committee. Linda graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Dr. Stephanie Toothman

Board Member, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation

Dr. Stephanie Toothman retired in June 2017 as Associate Director of Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science after 39 years with the National Park Service. In May 2018, she returned to NPS as a Special Assistant to the Acting Associate Director under a special appointment authority for retired employees whose skills and knowledge can continue to benefit NPS. Before serving as Associate Director, Stephanie was the Chief of Cultural Resources for the Pacific West Region and also served as Regional Historian and Chief of Cultural Resources for the Pacific Northwest Region. She entered NPS as a historian with the National Register of Historic Places and spent two years with the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service before it was folded back into NPS in 1981. Stephanie brings a multi-disciplinary perspective to resource management, with degrees in American Studies from Smith College and American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. She received the Distinguished Service Award in 2017. She is a member of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation board of directors.

Steve Walker

Board Member, Working Waterfront Coalition

Steve Walker resides in Bellingham. His career in recreation and land management includes stints as a ranger with Washington State Parks, the adviser for Western Washington University’s Outdoor Center, the steward for Whatcom Land Trust, and two terms as Executive Director for the Community Boating Center. He currently serves on the City of Bellingham Parks Advisory Board and the boards of the Working Waterfront Coalition and Working Waterfront Foundation.