![](https://www.seattlefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Frix-Michelle-640.jpg)
Michele champions organizational excellence, cross-team collaboration and guides Seattle Foundation’s strategic planning across the team, Board and community. As a member of the Leadership Team, she advises the CEO on key strategies and partnerships to scale impact and achieve our goals.
Personal Philanthropic Interests
and Passions
- Global giving and philanthropy
- Women and girls empowerment
- Gender equity and reproductive justice
- Human rights
Michele has a deep history at the foundation, previously working with Seattle Foundation’s key partner on global philanthropy, Seattle International Foundation (SIF). During her seven years with SIF, she launched initiatives and built programs with stakeholders to address poverty and inequality around the globe. She led their grantmaking strategy, overseeing more than $17 million in grants in over 65 countries. Prior to SIF, Michele worked as a Research Analyst for the Technology and Social Change Group at the University of Washington’s Information School, conducting field research on Microsoft Community Affair’s social investments in employability and technology for marginalized communities throughout Latin America.
Michele is a board member of Splash (an international nonprofit committed to providing clean water for kids across Asia and Africa), as well as the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and Seattle International Foundation. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies, with a minor in Human Rights. In 2015, Michele was named an American Express NGen Fellow, and a member of the inaugural class of Henry M. Jackson Leadership Fellows. In 2017, she represented Seattle in the Young American Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. Michele is also a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project.
Michele came on as chief of staff for Seattle Foundation in 2016.