Our Leadership Team
Eric Liu, founder, is an author, educator, and civic entrepreneur. Eric co-authored The True Patriot with Nick Hanauer, and together the two have created the True Patriot Network to advance the book's ideals of progressive patriotism. His first book, The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, was a New York Times Notable Book featured in the PBS documentary “Matters of Race." He is also the author of Guiding Lights: How to Mentor – and Find Life’s Purpose, the Official Book of National Mentoring Month, and is founder of the Guiding Lights Network, an organization dedicated to promoting great citizenship. His book Imagination First, co-authored with Scott Noppe-Brandon of the Lincoln Center Institute, explores ways to unlock imagination in education, politics, business and the arts. Eric and Nick Hanauer have also co-authored the upcoming book The Gardens of Democracy, due out in December 2011.
Eric served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President's deputy domestic policy adviser. After the White House, he was an executive at the digital media company RealNetworks. In 2002 he was named one of the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow.
Eric lives in Seattle, where he teaches at the University of Washington and hosts an acclaimed television interview program called Seattle Voices. In addition to speaking regularly at venues across the country, Eric also serves on the boards of the League of Education Voters, Seattle Public Library and the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, and a proud Seattle Public Schools parent. @ericpliu
Jená Cane, partner, designs creative progams and events. She is also an actor, producer and teaching artist. Jená has worked on the stage, in the classroom, at the desk and behind the scenes with The Guiding Lights Weekend, Creativity Matters, Seattle International Children's Festival, Interplay Experience Design, ENTROS, One World Theatre, ArtsCorps and in schools throughout the state. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jená is a proud member of Who Dat Nation!
Claudette Evans, partner, has worked for more than 15 years as a performer, event producer, project manager and nonprofit arts administator. She is a former vice president of the Washington State Arts Alliance Foundation and a former member of Seattle Central Community College's Arts Management Technical Advisory Committee.
Alex Martin, Jubilee Event Engineers, is the conference coordinator for The Guiding Lights Weekend. She is an independent event planner and a partner at Jubilee Event Engineers. When she's not working on The Guiding Lights Weekend, Alex makes art and spends entirely too much time thinking about how to reduce her consumer footprint. She lives with her partner Freya and her son Ari in Columbia City, South Seattle.