Love & Wisdom

Most Influential: Founder Kim O’Donnel

Kim O'Donnel is not only a writer, but the founder of Canning Across America

“It was like spontaneous combustion.” That’s how Kim O’Donnel describes the response to her off-the-cuff Twitter suggestion that maybe there should be a national day dedicated to canning. O’Donnel, a former Washington Post food writer who moved to Seattle two years ago (and who at the time of her Twitter post had canned only once…

Most Influential: Sandra Jackson-Dumont

Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs/Adjunct Curator, Seattle Art Museum

Four years ago, when Sandra Jackson-Dumont was working at the Studio Museum in Harlem, she received a call from then-director Mimi Gates at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Gates was looking to fill a deputy director position for community outreach at SAM. “I recommended several people,” Jackson-Dumont recalls. “Then she called back for me.” Just…

Most Influential: Speight Jenkins

Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins is a hands-on ambassador

Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins is a hands-on ambassador. Now in his 28th season, Jenkins attends every performance, greets patrons as they arrive and seizes every opportunity to create new opera fans—even when he’s 30,000 feet in the air. “I’ve never gone on a plane flight [on which] I haven’t convinced someone to try…

Most Influential: The Seattle Times Staff

Most Influential: The Seattle Times Staff

The Seattle Times staff is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news

The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in journalism celebrates “a distinguished example of local reporting…with special emphasis on the speed and accuracy of the initial coverage, presented in print or online or both.” Last year, when The Seattle Times learned that four Lakewood police officers had been slain in a Pierce County coffee shop, Times…

Person of the Year: The Police Officer

Person of the Year: The Police Officer

We are not accustomed to seeing police officers as victims

We are not accustomed to seeing police officers as victims. Or as villains. But the past year in the Puget Sound region has focused our attention on law enforcement personnel so relentlessly, so vividly, that no year in recent memory can compare. Between October 31 and December 28, 2009, six officers—one from the Seattle Police…

Most Influential: Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson

Forward Lauren Jackson help lead Seattle Storm to victory

Possibly the finest player in the Women’s National Basketball Association this decade, Lauren Jackson reminded basketball fans in 2010 that experience, maturity and talent are an awesome combo platter on the menu of leadership skills. At 29, Jackson’s body has experienced enough bruises and breaks to qualify her for a lifetime of guest appearances on…

Most Influential: Bill Gates Sr.

Most Influential: Bill Gates Sr.

William H. Gates Sr. is the Yes on 1098 Campaign Spokesman and co-chair for The Bill and Melinda Gat

As if working to eradicate polio weren’t enough, Bill Gates Sr. has, in his mid-80s, ventured forth and not only approached, but actively embraced, the so-called third rail of Washington state politics: the income tax. This is in addition to his co-chairmanship of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his active involvement in numerous…

Most Influential: Ones to Watch

Seattleites whose actions are soon likely to affect our city and our daily lives

Common SenseShe had been in office only a few months when Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw earned a citywide high-five for seeking to delay a proposed (and controversial) Dale Chihuly museum project at the Seattle Center. Convincing the center that it should at least entertain other proposals for how to use the former Fun…

Most Influential: Founder Kim O’Donnel

Kim O'Donnel is not only a writer, but the founder of Canning Across America

“It was like spontaneous combustion.” That’s how Kim O’Donnel describes the response to her off-the-cuff Twitter suggestion that maybe there should be a national day dedicated to canning. O’Donnel, a former Washington Post food writer who moved to Seattle two years ago (and who at the time of her Twitter post had canned only once…

Most Influential: Sandra Jackson-Dumont

Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs/Adjunct Curator, Seattle Art Museum

Four years ago, when Sandra Jackson-Dumont was working at the Studio Museum in Harlem, she received a call from then-director Mimi Gates at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Gates was looking to fill a deputy director position for community outreach at SAM. “I recommended several people,” Jackson-Dumont recalls. “Then she called back for me.” Just…

Most Influential: Speight Jenkins

Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins is a hands-on ambassador

Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins is a hands-on ambassador. Now in his 28th season, Jenkins attends every performance, greets patrons as they arrive and seizes every opportunity to create new opera fans—even when he’s 30,000 feet in the air. “I’ve never gone on a plane flight [on which] I haven’t convinced someone to try…

Most Influential: CEO Ben Huh

Pet Holding CEO Ben Huh knows the secret recipe in this era of Facebook

The road to business success on the Internet is littered with the corpses of those who have tried and failed: sock puppets, online lackeys, search engines. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that a guy with a simple website filled with pictures of cats and funny sayings somehow slipped under the radar to become a…

Most Influential: Broker Laura Miller

Most Influential: Broker Laura Miller

Former restaurateur Laura Miller is the go-to agent for chefs seeking something more than kitchen he

If they ever create a James Beard Award for brokering restaurant deals, Laura Miller is a shoo-in. In a town where restaurants open more frequently than Twilight sequels, even in a bad economy, Miller is the go-to agent for chefs seeking something more than kitchen help. A former restaurateur, Miller likes to work with chefs…

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