Donata Brenner, Board Secretary Donata started at Hopelink as a volunteer in 2009-2010 helping at the Bellevue food market and the front desk. In 2011 she was hired as an Emergency Services Specialist and was helping families to apply for the food market, financial assistance, get connected to community resources and just support them with anything they needed. Donata joined their case management team in 2014. Donata was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and immigrated to Israel when she was nine years old due to the war in Azerbaijan. She witnessed a lot of violence, discrimination, people being forced to abandon their homes and much more. She went to school in Tel-Aviv and served in the Israeli army in the education unit where she obtained a teaching certificate and taught Hebrew at an elementary school where most students were refugees from Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine and other countries. Donata pursued an engineering career and graduated from Tel-Aviv university with a BS in software engineering. Shortly after graduation she moved to our beautiful Evergreen state and has been living in Bellevue for the past 20 years with her husband and two sons.

Dr. Heena Lakhani Heena is a research scientist with the Brotherhood Initiative at the University of Washington.  Her research focuses on the design of equitable and rigorous science learning environments for K-16 learners. 

She is also interested in investigating ways to design learning pathways that coordinate students’ interests, identities, and expertise in the higher education space. She has over 10 years of experience working in STEM education and research in K-12 and higher education settings. Heena holds a PhD in Learning Sciences & Human Development. She also has advanced degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics for Teaching, and Psychological and Brain Sciences.  She has also been very active in supporting various Nourishing Networks activities and with the ICERV communities in Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland areas.

Dr. Greg Prang Greg is an anthropologist who specializes in global provisioning systems and sustainability. He has explored a wide range of localities, social groups and subject matter in his career. He has immersed himself into the lives a variety of folks to understand how people make sense of and experience community and economic insecurity.

For more than 15 years, he was involved with artisanal fishermen in the Brazilian Amazon, serving as co-coordinator of a sustainable development projects to assist fishermen sustainably harvest and market aquarium fish.

His assessment of the needs and perceptions of different stakeholders in the efforts to end hunger were later used to inform the foundation of Nourishing Networks.

Randy Howard, Board Treasurer Randy leads his accounting firm’s tax practice and is a shareholder in it as well. He brings almost 20 years of experience in federal and state tax planning, compliance and consulting with closely held businesses and their high net worth owners. His passion is developing and maintaining a group of professional staff whose core values and technical expertise provide a superior level of service. Randy has been the Board Treasurer of Nourishing Networks Consortium for 10 years. Randy enjoys time with his family - his wife, Leslie, and their two children. He also enjoys time with friends, reading, and outdoor activities.

Nickhath (Nicky) Sheriff Board Chair Nicky brings a wealth of community service experiences with her.  She is the founding CEO of the Muslim Community Resource Center (MCRC) for the past 11 years. MCRC provides social and humanitarian services in the Greater Seattle area through community engagement and partnership with other faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations, and civic services. MCRC focusses on addressing issues of hunger, homelessness, and refugee assimilation through a comprehensive interconnected set of humanitarian services.  Nicky was the founder and CEO of Kits for Peace, which is now Essentials First, where she works with Linda Benson.  She is a current member of the Board of Directors of Hopelink.  She holds a BA, History from University of Madras, as well as a Master of Arts in Public Affairs from the same university.  She has been a lead volunteer for The Sophia Way, Days for Girls International, and Habitat for Humanity.

Scott Wallin , Chief Executive Officer Scott attended the University of Oregon, and graduated with a B.S. in Fine Arts at Portland State University. He did his graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the proud father of three sons who are grown adults now who always keep him on his toes. He served his community as a sport coach, soccer, basketball and baseball over 25 years in Kirkland WA. He was an active Board Member at Hopelink in Redmond, WA for 8 years and served on their Finance Committee. Scott has been an executive and innovator in the high tech game and entertainment industry from working as a Director at Paul Allen’s Starwave, Humongous Entertainment, always on the leading edge of technology and innovation and loves to shift paradigms. Scott has been involved in the angel investors group Keiretsu Forum NW, and is an accomplished artist exhibiting his works internationally.

