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Leadership Team

Kevin Parker
Chair, Whitworth Institute of Leadership
Visiting Instructor

Kevin Parker is an entrepreneur, former four-term politician and a retired advisor to a senior member of Congress. He has taught organizational theory and leadership for over a decade to graduate students at Whitworth University and is currently a visiting instructor in the School of Business. He has also served as a facilitator in adaptive leadership at Harvard University, is a fellow of the Aspen Institute and is currently completing his Doctorate of Philosophy in leadership studies. Parker oversees 230 employees within his Dutch Bros Coffee franchise and has collectively received more than 30 awards for his work within the community and region, including being named to Spokane's Most Powerful list multiple times.

 

Tess Abbott

Tess Abbott
Associate Director, Graduate Studies in Business
MSFP, Institute of Leadership, ELEVATE
U-District Campus

509.777.4209
tabbott@whitworth.edu

Sinéad Voorhees
Assistant Dean, Graduate Studies in Business

Sinéad earned her M.Sc. in development practice from Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, at the top of her class. Her experience abroad lead her to a term in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, a four-month research trial in Rwanda for her dissertation, and a "long travel east," during which she spanned the Asian continent. She spent four years developing and growing the career and external relations program for Whitworth's School of Business. In 2017 she was promoted into the graduate studies in business program and in 2018, was one of the youngest MBA directors in Washington State. During her tenure as director, the MBA program doubled in size making it one of the fastest growing programs in the Inland Northwest. In 2020, Voorhees along with instructor Kevin Parker, started the Institute of Leadership, an innovative reinvention on leadership development. Voorhees was promoted to assistant dean in 2021, making her the first ever dedicated dean of a graduate studies of business program.

Voorhees also invests ample time in the Spokane community. She currently serves as the chair of the United Way Emerging Leaders Society and serves on the programs committee of Executive Women’s International of Spokane. In the past she served as the director of the Northwest Entrepreneur Competition and a board member of the Krista Foundation. She is also a 2019 Leadership Spokane graduate. In 2014, she was recognized as one of the Inland Northwest's top 20 Under 40 rising professionals and in 2019 was featured on the cover of Spokane/Coeur d'Alene magazine as one of the top 20 women in business leadership; an award she won in the newcomer division. In the fall of 2019 she was recognized as a Spokane Journal of Business Rising Star; an honor given annually to only ten deserving professionals under 40 in the Inland Northwest. She speaks publicly on passion, dreams and confidence and enjoys celebrating all of the successes of Whitworth’s graduate students.

 

Kim Ortiz

Kimberly Ortiz
Associate Director, Graduate Studies in Business

kortiz@whitworth.edu  
509.777.3875