Diana Singleton, President
Diana Singleton (she/her) is the Chief Equity and Justice Officer at the Washington State Bar Association, where she provides support and leadership in the areas of access to justice, diversity, equity and inclusion and pro bono and public service. She leads the Equity and Justice team who provides support and partnership to the Washington State Access to Justice Board and Alliance for Equal Justice, the Council on Public Defense, the WSBA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, and the WSBA Pro Bono and Public Service Committee. She previously served as the Director of Seattle University School of Law’s Access to Justice Institute which serves as a bridge between the law school and larger equity and justice community. Prior to joining SU, Diana was a staff attorney with the Northwest Justice Project for almost ten years, practicing in the areas of consumer, family, low-wage worker, and public benefits law. She is a proud alumna of Seattle University School of Law, Westmont College, and the Washington Equal Justice Community Leadership Academy.
David Lawson, Secretary
David Lawson (he/him) – David is a partner in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie, where he represents foundations, hospital and medical research organizations, trade associations, universities, social service providers, and businesses, helping them find innovative ways to benefit their communities more effectively. His knowledge encompasses a variety of topics relating to federal tax exemption, nonprofit governance, charitable trust laws, and lobbying and issue advocacy. He’s been on the board of Communities Rise and its predecessor organizations since 2013, and has tremendously enjoyed watching the organization succeed and grow during that time. David lives in Seattle with his wife, two children, and a cat who’s really in charge of the family.
Marnina Cherkin, Treasurer
Marnina Cherkin (she/her) is a Senior Corporate Counsel at Amazon supporting Amazon Web Services’ infrastructure team and global expansion efforts. She is a member of Amazon Legal’s Pro Bono Taskforce and is active in pro bono legal activities in Seattle. Prior to attending law school, Marnina worked in the non-profit sector, advancing anti-bias initiatives, community-based inclusiveness projects, and community development work.
Amadeo Cruz Guiao
A skilled organizational healer/consultant and facilitator, Amadeo Cruz Guiao (all pronouns), has over 20+ years of experience supporting community-led organizations, philanthropic foundations, and visionary leaders to effect transformative social change, both in the United States and in the Philippines. Coming from a deep and embodied decolonizing lens that is rooted in a global context, they are skilled at providing culturally appropriate organizational development strategies in contexts as vastly different as remote upland indigenous communities in war-stricken Mindanao, Philippines, to rural Native reservations in the Pacific Northwest, to global human rights organizations. Their intersectional, intercultural, and equity-based approach is informed by their lived experience as a queer, gender-nonbinary, decolonizing Filipinx-American, and child of immigrants. In addition to being a new Board member at Communities Rise, they also serve on the Board of Trustees for the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, a grassroots organization dedicated to the cultural revitalization and environmental regeneration initiatives of Indigenous peoples in the Philippines. Amadeo loves to sing and play guitar, and like so many Pacific Northwesterners, loves to hike and camp and spend time with loved ones.
Jacob Ferrari
Jacob Ferrari is a partner at The Apex Law Group, PLLC. His primary practice works with nonprofits at every growth stage which includes formation, application for tax exemption, board governance, and corporate exit plans. He regularly speaks and serves on committees affecting the nonprofit community and works to better the nonprofit regulatory environment. Jacob is inspired by nonprofit organizations, their impact, their leadership, and their passion. His goal is to care for his clients as much as his clients care for the community around them. When not in the office, Jacob serves as an elder at his church and immerses himself in the wide world of J.R.R. Tolkien and middle earth. When at home, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Noelle, his daughter, Elizabeth, and his son, Asher.
Kate Reddy
Kate Reddy (she/her) is the principal attorney at Wingspan Legal, a firm focused on nonprofit law. She serves as outside general counsel to small and medium-sized nonprofits, advising on corporate governance, tax-exempt status, contracts, and employment issues. Before starting her own firm, Kate was a partner at Perkins Coie and spent several years immersed full-time in family life.
Lauren Dudley
Lauren Dudley (she/her) is a visual artist. In the past dozen years, her practice has revolved making puppets and birds, making and producing films and the occasional artist book. To support her art practice, Lauren has an MBA and worked in finance, which was entertaining for the brain and pays the bills, but didn’t nourish her heart and soul. In 2020, Lauren’s production company, Trial and Error Productions, became a group of seven artists who provide videos for grass-nonprofits at no cost to the organizations, one of which is Communities Rise. Lauren has been on the Advisory Board on Neighbor to Neighbor since 2017 and is on the Emeritus Board of the Seattle Public Library Foundation. To keep centered, she has a daily meditation practice and bakes sourdough bread. In joining Communities Rise’s Board, Lauren hopes to support the staff and clients of Communities Rise and to continue learning from others.
Red Nguyen
Red’s work is rooted in advancing housing and economic justice through collective care and practical systems change. Her focus is on ensuring that communities historically excluded from financial and housing stability, particularly members of the global majority, sex workers, and immigrant families, have access to the tools, language support, and resources they need to thrive. Red approaches governance through a lens of equity and accountability, recognizing that sustainable change requires redistributing power, not just resources. Her perspective is informed by decades of work across financial systems and community advocacy, where she has seen how institutional barriers perpetuate instability and how collaborative, community-led solutions can restore agency.
Renato Foz
Renato Foz (He/Him) started his volunteer work as a High School intern at the non-profit level serving youth through fitness and wellness programming. This path lead him to a career in mentoring and social work and he began facilitating youth programs at the King County Juvenile Detention Center, after-school programs at many local public schools and as a Physical Education Therapist at Seattle’s Ryther Child Center where he studied to become a Chemical Dependency Professional and Dialectical Behavior Therapy instructor, working with teenagers who were chemically addicted to drugs and alcohol and using exercise as a means to help their rehabilitation. Renato then spent over a decade on the East Coast working with a branch of New York City’s Department of Juvenile Justice, working with incarcerated teens transitioning out of the detention system, training hundreds of adults within the juvenile justice system as a Safe Crisis Management instructor and mentoring youth at the Friends Of The Children New York chapter. Renato has over four years of 501C3 Executive Director experience and works with youth and families as an American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer, and a certified fitness instructor through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He is a founding member of the Seattle non-profit Cultivate South Park, an organization rooted in community youth and economic development, arts and food equity and environmental prosperity.