Board of Trustees:
Kathy Edwards - President
Kathy Edwards - President
Kathy is one of the Cedarmere Foundation’s two co-founders. She has a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems and has spent decades working with nonprofit organizations, both as a board member and as an organization development consultant. These experiences are what created her passion for building the capacity of the nonprofits in our community that work so hard to improve the lives of all who live here. She is serving a 2-year term as the Co-Chair of the Statewide Capacity Collaborative in 2021-2022. Kathy has four children and 11 grandchildren. When she's not spending time with family or promoting capacity building grants within the philanthropic community, she loves to ski, play pickleball, hike, bike, read, take photographs, and go for long urban walks.
Bob Watt - Vice President
Bob Watt - Vice President
Bob is a Graduate Gemologist from GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and the owner of Exact Gems International and The Seattle Gem Art Gallery. In addition to serving on the Cedarmere Foundation board, he has volunteered with several nonprofit organizations including Seattle Opera where he served on the board of Bravo. Bob is also the Co-Chair LCF Associates II, LLC, a real estate holding company. As the Head of Operations, Bob’s primary responsibility is overseeing the property managers for each property. In his free time, Bob loves to travel with the family and ski with his twin teenagers.
Amy Zimerman - Treasurer
Amy Zimerman - Treaasurer
Amy (she/ella) is the Cedarmere Foundation’s first non-family member trustee. She is the Director of People & Culture at MOHAI, the locally treasured and nationally respected Museum of History and Industry. Amy is a seasoned nonprofit executive and trusted advisor to nonprofit boards and executives, with a deep passion for education and the arts. She is a CPA and former auditor specializing in nonprofit organizations and holds MBA, MPhil and MNPL degrees. She was the Lead Instructor for the Nonprofit Management Certificate Program at the UW and a former Adjunct Professor in the MNPL program at Seattle U. Amy is an art collector and an aspiring novelist. She is fluent in Spanish and lived overseas for 12 years. Amy has recently discovered a passion for Pilates, though she still enjoys the great outdoors, music and the theatre!
George Edwards - Secretary
George Edwards - Secretary
George is also a co-founder of the Cedarmere Foundation. During his career, he served as the Head of five independent schools throughout the United States. He also had a distinguished career in the United States Air Force. He has served on numerous nonprofit boards over the last four decades and has been consulting and coaching independent school Heads since he retired from leading schools himself. George enjoys travel, playing tennis, reading novels and writing. Some of his best trips have been with one or more of his 11 grandchildren, who get to choose where they want to go with their grandparents, Lollie and Pop.
Beto Yarce - Trustee
Beto Yarce- Trustee
Beto Yarce is the Executive Director for Ventures Nonprofit, an organization with the mission of
empowering individuals with limited resources and unlimited potential to improve their lives
through small business ownership. Beto started his first business at the age of eight years old
selling candy and continued over the years, selling all kind of products from bags to magazines,
a restaurant, a coffee shop, and a family business of jewelry and folk art. Beto received a degree
in International Business from the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente
(ITESO) in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, a certificate in Non-profit/Public/Organizational
Management from the University of Washington and Academy for Nonprofit Leadership Certificate
at the Center for corporate Citizenship Carroll School of Management at the Boston College. Beto
received the Small Business Administration (SBA) Director Excellence Award in 2016, Nonprofit
of the Year by GSBA in 2016, Innovation Award by Puget Sound Business Journal, City of Seattle
Emerging Leader Pride Award, Crosscut Business Courage Award in 2018 and Outstanding
LGBTQ Business Leaders award for Puget Sound Business Journal 2019.
Sarah Tran - Trustee
Sarah Tran - Trustee
Sarah is the founder and principal consultant of Sama Praxis LLC, focused on providing leadership coaching, strategic advising and planning and implementation support to community organizations, philanthropic foundations, business and government entities committed to advancing racial equity and social justice. She brings a depth of lived and professional experience to the Foundation as a former Executive Director and through decades of organizing for racial justice and gender equity both in the Pacific Northwest and in Southeast Asia. Through the Nonprofit Assistance Center - a past recipient of Cedarmere Foundation's capacity building grants - Sarah enjoyed working alongside the Cedarmere Foundation in strengthening the nonprofit sector and its leaders by addressing the systemic roots of inequity and actively supporting the leadership of communities most impacted. Alongside her work in community, Sarah loves plying her family and friends with good food, cuddling with her two pups, gardening, and travel.
Bobby Watt - Jr Trustee
Bobby Watt - Jr. Trustee
Bobby Watt is a Senior at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS). He enjoys coding and is a member of the Robotics competition team. Bobby serves as a student facilitator, helping incoming Freshman to adjust to the SAAS environment. He has also spent two summers as a volunteer camp counselor at Oxbow Farms, helping kids learn about sustainable farming. In his spare time, Bobby also enjoys competitive fencing and gaming online with his friends. Bobby plans to attend college after he graduates high school in 2023 and he hopes to major in computer science and artificial intelligence.
Staff:
Melanie Matthews - Executive Director
Melanie Matthews - Executive Director
Melanie moved into the part-time Executive Director role at Cedarmere Foundation after two years as a non-family member Trustee. She is excited to help guide and steer the Foundation through the sunsetting process to ensure our endowment investments endure long after we have made our last grant.
Melanie has extensive experience in the nonprofit sector and is a passionate champion for nonprofits and their role in supporting and strengthening communities. In addition to her role at Cedarmere, she works as a Senior Advisor for BDO FMA where she supports nonprofits and philanthropists, with a particular focus on coaching nonprofits and supporting 501(c)(4) funders. She also serves as Project Manager of the Statewide Capacity Collaborative (SCC), a collective movement among funders to invest in efforts to strengthen the systems, structures, skills, and people who work in nonprofits and the nonprofit sector as a whole in Washington State. She is a lifetime member of PEAK Grantmaking, serving as Board Chair for three years, and was one of the inaugural Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellows at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). Melanie is passionate about the arts (especially theatre, live music, and letterpress printing) and finds joy in her daughter, family and friends, good food, a good book, and the coast on a winter day.
Danielle Baer - Grants and Comm. Mgr.
Danielle Baer - Grants and Communications Manager
Danielle is the Cedarmere Foundation’s Grants and Communications Manager responsible for coordinating all aspects of our grantmaking process and supporting communications to share the foundation’s impact and learnings. Danielle has spent her career in the nonprofit and public sectors, most recently at School’s Out Washington as the Development and Communications Director. In addition to supporting the Cedarmere Foundation’s grantmaking, Danielle strengthens and supports nonprofits through her consulting services in the areas of fund development, communications, and project management. When not on the sidelines of her two sons’ many sporting events, Danielle enjoys traveling, good food, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family.