Tammy Waddell, Ambassador Guardian Tammy believes in local communities working together, cultivating relationships, sharing ideas and resources to help each other. She also believes in the power of communities working cooperatively. No one entity can do it all, but together we can! Tammy has been a community organizer and an elementary school educator in the public schools for the past 20 years. She understands that children and their families need their basic needs met before they are able to critically think and learn. She holds a BS in Elementary/Special Education from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a MA in Education from Lesley University. She and her husband John live in Redmond and are the proud parents of three grown daughters and a son, and a granddaughter.

Na'eemah Webb Na’eemah is one of Lake Washington School Districts Family Engagement and Community Outreach Coordinators. Na’eemah is a social justice advocate dedicated to racial reconciliation, equity and eliminating societal factors that prevent diversity and inclusion. She began her career working as an After School dance club leader in South Central, Los Angeles. As she noticed the difference that she made in the lives of youth and their communal environment, her passion for engaging youth and fostering community engagement was sparked. Since, Na’eemah has spent 14 years working in positions that have allowed her to work with and advocate for underrepresented communities. She received a B.A in English and Master’s in American Studies. As a doctoral student, she has dedicated her graduate work to advocating for equity and social justice in marginalized communities. Prior to her current role, she spent 2 years serving as a Family and Community Engagement Liaison at Muir Elementary. "When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde

Linda Benson Co-Founder Linda has more than 40 years of community leadership, change management and fund development experience in the non-profit sector. Among her proudest accomplishments was the creation of an innovative engagement model, Nourishing Networks, which convenes and teaches people how to work together across sectoral, organizational, and social boundaries to find and fill gaps in basic needs within our community’s safety net.  She has worked with dozens of organizations and is known for her ability to guide them through difficult transitions while helping build organizational capacity to expand services and impact.  Her primary focus is in supporting organizations serving marginalized and underserved communities and the growing population just trying to survive in a society with growing income disparity and social and racial inequities. In addition to her former leadership roles at Hopelink, Nourishing Networks, and The Sophia Way, Linda serves as an Interim Executive helping struggling non-profits build stability. She also keeps busy serving on several non-profit boards and committees. Linda’s passion for the infinite capacity of human potential and an unwavering belief that we can imagine and elicit a different kind of community is what grounds her work.  She is the proud mother of three beautiful daughters and resides with her husband, Bob, in Duvall Washington.

Toby Nixon, Past Board Chair Toby Nixon grew up in a family led by a single-parent disabled Korean War veteran. His father and two younger brothers survived on public assistance including welfare, Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, free school lunch, and surplus food commodities; his personal experience with these programs informs his work on human services and his desire to give back to the community.

Toby served as a member of the Kirkland City Council from 2012 through 2023, and previously served as a member of the state House of Representatives and as a fire commissioner. He’s passionate about public engagement, government accountability, transparency, and ethics. He served as president of Washington Coalition for Open Government for 13 years, and chaired the task force that developed the codes of ethics and conduct for Kirkland city council and members of city boards and commissions.

In addition to serving on the board of Nourishing Networks, Toby is Vice President of Kirkland-based Attain Housing, which helps keep people housed through eviction prevention and transitional housing programs, a member of the steering committee of the Kirkland Nourishing Network School Break Food Box project and a former member of the board of Youth Eastside Services. He’s board secretary of Kirkland Interfaith Network, promoting cooperation between faith communities in serving the poor and needy among us. He’s a member of the Leadership Eastside class of 2013. Toby has worked in the computer industry for over 46 years, including 30 years at Microsoft, where he worked to build consensus on technology initiatives with other companies. He represented Microsoft in several industry standards organizations, including serving on the boards of directors of USB Implementers Forum and Kirkland-based Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG); where he was chair of the board for over 8 years. He and his wife Irene have been married over 41 years and have five grown children and two grandchildren.