Less than two weeks after West Seattle Junction Association executive director Lora Radford announced her impending departure, she’s already training her successor.

Meet Chris Mackay, 25-year West Seattle resident and veteran nonprofit manager. Her most-recent role was as executive director of Crooked Trails, a nonprofit that specializes in “meaningful travel opportunities” – tourism and volunteering rolled up into one adventure, for example. But after 20 years of that – doing a lot of traveling along the way – she’s excited to work “close to home” in her new role.

Mackay’s previous work led to a skillset that’s perfect for the WSJA leadership position, from partnerships to development to event production. The latter is especially important as, after the pandemic hiatus, the Junction Association is reviving its signature events, including the Hometown Holidays Tree Lighting and Night Market (December 4th) and a “full-blown” West Seattle Summer Fest next year (set your calendar for July 15-17, 2022). Mackay told WSB in a short introductory chat at the WSJA office that she expects to spend a few months getting up to speed with everything that’s already in the works, and then starting a conversation about future strategy, growth, and direction – “what’s the dream?” as she puts it.

First, she’s working closely with Radford – whose last official day is later this week – “to extract everything from her head … and her heart.” Radford expects Mackay to shine: “Chris will be a wonderful advocate for small businesses; she has wonderful energy and is ready to take over the reins.”