Waterfront Park has always been about more than new paths, plazas, and viewpoints. It’s about what happens when people finally get to meet their city at the Salish Sea.

From 2012 to 2025, Friends of Waterfront Park worked with the City of Seattle, partners, and residents to turn that idea into reality—raising $170 million, convening more than 10,000 community members, and welcoming millions of visitors as the park took shape. In 2025, the Grand Opening Celebration brought more than 50,000 people to the shoreline to celebrate a new era for Seattle’s central waterfront.

Now that all 20 acres of Waterfront Park are complete, Friends is entering a new era too.

New Board Co-Chairs

Friends of Waterfront Park is excited to announce Dan Kully and Hewan Teshome as the new Co-Chairs of our Board of Directors.

• Dan Kully is the Managing Partner of KMM Strategies where he serves as a communications specialist and award-winning media consultant with nearly thirty years of experience advising high-profile clients across the country. As chair of the Board’s strategic planning committee, Dan helped guide the development of our new five-year plan. He sees Waterfront Park as “one of the best things that’s happened to Seattle in a generation” and believes Friends’ role is to make sure “the very best that can come out of this space does happen”—by serving as a connector and facilitator on the waterfront.
• Hewan Teshome is SVP and General Counsel for the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle Center), with deep experience in corporate law and policy in the sports and entertainment industry. As a born and raised Seattleite, Hewan envisions Waterfront Park as “a place where magic happens”— a destination that builds pride, strengthens relationships, and showcases what’s possible when we invest in public space.

Together, Dan and Hewan will help guide Friends through this next chapter of stewardship, partnership, and growth.

We also want to honor Maggie Walker, who served as founding Board Chair from 2012 to 2025. Maggie helped launch Friends (originally Friends of Waterfront Seattle), championed the waterfront vision through years of complexity and uncertainty, and led the board through the successful capital campaign that helped make Waterfront Park a reality. Her leadership laid the foundation for everything that comes next.

A New Strategic Plan for a Fully Realized Park

With the park now complete, Friends has adopted a new five-year strategic plan, along with refreshed mission, vision, and values that reflect our evolving role.

Our mission affirms why we’re here:

To bring people and local communities together to ensure Waterfront Park thrives as a vibrant gathering space—fostering connections and honoring Seattle’s natural beauty and stories.

Our vision imagines where we’re headed:

Seattle is transformed by Waterfront Park, a public space sparking joy, connection, and belonging with every visit.

And our values—Community, Equity, Care, Collaboration, and Adaptability—ground how we work: from programming and partnerships to public safety and storytelling.

The plan itself is organized around four big goals:

• Safety & Stewardship – Keeping the park safe, clean, accessible, and cared for with a human-centered, community-driven approach.

• Centering People in Place – Balancing cultural programming with earned revenue so we can continue to offer free public events that reflect Seattle’s diverse communities and deepen connections to Coast Salish lands.

• Sustainability for Generations – Building a strong financial foundation through public funding, individual giving, and an evergreen program fund.

• A World-Class Park Deserves a World-Class Organization – Investing in our systems, staff, and board so Friends can be a trusted steward and partner for the long term.

Five years from now, we envision a Waterfront Park that feels even more alive: landscapes matured, spaces cared for, and programs that feel vibrant, inclusive, and rooted in belonging. A place where everyone feels at home in their city—and connected to one another and the natural world.

What’s Next

You’ll see this plan show up in many ways over the coming months: in how we talk about the park, how we design programming, how we partner with local businesses and community organizations, and how we invite you—our neighbors, visitors, and supporters—to participate.

We invite you to read more about our strategic plan and stay connected as we step into this next chapter together.

At the heart of Waterfront Park is a promise of connection—between people, nature, and the city itself. At the heart of Friends is a commitment to sustain that connection and help it grow.