SEATTLE, Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — After a national search, United Way of King County has named its next President and CEO: Gordon McHenry, Jr. A powerful advocate for social and economic equity, he currently heads Solid Ground, a Seattle-area nonprofit that works to dismantle poverty. At United Way he will succeed Jon Fine, the organization’s leader for nineteen years and an architect of bold initiatives to address the region’s most acute social issues.

“I have pure respect for Jon Fine and all that he’s accomplished during a remarkable two decades at the helm,” states Mr. McHenry. “His vision and powers of persuasion have transformed not only the organization, but so much about the community. I feel lucky to inherit the phenomenal staff, supporters and partners that make up United Way of King County, and to try to raise our aspirations still higher.”

“Poverty is at the root of so many ills in our community,” continues Mr. McHenry. “It steals opportunity and smothers hope. But, as United Way and its partners show every day, it’s something we can beat. It starts with truly centering social and racial equity and then relentlessly innovating until you have strategies that genuinely work. There’s considerable cynicism in the world today, but when you marshal both integrity of intention, and proof of impact, it’s pretty easily dissolved. Already that’s the essence of United Way of King County, and I hope to make it even more so.”

Earlier in his nonprofit career, Mr. McHenry led the nonprofit Rainier Scholars, which champions educational opportunity for young people of color. Before that, he spent twenty-one years in philanthropy at The Boeing Company, including a position as Director of Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest.

A lawyer educated at Georgetown University, Mr. McHenry is a native Seattleite. He attended Seattle University — which in 2013 named him Alumnus of the Year — and, before that, Cleveland High School. He grew up on Beacon Hill, a neighborhood whose character was defined, in part, by redlining. His father was the first African-American engineer promoted into management at Boeing, as well as the first person in his family to graduate from college.

Mr. McHenry will start work in mid-October.

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SOURCE United Way of King County