Whatcom Young Professionals (WYPs) is a program of the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and abides by the Chamber’s policies, code of regulations, articles of incorporation, and all other governing documents, as informed by the Chamber Liaison. The WYPs program is managed by a volunteer Advisory Council composed of WYPs members.
she / her / hers
Operations & Leadership
Alivia is the Director of Operations for the Ben Kinney Real Estate Team. She was born in Canada, but moved to Bellingham at three months old and has spent most of her life in the United States. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Commerce from the University of British Columbia and a Certificate in Hospitality from Charter College. She recently graduated with her Master of Business Administration at Washington State University. Alivia has served the WYPs Council since 2016 as Social and Membership Chairs, and is excited to continue this year as Principal Chair. She loves getting to know new people and building lasting relationships in her community. In her free time, Alivia enjoys spending time with friends and family, cuddling with her cats, going for walks, and finding new adventures!
she / her / hers
Member Engagement / Events
As a born and raised Southern California girl, Allyson never could have guessed that she would have found herself settling into the Pacific Northwest. A move to the Seattle-area in the early 2000s had her vowing to return south once she graduated high school. But, as Bellingham tends to do, she was lured to school at WWU where she completed her studies with a degree in Communication. When graduation arrived, she packed up her belongings and said her final goodbye to the city she had come to love (but never planned to return to).
Fast forward just one year later, and sure enough, she was back. After a stint at a local organic cereal company, she made a move to a new kind of business, or shall we say, businesses – restaurants, luxury collision repair shops, and fitness studios. Since 2013, Allyson has filled the position of Business Manager for the US side of Walker Group Ventures – a firm that creates innovative companies throughout the United States and Canada, including several in Whatcom County. She actively manages the business operations for Scotty Browns Restaurants (Barkley Village + Bellingham International Airport), No. 1 Automotive Body Repair, and barre3 Bellingham, with more local businesses set to open in late 2020.
Outside of her passion and dedication for her work, Allyson is active in the Bellingham community. She has served as a Bellingham Chamber of Commerce Ambassador since 2019, and most recently has taken her love of the performing arts and put it into becoming a volunteer at the Mount Baker Theatre. While this is her first year on the WYPs board, she was awarded as one of the organizations Top 7 Under 40 recipients in 2017, and has felt a strong desire to give back to young professionals in the community ever since. Being on the board as the new Special Events Coordinator will allow her to do just that.
In her spare time (lol, what is that) Allyson enjoys being active with her husband and dog, cooking, and indulging her foodie ways by trying every restaurant in town!
she / her / hers
Operations & Leadership
Althea, a born-and-raised Bellinghamster, is the Development Manager at the Whatcom Museum. Job perks include working in the coolest building in town, learning about our region’s history through osmosis, and having a front-row seat to incredible art exhibitions. Althea joined the WYPs Council as Treasurer in 2016 and transitioned to the Vice Chair / Membership Chair role in 2020. Outside of work, she loves hiking, skiing, running, gardening, long walks on the beach, and just generally being outside as much as possible here in the beautiful PNW!
he / him / his
Community Stewardship
Ben is excited for his second year on the WYPs Board as the Philanthropy Chair. His goal is to connect WYPs members with volunteer opportunities and make it easy to get involved in our awesome community. He is grateful for the role WYPs has played in helping him make the transition to a new community, recently transplanting from South Carolina in 2016 (hello rain and dark winters!). He is thankful for the amazing beauty and awesome outdoor recreation opportunities our area offers, which more than make up for a few extra cold, rainy days during the winter! When it is cold though, you will likely find him checking out a new coffee spot during the morning or climbing indoors at a local gym in the evenings.
In South Carolina he earned a B.S. in Business Administration, owned landscaping business for 10 years, and ran operations for a construction contractor. Since making the move to Bellingham, he has been excited to make a career pivot into the real estate industry with Keller Williams.
she / her / hers
Member Engagement / Events
Carla is a new member to the council. She moved to Washington state in November of 2018 has been working at Janicki Industries as a sales engineer. She hails from North Dakota and was very active in the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network there sitting on their leadership council as a service chair. She is thrilled to get involved in her new community and hopefully bring something extra to the table with her past experience. Carla lives with her husband south of Bellingham and they have been having fun exploring the area for all its sights, foods, breweries, and activities trying and failing to pick just one favorite.
he / him / his
Marketing & Communications
Born and raised in Pierce County, Hayden has always had a tendency to work hard to advance his life and career, starting work at age 14 (washing dishes at the local Italian café), and balancing work and school (as well as a leadership position in the WWU Band program) during his time at WWU in Bellingham.
