A Welcome and a Thank You!
It was just over eight months ago when Tahmina Watson, President and now Immediate Past President and Karen Orehoski, First Vice-President and now President met with me to ask me to step into the position of interim executive director. I was honored to be asked and agreed as long as the Board of Trustees took the time to determine what the Association’s goals and objectives truly are to ensure the board and next executive director understand the organization, its strengths, weaknesses, operating environment, current culture and its leadership needs to ensure future success.
I am pleased to say the leadership and board did just that. They hired an executive search firm who completed an organizational assessment which provided an updated framework for the organization along with essential skills and attributes for the next executive director. As I write this article, we have had the opportunity to welcome our new executive director, Christina Entrekin Coad, J.D. and I have had the pleasure of working with her and introducing her to everything KCBA. Christina will fit right in as a leader for the staff and a partner to both the KCBA and KCBF Boards of Trustees. I am excited to work closely with her and to develop a partnership where we can continue to bring stability to the organization after the past three years of constant change.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our two newest past presidents, Tahmina Watson for KCBA and Scott Collins for KCBF. I could not have kept the train on the tracks with the number of projects in mid-stride without your support, guidance and understanding when items were delayed due to my juggling the associate executive director duties in addition to the interim executive director duties. Thank you!
In addition, I want to extend a special thank you to the members of both the KCBA and KCBF Board of Trustees. Your willingness to take on the extra work that was needed this year to help support the organization is greatly appreciated. I truly believe the increased collaboration between the two boards this year will make the King County Bar stronger for many years to come.
Although I enjoyed my time as interim executive director, working with all the boards, the access to justice community and meeting with court leadership, I am excited to hand over the reins to Christina, allowing me to step back into the area of the Association in which I truly am inspired to work. As associate executive director I have the wonderful opportunity to provide leadership, budget development and oversight for the Association’s Pro Bono Services, Administration and Operations, Member Services, Continuing Legal Education and Special Events, Lawyer Referral Service, Information Technology and Publications Departments. My work is varied, no two days are ever the same and it involves mentoring and supporting the KCBA teams that strive every day to make KCBA the best it can be for our members, volunteers and clients. I cannot thank the KCBA team enough for all the support they have given me over the past eight months as we kept the plates spinning. Their dedication and willingness to step in and lend a hand whenever called upon, or to volunteer to complete a project outside of their normal area of responsibility showed me every day what a great team we have and how lucky I was to have them by my side. Thank you all!
As I close this last monthly article of my tenure, I want to recognize the authors of our monthly columns with a special shout out for what they do each and every month. Writing articles has never been something that I enjoyed or that came easily for me and after experiencing the pressures of the monthly deadlines, it is something that I am looking forward to handing off. After nine articles and lots of “what am I going to write about moments” I have an added appreciation for what these authors do to bring outstanding and educational articles to our members each and every month. Thank you for every article you write!
Christina, next month will be your turn to pen this article for the paper. Chris Young our dedicated editor, Mayra Vidrio our publications & administration associate, and I will be here to guide you through the publication cycle, to keep you posted of the ever-approaching deadlines and to assist in any way we can, except for writing the article. Instead of writing, I will be enjoying my time analyzing a spreadsheet, supporting the team, learning the new membership database and reviewing and making edits to the new website and all the while, I will be looking forward to reading your article every month.
Kathleen Jensen is KCBA’s Associate Executive Director. She can be reached by email at (kathleenj@kcba.org) or phone (206.267.7053).
