Staff

Denis Hayes, President and CEO

Denis Hayes is a practical visionary who has devoted his career to the promotion of environmental values. The seasoned veteran of many legislative, cultural, and courtroom victories over the years, and the author of numerous books and articles, he is probably still best known for having been National Coordinator of the first Earth Day when he was 25.

During the Carter Administration, Denis directed the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He has been a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute, an adjunct professor of engineering at Stanford University, and a Silicon Valley lawyer.

Internationally, he is recognized for expanding Earth Day to more than 180 nations. It is now the world’s most widely observed secular holiday.

Denis has received the national Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Public Service as well as the highest awards bestowed by the Sierra Club, The Humane Society of the United States, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Council of America, the Global Environmental Facility of the World Bank, the interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, the American Solar Energy Society, and the Commonwealth Club.

He has served on dozens of governing boards, including those of Stanford University, the World Resources Institute, the Federation of American Scientists, The Energy Foundation, Children Now, the National Programming Council for Public Television, the American Solar Energy Society, Greenpeace, CERES, and the Environmental Grantmakers Association.  He continues to chair the board of the international Earth Day Network.

Mobilizing the resources of The Bullitt Foundation, Denis intends to make the Pacific Northwest – the best-educated, most environmentally aware, most progressive corner of America – a global model for sustainable development.

Marilyn Fike, Director of Administration

As one of the earliest staff members of The Bullitt Foundation, Marilyn Fike has witnessed the transformation of a small family foundation to a regional force. When she was hired in 1989 to work two days a week in a remote corner of the King Broadcasting building, the phone rang infrequently. Although she reviewed and organized the paperwork for every grant proposal received, she found minimal use for the administrative skills she had gained as Town Clerk for the Town of Clyde Hill and as manager for Corporate Financial Planning. With the sale of KING in 1990 and the subsequent infusion of money into the Foundation, Marilyn’s job changed dramatically as the phone came to life and the trickle of grant proposals suddenly became a flood. Today, she remains at the administrative helm and assists Bullitt President Denis Hayes.

Always balancing career demands with the needs of her family, Marilyn raised four children, volunteered in their schools and in the community, and served as the National Volunteer Trainer for the Puget Sound Chapter of the March of Dimes. Among her favorite things, she lists books, cooking, travel, and theater.

Amber Knox, Administrative and Program Assistant

Native to the shrub-steppe ecosystem of central Washington, Amber Knox is delighted to be part of the Bullitt Foundation's staff. Having grown up in a family supported by timber jobs, Amber is passionate about finding ways that humans may exist within healthy natural systems while maintaining a high quality of life for ourselves and the planet.

Amber shares administrative responsibilities with Marilyn Fike, manages the grant proposal process, coordinates the Bullitt Environmental Fellowship, and oversees the Bullitt Foundation website.

Originally trained in Performance Production at Cornish College of the Arts, Amber finds artistic satisfaction in singing with Seattle's Medieval Women's Choir, tending her backyard-wildlife-habitat certified garden, and occasionally stepping in as a hair and makeup artist at the Seattle Opera and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. At other times she can be found high in the Cascades, backpacking with her husband, Sam or playing with baby Rowan.

Neelima Shah, Program Officer

Neelima Shah, the newest addition to The Bullitt Foundation, is passionate about protecting the natural environment and reducing human impact on it.

Prior to joining the Bullitt Foundation, Neelima managed the environment and civic charitable investments for The Boeing Company in the Northwest Region. During that time, she developed the company’s local grantmaking strategies in these areas and worked to leverage dollars with the power of employee and volunteer efforts. Prior to Boeing, Neelima was the Program Officer at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation where she had the opportunity to work with U.S. organizations in the areas of International Affairs Education, Environment and Public Service as well as Russian human rights NGOs.

Neelima is a 2005 American German Marshall Fund Fellow and a 2004 World Affairs Council Fellow. She earned her Masters’ of Public Administration at the University of Washington’s Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs in 2002 and was a guest instructor for a grant proposal writing class at the School in 2006.

Neelima finds peace and calm through her yoga practice and by spending time hiking with her friends, her husband Scott, and her favorite four-legged friend Lucca.

Amy Solomon, Program Officer

A Program Officer since 2002, Amy Solomon brings to The Bullitt Foundation a wealth of experience in policy and program development in natural resource, environmental, and sustainability issues. As an independent management consultant, she worked for The Russell Family Foundation, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, and The Henry P. Kendall Foundation. Her nonprofit clients included the Sonoran Institute, Northwest Environment Watch, and the National Association of Counties. Earlier, during her nearly decade-long tenure as Executive Director of the Northwest Renewable Resources Center, the organization helped negotiate landmark agreements in forest practices, water policy, land use, and intergovernmental agreements between tribes and counties.

Between funding cycles, after she has finished reviewing proposals, Amy takes every opportunity to pack her suitcase and travel the world. She was once a Jeopardy contestant (she came in second) and says that winning is a matter of buzzer technique and no, the losers don’t get the money anymore.

Steven Whitney, Program Officer

When Steve Whitney was invited to join the Bullitt staff in 2000, he perceived an unprecedented opportunity to serve the environmental community and protect the ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. His fourteen years with The Wilderness Society as director of its National Parks Program, Northwest Regional Director, and Deputy Vice President for Regional Conservation built on the time he had already spent in Washington D.C. as a public lands activist and lobbyist.

Steve has also served as a natural resource specialist with the National Parks Conservation Association, as Legislative Aide to then-Representative Leon Panetta, and as a board member of several non-profit organizations including Earth Ministry, Washington Environmental Council, and the Cascade Youth Symphony.

He currently chairs the board of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, a national association of environmental foundations.

Steve grew up with an appreciation of wilderness and traces his career choices to the time he spent with his parents in Yosemite National Park. A parent himself, he proudly acknowledges the achievements of two talented daughters. He is a cyclist, and when not traversing trails under towering trees, Steve tends his own miniature bonsai forest.