After graduating from WWU in 2016 with a degree in Marketing, Bellingham was clearly a hard city for Hayden to leave. He had started a small graphic design business, LeMaster Graphics, in college as a part-time project. After graduation, he decided to expand it into a full-time job here in Whatcom County, utilizing local vendor connections and his knowledge and experience in the fields of design and marketing (as well as all the extra time he had without classes and homework and finals).
In his free time, Hayden is an avid DIY-er, there’s always some sort of woodworking project in progress in his garage. He’s also a baseball nerd, making frequent trips to Joe Martin Field to cheer on the Bellingham Bells.
Hayden looks forward to another exciting year with WYPs, and helping young professionals to network and further advance their careers and professional lives.
he / him / his
Operations & Leadership
Kellan Herndon is joining the WYPs council as Treasurer in 2020! He was born and raised in Bellingham, and is excited for the opportunity to serve the young professional community here.
He earned a degree in Fire Science at Everett Community College in 2015, and moved on to earn a B. S. in Human Services at Western Washington University at the end of 2016. Through learning about case management in that program, he became interested in education and went on to earn my Masters in Education in Integrated Curriculum in 2018. No working for Edward Jones as a Financial Advisor, he is focusing on educating clients about wealth-management based on their priorities and future needs.
When he’s not working with numbers, you can find him at the mountain, skiing, hiking, or backpacking with his wife, Christine.
he / him / his
Education & Development
Hailing from Arlington, WA, Kevin moved to Bellingham in 2005, later graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. Kevin owns and operates Northwest Corner Goods, where he produces locally and regionally focused merchandise. Kevin has experience across a number of industries, having been an aerospace deburrist, Michael Weinig Certified Knife Grinder, Movie Theater Jockey, Pizza Delivery Man, Deli Steward, Licensed Investment Firm representative, Licensed Insurance Agent, Family Real Estate Business Manager, and a Multi Property Hospitality Operations Manager.
In his role as the Professional Development Chair for WYPs, Kevin draws on his diverse experience to create programming focused on developing skills and knowledge useful to our membership in their current positions, and as the future business leaders of Whatcom County.
he / him / his
Education & Development
Luke is the Director of Live Events at Veritas Media Productions and a co-founder of the Bellingham Youth Media Project . Luke’s background in film & media production began 11 years ago and has grown from homemade narrative shorts for just fun – to festival awards on the national & international level. Luke’s skillset may be filmmaking but his passion is in community growth and media education. Outside of serving on the council for the Whatcom Young Professionals, Luke serves on Washington State’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Media Arts Cadre, is on Bellingham School District’s CTE advisory committee, and consults with various high schools in the state to further develop their media programs. In his spare time, Luke finds personal validation in playing board games with friends and doing sudoku when he should probably be working in the yard.
he / him / his
Marketing & Communications
Matt serves as the Marketing Director at Veritas Media Productions. He has made a career of amplifying the voice of organizations and crafting strategic campaigns to create and raise brand awareness. In his free time he’s an avid arts advocate (ask him anytime about arts and he will likely talk your ear off), and can typically be found in downtown Bellingham at events or attempting to be outdoorsy (read: having a beverage on an outdoor patio).
Now in his second year on the WYPs Advisory Council he is thrilled to combine his love for community engagement, marketing, and events to be the best “hypeman” this council will ever see (for the tenure of 2019-2020 at least).
they / them / theirs
Community Stewardship
Rhys is an artist and social change entrepreneur working in land justice and community equity. Their career path has centered on cooperative enterprise, community organizing and catalyzing the power of business for good. Currently, they own two small businesses: Terra Cognita Design + Events: a boutique graphic design, workshop and conference production company, and Green & Growing | KW Western Realty: agricultural and residential land. They joined Whatcom Young Professionals after moving to Point Roberts in 2018, and delights in meeting new people at every event. In addition to WYPs, Rhys served on the advisory committee for the Whatcom Food Network and has worked as a food and agricultural systems advocate throughout the Salish Sea since 2010. When not working, Rhys likes to travel, knit and weave, kayak and paddleboard on our beautiful local waterways.
she / her / hers
Education & Development
Suzanne is the WYPs Buzz Chair. She currently works as the Curriculum & Records Manager for Fairhaven College at Western Washington University in addition to teaching in the Karen W. Morse Institute for Leadership at Western. She has lived in Bellingham since 2014. Suzanne has been an active member of WYPs since October of 2016 when she started attending socials and the weekly Buzz in an effort to get to know more young professionals in the area and create a local network of both colleagues and friends. In addition to working with college students and inspiring young leaders in higher education, Suzanne is always looking for a new adventure. She enjoys CrossFit, running, hiking, skiing, and wandering throughout the Pacific Northwest and is always dreaming about her next international travel adventure.
