WTA Welcomes New Executive Director

I'm thrilled to share some pretty great news with our hiking community. Washington Trails Association has hired Karen Daubert as its new Executive Director.

Some of you may know Karen already. She joined WTA's Board of Directors in 2010, and when she's not been giving her time in that role, she's been out hiking.

See, Karen is pretty crazy about trails. In the past year, Karen has taken a respite from her career and ended up hiking more than 100 trails and scrambling up more than 60 peaks. I get a little winded just thinking about it!

We're excited to welcome Karen to lead our staff, and we're confident we'll be in good hands. Karen brings more than 15 years of experience in trail and open space policy, advocacy, and funding. As Founding Director of the Seattle Parks Foundation, she led the organization from a start-up to one that is recognized as a national leader in parks philanthropy and advocacy. Karen served as a member of the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board and on the Seattle Parks Board. Before all of this, Karen worked as King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney where her focus was on real property and environmental issues.

Karen shares our enthusiasm for WTA's bright future. Here's what she told me:

“I am thrilled to be the new executive director of Washington Trails Association. In its accomplishments and aspirations, I believe that WTA plays an essential role enriching quality of life in Washington state. It will be enormously fulfilling to work with the thousands of WTA members, volunteers, board members, public and private funders, elected officials, and stakeholders that care so much about Washington’s trails.”

Karen started her new gig at WTA this morning, and we'll welcome her right tomorrow morning at our staff meeting with a big box of Top Pot donuts.