Early morning award ceremony honors county leaders

Published 1:00 pm Tuesday, October 14, 2025

EVERETT — To celebrate Leadership Day on Tuesday, nonprofit Leadership Snohomish County held its tenth annual breakfast celebration and award ceremony to honor leaders from across Snohomish County at the Tulalip Resort Casino.

Leadership Day originated in 2016 when 23 proclamations were made by Snohomish County mayors, county executives, tribes, ports and business leaders, a press release said.

“We created a day where people could come together to celebrate leadership as a value,” Chief Strategic Officer Kathy Coffey Solberg said in the release. “Leadership Day celebrates that we can all make a difference regardless of political affiliation, socioeconomic status, race, religion, or title.”

Tulalip Tribes Chief Executive Officer Rochelle James delivered this year’s keynote address. James is a former Leadership Snohomish County board president and a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.

“Creating safe teams helps employees not give up when things get hard. Leaders should care and work to create safe work environments,” James said during her address.

This years Distinguished Alumni Award went to Mark Nermo, director of finance at Optum and a current Leadership Snohomish County board member.

Liz Stenning, the executive director at Downtown Everett Association, won The Deborah Knutson Women in Leadership Award and Shawn O’Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub won the Community Partner Award.

Also, the event is Leadership Snohomish County’s largest fundraising event of the year, the press release said. This year’s event raised just shy of $20,000, according to Acting Chief Executive Officer Adrianne Wagner.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay