Sam Cho
On Thursday, May 11th, Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho was the featured guest at the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce business luncheon at the Heathman Hotel.
Port of Seattle - PORT OF THE FUTURE.
Alicia Quaco introduces Port Commissioner President, Sam Cho
Alicia Quaco, Kirkland Chamber board member and Director of Operations from the Eastside Health Network – an alliance company between Overlake Hospital and Evergreen Hospital addressed the crowd.
Puget Sound Energy is the sponsor of today’s event. Toby Nixon and Kelly Curtis from the Kirkland City Council are here to support the Chamber and the Port of Seattle. Samantha St. John, our former Chamber CEO is here in her new role with the Port of Seattle -
Sam Cho was elected to the Port Commission in 2019 and currently serves as Commission President. Before his role with the Port of Seattle Commissioner Cho was the Founder and CEO of Seven Seas Export, an international trading company headquartered in Seattle and exported to Asia. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavor, Commissioner Cho was a political appointee under President Barack Obama serving in the US General Services Administration. Managing an agency of more than 10,000 federal employees working on executing the administration’s agency-wide policies in real asset management, federal procurements, acquisitions, and technology.
Commissioner Cho also served as a Legislative Assistant to a Washington State Senator and a member of the United States Congress for whom he managed a portfolio of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Small Business, and Financial Services. His priorities as a commissioner include promoting trade, working towards environmental sustainability, ensuring diversity and inclusion in the workforce, contracting, and stopping human trafficking.
Kirkland Chamber President, Kristian Uri addressed the crowd and noted how proud Kirkland was of their homegrown success story Port of Seattle Port Commissioner Sam Cho, the first president of color and youngest president in the Port of Seattle’s 111-year history.
Sam Cho – thank you for that very thorough introduction. It’s a beautiful afternoon to be meeting in the basement of a hotel. He noted that in addition to the Kirkland City Council members present we also have Issaquah City Council member Russell Joe in attendance today.
Sam considers himself a product of the great City of Kirkland. He grew up here and attended Countryside Montessori. He started out at Jaunita Elementary School, and went to Carl Sandberg Elementary School, Finn Hill Junior High School – he says this shows his age as it was a Junior High School when he attended, not yet a middle school. His parents had a dry cleaner in Kingsgate; a mom-and-pop business that he is very proud of.
He's a “Kirklander,” through and through. Here’s a link to Commissioner Cho’s presentation PORT OF THE FUTURE.
Port of Seattle and Fishermen’s Finest: Kenny Lyles, Sam Cho, Lisa Phair, Samantha St. John, Kristian Uri, and Sally del Fiero
Upcoming Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce Events
● Pouring with Pride wine walk tickets are now on sale! This event takes place on Friday, June 16 from 5-9 pm. It starts at the Heathman Hotel and there are local wineries pouring wine in the shops in our downtown core. It’s a really fun way to support local businesses. Tickets are available on our website.
● Sign up early for next month’s luncheon featuring City Manager Kurt Triplett. Where I am sure we will discuss the pedestrian scramble and other capital improvements the city is undertaking
● Save the date for the annual golf tournament! It will be held at Echo Falls on July 24th. More info coming soon – but adjust your summer travel plans accordingly so that you are in town for the fun.
And finally, to give you an idea about how much fun the golf tournament is, here’s the #FishFinest group that participated last year - Kristian hopes to have an even better turnout this year! He says, ‘come support us, I’ll brag about you, and we’ll have a good time supporting the vibrant business community of Kirkland.’ See pictures from our 2021 Tournament.
For a link to Port Commissioner President Sam Cho’s presentation, click PORT OF THE FUTURE.