Theme: Healthy Future

Dedicated to “ideas worth sharing,” TEDxTacoma provides a platform for the exchange of creative, earnest and often paradigm-challenging ideas about how we can change our city, region and world for the better. At TEDxTacoma 2016, local business, arts, education and nonprofit leaders will present essential ideas for a “healthy future” for our community and the world.

Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
12180 Park Ave. S
Tacoma, Washington, 98444
United States

Bil Moss

Bil Moss is a former member of the Tacoma City Council. She was the first executive director 
of Planned Parenthood of Pierce County and has spent her entire career serving local government agencies and non-profits.

Christine Brandt

Christine is the principal at Jason Lee Middle School, a high poverty school in Tacoma that was recently removed from Washington state’s low performing schools list. In 2017, she will lead the opening of “The Academy” an innovative school within Jason Lee focused on health and fitness.

Isaac Marion

Isaac is the author of Warm Bodies, a #5 New York Times bestselling novel that inspired
a major Hollywood film adaptation and has been translated into twenty-five languages worldwide.

Jagi Gill

Jagi is the Founder of Tenex Health and has over 15 years of experience in various executive positions in management, marketing and business development at Boston Scientific, Advanced Bionics and the Mayo Clinic.

Jason Padgett

Jason is an aspiring number theorist and mathematician with acquired savant syndrome and synesthesia. His memoir, Struck By Genius, is the story of his transformation from mullet-sporting college dropout to mathematical marvel via a traumatic brain injury.

Kurt Beecher Dammeier

Kurt is an entrepreneur, investor and the founder of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, an artisan cheese company with locations in Seattle’s Pike Place Market and New York City’s Flatiron District.

Logan Seelye

Logan is a Senior Web Designer at Pacific Lutheran University, a motivational speaker and the author of 10 and 90: The Tackle That Changed Everything.

Matt Levi

Matt is the Director of Healthcare Administration and Innovation at Franciscan Health System. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Pierce County and on the Institutional Council of the American Telemedicine Association.

Michael Ferriter

Michael served for 35 years in the United States Army, retiring as a Lieutenant General. He owns the Ferriter Group LLC, a consulting firm that seeks to develop leaders, build teams and transform corporations using a one-of-a-kind training called “Hands-On Inspired Leadership.”

Miriam Barnett

Miriam is the CEO of YWCA Pierce County. She previously served as the Development Director at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, the Director of the Fund for Women and Girls at The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and the Executive Director of Allied Arts of Whatcom County.

Miya Higashiyama

Miya is a junior vocal performance major at Pacific Lutheran University. She is passionate about advocating for victims of sexual violence and spreading awareness of the presence of sexual assault on college campuses.

Seth Kirby

Seth is the Executive Director of the Oasis Youth Center, a LGBTQ youth resource and community center in downtown Tacoma. Seth also serves as Board President of the Pride Foundation.

T'wina Franklin

T’wina Franklin serves on the University
Place School District Board of Directors, as
an Academic Instructor for Metropolitan Development Council’s College Bound program at Stadium High School and is the co-founder of the female empowerment organization Ladies First.