All Staff

In November 2014 Jon Scholes became President and CEO of DSA following six years as the organization’s Vice President of Advocacy and Economic Development. He believes downtown Seattle is an essential voice of leadership in a rapidly growing and evolving city.

Jon’s passion for taking on big issues is reflected in his 15 years of work in nonprofit advocacy, local government, and senior positions on statewide political campaigns. At DSA he leads a diverse team focused on creating a healthy, vibrant and inviting downtown.

Jon is a member of the Visit Seattle Board of Directors and the Downtown Transportation Alliance and has served on a number of city and county task forces on transportation, homelessness and housing. He is a Puget Sound Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner and a graduate of Leadership tomorrow. He attended the University of Texas in Austin before graduating from the University of Washington.

Jon lives in downtown Seattle with his wife and seven-year-old twins, Parker and Avery. In his spare time Jon sails, skis and rides motorcycles. He loves how much mental focus and presence each activity requires.

Elisabeth (“Bif”) James is Chief Operating Officer at DSA, overseeing finance, human resources, risk management, information technology, and general administration operations. She was led to DSA by her passion for making positive impacts through community-based efforts. Bif loves leveraging the skills, resources and commitment of diverse stakeholders to achieve DSA goals.

Raised in Marshfield, Massachusetts, Bif started working in her family’s restaurant at the age of five, pushing a broom and waxing the ski-ball machine. She graduated from Tufts University with a BS in Psychology and her 35 years in hotel finance and operations have taken her coast to coast.

Bif moved to Seattle in 1996 and has been in love with the Pacific Northwest ever since. Her son, Niall, works in the film industry and she has two dogs, Kabuki and Ivy, as well as a garage full of power tools and unfinished projects. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, landscaping and gardening, but her favorite place is the backyard in a hammock with a good book.

Jenn Casillas is Vice President of Public Space Operations and Events for DSA. Along with a great team of colleagues, Jenn is responsible for staffing, activating and programming in downtown parks and public spaces. She is excited about DSA’s focus on the public realm and enjoys the creativity and innovation involved in building a vibrant, interesting and healthy urban core.

Prior to DSA, Jenn was Assistant Director of University Services at Seattle Pacific University. Preceding SPU, Jenn worked in various organizations sharpening her skills in business development, marketing, event planning and operations.

Jenn graduated from the University of Washington and earned a Master’s of Science in Communications from Ithaca College in New York. During breaks between raising two energetic children and working full-time, Jenn enjoys running along Alki Beach, skiing, relaxing with family and friends at her family’s lake house and volunteering with Westside Baby and NW Hope & Healing.

Dave Willard is Vice President of Clean, Safe and Outreach operations for DSA. He joined the organization in 2005 after 20 years in Naval Aviation Maintenance. Today, he manages our team of nearly 200 downtown ambassadors whose roles are supported and funded by Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) ratepayers.

Dave’s teams (Clean, Safe and Outreach) provide litter, waste and graffiti removal, customer service, wayfinding and social service outreach to the homeless and those in need downtown. He thrives on the fast pace of work in downtown’s public realm and enjoys implementing programs that are operationally sound, sustainable and fiscally responsible.

Dave has been married 29 years and has two grown sons and two granddaughters. Originally from Buffalo, New York, he is a longtime and long-suffering Bills fan. Dave admits he resisted jumping on the Seattle Seahawks bandwagon for several years but finally succumbed in 2010 and is now a big fan. However, if the Seahawks and Bills ever meet in the Super Bowl he’ll be rooting for the Bills!

Sally Wright is Vice President of Communications and Marketing for DSA. She oversees a fun and talented team of people who manage a broad scope of work, including member relations, media relations, social media, issues management, branding and design, events and sponsorships.

Sally joined DSA after many years leading communications and marketing functions in health care organizations, including Swedish and Group Health Cooperative. Early in her career she was the communications manager for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

A Seattle native, Sally loves being part of the DSA team because it allows her a front-row seat to the many changes going on downtown and across the city.

When she’s not at work, Sally can usually be found at the gym, volunteering, or hanging out with her husband, kids, dog and large extended family. She enjoys analyzing politics and learning the finer points of professional baseball. Go Ms!

Don Blakeney is Vice President of Advocacy and Economic Development for DSA. Don oversees a variety of initiatives and programs that shape public policy, planning and efforts to improve the quality‐of‐life and economy of downtown. His team leads DSA’s advocacy, research, business retention, retail recruitment and policy work.

Before joining DSA, Don was the Executive Director of the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area.  He also worked as the Senior Policy and Planning Analyst for the Times Square Alliance–a business improvement district in Midtown Manhattan. Don also worked closely with South Downtown neighborhood stakeholders to launch a two-year summer market in Occidental Park called the Seattle Square and also helped start downtown’s longest-running storefront arts programs, Storefronts Seattle.

Don attended Columbia University, earning master’s degrees in both Public Administration and Urban Planning. He was born and raised in Seattle and studied Musical Theatre and American Politics at Whitman College.

When he isn’t downtown, Don enjoys tinkering with classic cars, exploring cities and listening to vinyl and electronic music. He and his wife, Erin, live on Capitol Hill with their polydactyl cat Rodney.