Board of Directors
A volunteer board of directors offers careful stewardship of the fund that is invested through The Seattle Foundation. All board members are Mercer Island residents with an interest in making our community a better place to live.
Erin Krawiec, President
Erin Krawiec moved to Mercer Island in 2015 and was a Seattleite for over 10 years before that. Erin has a B.S. degree from UCLA and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and has over 14 years of professional experience. Most recently, as an Associate Director at Navigant Consulting, Erin served as an expert witness and testified in corporate litigations on matters related to economic damages, accounting, finance, and business strategy and marketing. Before that, she founded WebWisher.com, an online gift registry for kids and worked in various business roles in the high-tech industry. Erin was chronicled by Fortune magazine in four issues between June 1999 and March 2001 and appeared on the May 2000 cover. In 2017, Erin co-founded a women's collaborative giving organization called Pitch Your Peers Seattle ("PYP Seattle") and currently serves as the President of PYP Seattle. She is also an active volunteer and involved in the PTA and the Principal’s Advisory Council at her kids’ school. Erin enjoys interior decor, travel, yoga, and skiing.
Betsy O'Connell, Treasurer
Betsy and her husband Tim have lived on Mercer Island for over 20 years, raising two sons who have graduated from the MI school system. Having grown up in a military family who moved around the country frequently, Betsy enjoys the hometown feel of the community on Mercer Island. She has been a very active community volunteer, holding leadership roles and raising funds for numerous boards, committees and booster clubs in the schools. Betsy has served as Treasurer for the Mercer Island Schools Foundation, Island Park PTA, and MI Football Booster Club. In her former professional life, she was the Business Manager and Media Director for a local Seattle advertising agency. She recently joined the staff at the MI Schools Foundation as Development Coordinator. She is a proud University of Washington graduate, and looks forward to going to Husky football games, traveling, and spending time with family and friends
Debbie Hanson, Grants Chair
Debbie grew up on Mercer Island, graduated from MIHS in 1985 and received a BS in Biology from Pacific Lutheran University in 1989. She has both a Masters (1992) and a Doctorate (2008) in Physical Therapy from the University of Puget Sound and spent many years working as a PT for Virginia Mason. For the past 20 years Debbie has worked part-time for the City of Mercer Island, leading group Physical Therapy classes for those with Parkinson's Disease (PD). She facilitates a monthly PD support group and serves on a University of Washington research team, focused on exercise and PD. Recently, Debbie also joined the staff at Mercer Island High School as an Assessment Coordinator. Debbie and her husband, Dan have three sons: Matthew, Nicholas, and Connor who are also proud graduates of MIHS. Aside from working and overseeing a busy household, Debbie has volunteered extensively over the years. She served on the MI Arts Council, overseeing Mostly Music in the Park and kickstarting the Movies in the Park program. When her children entered elementary school, she became very involved in PTA, serving on PTA executive committees for multiple schools, including many years as PTA President at Island Park, MIHS and the Mercer Island PTA Council. She has also volunteered with the MIHS Band program, MI Boy Scout Troop 457, MIHS Boys Swim & Dive program and the MI Beach Club Swim Team. In her spare time, Debbie enjoys traveling, thrift shopping, and hanging out with family and friends.
Carolyn Counihan , secretary
Carolyn Berkley Counihan and her husband, Richard, and three children have lived on Mercer Island since 2004 and deeply value its wonderful community and schools. Carolyn has been involved in several local boards and in many MISD PTA efforts, winning awards with the schools’ Community Service Club and Green Team. She graduated from Kansas State University and has a Master’s Degree from the University of Southampton, England. She currently works on the Learning and Organizational Development Team of Alaska Airlines.
Board Members
Erin Azose, Jackie Brown, Sarah Cox, MaryAnn Flynn, Ralph Jorgenson, Jennifer McLellan, Melissa Neher, Stephanie Parmenter, Sharon Perez, Amy Richter