Preeti Shridhar is the Deputy Director for City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, she served as Public Affairs Administrator for the City of Renton. She oversaw intergovernmental relations, working with state and federal elected officials. She also managed the city’s public affairs and communications department, was responsible for launching Renton’s nationally recognized inclusion program, and more.

Preeti has 26 years of experience working for the public sector. Previously, she was the Communications Director for the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Environment. She helped launch Seattle’s nationally recognized environmental programs.

She has received national recognition for the programs she manages. These include awards for Renton’s Inclusion Program from National League of Cities, United States Conference of Mayors, and International City Managers Association, as well as several communications and environmental awards including an Emmy and a Tully.

Among her proudest achievements are launching Renton’s Inclusion Program that has now become a national model; contributing to the national launch of Seattle’s Climate Protection Initiative; and organizing the Seattle visit of former vice president Al Gore leading to the production of An Inconvenient Truth.

Preeti has several publications to her name. Her work is recognized internationally and she has worked on projects in Jordan, several on behalf of USAID. She is very active with Tasveer, an organization committed to engaging and empowering South-Asian women. She has an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and business. In 2019 and 2017, she ran for Port Commission and was one of the first candidates to make environmental sustainability at the Port her priority. She received nearly 75,000 votes and finished a close third in 2019 and first in the 2017 primary and made history in the 106-year history of the Port made history by being the only woman of color in the 104-year history of the Port of Seattle to win the primary. She serves on the board of Inspire Washington and volunteers with Tasveer, a South-Asian non-profit organization. She lives with her family in the greater Seattle area and her son is an engineer in Chicago.

Prior to Earthjustice, Paulo spent seven years in the Obama administration in the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he helped oversee the Division’s docket; worked on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation; negotiated a settlement agreement with Sunoco to require upgrades of its leak detection systems and inspection of its crude oil pipelines; and advanced administration initiatives to further environmental justice and honor obligations to Tribes. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia and worked on the climate resilience team in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Paulo lives in Beacon Hill with his partner and enjoys backpacking, cooking, HIIT classes, and interior design.