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Martha Kongsgaard

Posted by cahnrs.webteam | June 7, 2013

Martha KongsgaardMartha Kongsgaard was born and raised in Napa, Calif., to a family of jurists, grape growers and cattle ranchers. Kongsgaard, a lawyer, married Peter Goldman in 1988 and collaborated with him to found the Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation, which has invested in not for profit environmental, social justice and arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Her community activities have included participation on the boards of Earthjustice, the Bullitt Foundation, islandWood, The Ruckelshaus Center, Friends of the Waterfront, The Future of the Law Institute, Friends of the Methow, UW’s College of the Environment  and Center for Human Rights, and The Puget Sound Institute.  Kongsgaard has served as the president of Philanthropy Northwest and is the immediate past chair of  the Washington Women’s Foundation. Martha is the immediate past chair and founding member of the Leadership Council of the Puget Sound Partnership, and serves as Chair of the Marine Resource Advisory Council for Governor Inslee.

Martha has been honored with the Nancy Nordhoff Civic Leadership Award by City Club, Woman of the Year Award by Seattle University School of Law, the Environmental Hero Award by the Washington Environmental Council, the Seattle Aquarium Medal for leadership and lifetime achievement, and in 2015, was the inaugural recipient of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance Inspiration Award. Martha and Peter live in West Seattle across the street from the nation’s largest estuary, Puget Sound, in the house where they raised their three now grown sons.

Updated on January 31, 2017