Board of Directors Bios

Get to know our dedicated volunteer board

Susan Fox Susan Fox
Board Chair
Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC

Susan Fox joined the Easterseals Washington Board of Directors in 2019, and currently serves on the Development Committee and is the Board Secretary. After graduating from Willamette University College of Law in 1985, Susan has been in private practice with Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, where she handles a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters, contract breach disputes, real estate foreclosures, and construction-defect litigation. Much of her practice involves employment law, including issues relating to wrongful termination, wage issues, and other employment-related topics, including discrimination based on physical and mental abilities and accommodation laws.  Susan often helps clients understand and comply with the various State and Federal laws that provide access to individuals facing barriers to employment.

Susan sought out the opportunity to serve on the Easterseals Washington Board of Directors as a means of giving back to the community and helping others. She has spent the past year visiting the many programs offered by Easterseals Washington in order to gain an understanding of the challenges faced, services provided and stakeholders served. Going forward, Susan hopes her legal experience and work with various business clients will be a value-add to the Board and to the mission of the organization.


Gregg Picard Gregg Picard
Board Vice Chair
Microsoft

Gregg Picard is a Senior Business Management professional who is responsible for annual planning across the Enterprise Support at Microsoft Corporation in Washington. His career with Microsoft along with other roles in technology firms gives him a great ability to strategically run and execute business planning with foresight and intentionality.

Gregg joined the Board of Directors in 2017 and used his expertise to lead the development team before becoming the Board Chair in 2020. Gregg's connection to Easterseals Washington began at Camp Stand By Me, where Greggs's son has been attending for over 10 years.

In his own words, Gregg says “Camp Standby me has been a godsend for our family. I joined the board at Easterseals as a way to give back.”


Jim EpesJim Epes
Board Treasurer
Microsoft

Jim is a Director at Microsoft, where he’s held various marketing and product-planning roles and currently oversees a partner channel program. He joined the Easterseals Washington Board of Directors in early 2020 to give back to the Seattle community that has been a wonderful home to him since he moved here in 1990 from the East Coast.

Before his career in tech, Jim was a print journalist for 10 years—a role that enabled him to engage in public policy and social justice issues through writing. This new board role provides a path back to addressing those issues. Jim has previously volunteered for various causes such as Habitat for Humanity, a suicide hotline, PSKS (a home for street kids), and the Nature Conservancy. This is his second board role.

Jim holds an English degree from Duke University, an MBA from UW, and a Master’s in Journalism from UC Berkeley. He’s married to a designer (also at Microsoft) and lives in Seattle with a very old cat, Sprout. Both he and his wife lost fathers to progressive disabling diseases—Parkinson’s and MS. In his spare time, Jim enjoys cooking for friends, reading about history and politics, and planning kayak expeditions to various parts of the world.


bodFaye Chess
Board Secretary
Seattle Municipal Court

Faye is a sitting judge on the Seattle Municipal Court’s bench. Prior to her election and subsequent election, Faye served as a Judge Pro Tempore in King County District Court for over twenty-two years. She was previously the Director of Labor Relations for Group Health Cooperative and Sr. HR Consultant for Providence Health and Services and Swedish Medical Center. For many years, she worked in the public education sector, first as Deputy General Counsel and Interim Executive Director of Human Resources for Seattle Public Schools specializing in employment and labor, special education, and student disability plans and later as the Executive Director of Human Resources and General Counsel for Tukwila School District. After receiving her B.A. from Purdue University and her law degree from University of Cincinnati College of Law, she worked as a staff attorney for The Public Defender Association in Seattle, WA. She also served as Deputy General Counsel and Interim General Counsel for Seattle Housing Authority. Faye is a District and Municipal Court Judge Association (DMCJA) member on the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission and a member of the Washington State Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee.

After decades of being an active member of three national organizations dedicated to public service and as a former board member for some local nonprofit organizations in the Greater Seattle areas, Faye is excited to be able to help individuals live healthy and productive lives as an Easterseals Washington board member.


Ryan Zeinalpoor-Movahed

Ryan is an audit manager with years of experience in public practice, many of which focused on non-profit accounting. His non-profit work extended beyond public practice while in Chicago on boards and associate boards focusing on soccer, exercise, health, and nutrition. Easterseals first attracted his attention while working as a summer camp counselor at a sports camp, where he grew attached to the mission of helping people with different abilities get to enjoy the challenge and reward of an active lifestyle and the camaraderie fulfilling friendships bring, especially with some help accommodating those abilities.

In his spare time, Ryan laces up to play soccer whenever he can, as well as training for and running ultramarathons. 


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