(The Center Square) – Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson’s newly-announced transition team includes a mix of city hall veterans, social housing advocates, and community-development leaders.
The five leaders of the transition team are Andrés Mantilla, Brian Surratt, Karen Estevenin, Tiffany McCoy and Quynh Pham. They will be tasked with identifying short-to-long-term priorities to advance Wilson’s vision for her upcoming term, including community engagement.
“I ran for mayor on the vision that we can tackle big challenges, address our affordability crisis, and make our city a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” Wilson said in a statement on Wednesday. “I’m so grateful to the transition director and co-chairs who have stepped up to lend their deep expertise in government, business, labor, housing, and community development, and help me put that vision into action.”
Mantilla will serve as transition director for Wilson. Mantilla has experience working closely with policymakers and elected officials including supporting the administrations of Seattle Mayors Greg Nickels and Jenny Durkan. He also served as the director of the Department of Neighborhoods.
Transition team co-chairs include Surratt, the CEO of Greater Seattle Partners, who also has city hall experience. He previously served as the Seattle Office of Economic Development director where he negotiated the city’s $1.2 billion development agreement to build Climate Pledge Arena. He also served as the policy lead in Seattle’s effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
McCoy, the policy and advocacy director at House Our Neighbors, most notably led the citizen-proposed and voter-approved ballot measure that implements a tax on big businesses to fund the city’s Social Housing Developer. She currently serves as the board president of Washingtonians for Public Banking.
Fellow Transition Co-Chair Estevenin is the executive director of PROTEC17 – a labor union representing more than 10,000 public-sector workers in Washington and Oregon. She also serves on the Board of the Seattle Social Housing Developer, further signaling support for future social housing endeavors in Seattle.
Friends of Little Saigon Executive Director Pham has 14 years of nonprofit development experience, with a focus on Southeast Asian artists, BIPOC initiatives, and small business resiliency.
All transition committee members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Wilson, a self-described socialist, defeated Mayor Bruce Harrell in a close general election contest earlier this month.
