PRESS RELEASES

Maria Chavez Wilcox Appointed As Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Seattle

NEW YORK, N.Y., September 2016 — Bridge Partners is pleased to announce the appointment of Maria Chavez Wilcox as Chief Executive Officer for the YWCA Seattle I King I Snohomish (YWCA Seattle).

Maria is the first Latina to hold the top leadership position at the YWCA Seattle (https://www.ywcaworks.org/). In her new role, Maria will oversee all aspects of operations at the YWCA Seattle, the nation’s second largest association, and deliver on a new strategic plan and mission framework that align our delivery of services and advocacy with a deep focus on race and social justice.

Prior to her joining the YWCA Seattle, Maria was President & CEO at Childhaven, a nonprofit organization that provides healing care to abused, neglected and chemically affected babies, toddlers and preschoolers. During her five-year tenure, the nonprofit grew its financial stability, launched a new strategic vision, and fully rebranded.

She has 30 years’ experience as a nonprofit leader, including 15 years as the President & CEO of the United Way of Orange County, and earned her master’s degree from Boston University.

Maria commented: “YWCA’s commitment to advancing racial equity and social justice, empowerment and economic advancement, and being on the front lines of health and safety for women and girls promises a life-changing opportunity for me and every person who supports our vision.”

About Bridge Partners

• Bridge Partners is a retained executive search firm with unique expertise in attracting and retaining senior, diverse executives and nearly 15 years of experience executing global leadership searches.
• Our firm’s mission is to assist our clients in their efforts to attract the very best leadership team with the most diverse range of experiences and backgrounds, in order to innovate and reflect the customers, communities and constituents they serve.
• Our clients also include GE, TIAA-CREF, Colgate, YMCA, Novartis, Starbucks, Habitat for Humanity, and The Federal Reserve System. What they have in common is a desire to adapt to a changing global market and diversify their leadership teams in order to reflect their employee base, as well as the customer, communities and constituents they serve.
• They retain Bridge Partners to leverage our innovative search approach and our track-record of presenting the highest caliber, diverse executives.

Contact:
Tory Clarke
Co-Founder & Partner
tory.clarke@bridgepartnersllc.com