Mike Edwards

My parents were educators and most of my extended family as well. My parents and their siblings were the first in our family history to attend college. It was well understood that education was our critical success differentiator and allowed us to exit poverty into the middle class. I experience great joy when I observe our programs grow to reach more kids and made a difference in their lives. I derive great personal satisfaction from improving awareness in our community for what we do and why we do it. This is why I serve. In the years I worked at Microsoft, Bill Gates taught me that it is our fundamental duty to give back part of the bounty we are given so that others can have the opportunities we had that made all the difference. Certainly that comes as a financial obligation and it also demands our time and attention. My wife, Christine, and I enjoy seven children, the five youngest were raised in the Snohomish School District and we have two grandchildren and hope to have many more. I graduated from the University of Oregon in 1983.