Remember the book, movie and TV series, Friday Night Lights? That was Teresa’s life growing up in Plano, Texas — close friends in a small community where high school football was king.  A writer since she was a little girl, Teresa earned her first job as a reporter for her hometown newspaper when she was a 17-year-old junior in high school.

 

She went on to graduate from the University of Texas at Dallas with a bachelor’s degree in political science and became a political reporter for the United Press International bureaus in Baton Rouge and Austin, followed by a public relations position at the Texas State Department of Education.  Teresa arrived in Seattle in 1989 to work for the Washington Education Association, and also served as a vice president of Premera Blue Cross. In 1999, she started her own fundraising communications firm where she spent 20 years helping more than 200 nonprofit organizations tell their stories and raise more money.  And I should know, because my company, Northwest Kidney Centers, was one of them.

 

For some of us, a successful 35-plus-year career would be enough. Not Teresa.  Since March of this year, she is now putting her leadership, fundraising and organizational development skills to use in her new role at Seattle CityClub.  A mission-driven, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded more than 40 years ago, Seattle CityClub will grow and improve its civic engagement programs and debates along with its commitment to fostering civil public dialogue under Teresa’s leadership. She joined Rotary to help stay informed about critical community issues and to make new connections to introduce Seattle’s most influential civic leaders to her organization.

 

On a personal note, Teresa and Mike, her husband of 32 years, live in Columbia City with their miniature schnauzer, Lily. In her spare time, Teresa enjoys Husky sports, cycling, reading, cooking and traveling.  Please join me in welcoming Teresa Moore to the Rotary Club of Seattle.