A Message from Board President, Jeffrey Menge:

It is the Leadership Kitsap Foundation Board of Directors’ great pleasure to welcome Carli Meurs (LK17) as the next Executive Director. With a unanimous vote, we offered this position to Carli after a careful six-week deliberation period. Carli served as Program Manager through the pandemic and graciously stepped into the role of Interim Executive Director in 2022, replacing outgoing Executive Director and newly elected County Commissioner Katie Walters. During the past few months, Carli has worked tirelessly to ensure a seamless experience for the Class of 2023, while also planning the Kitsap 20 Under 40 Awards event, which will take place on January 26th.  By selecting Carli, the Board of Directors reaffirms our values and commitment to recognizing and developing existing and emerging leaders in the community.

Carli brings a wealth of leadership and management experience, and we trust that the organization will thrive in her hands. As a board, we are grateful for Carli’s endless enthusiasm and dedication to Leadership Kitsap over the years, first as class-member, then as Project Co-Chair, active alum, Program Manager, and now Executive Director.

Congratulations Carli! We are excited to see where you take Leadership Kitsap from here!

Jeffrey Menge, LK17
LKF Board President

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And now a little bit about Carli:

A first-generation college graduate, Carli Meurs worked her way through the Running Start program at Olympic College to then graduate from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Visual Communication Design. Her love of communications took her education further, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Salem International University in West Virginia with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in International Business.

Carli started as the first Intelligent Flex Artist at IntelligentOffice, a virtual assistance firm.  Shortly thereafter, she took a position as Marketing Coordinator under the umbrella of the AmeriCorps VISTA program, which brought her to the affordable housing industry in Kitsap County.  She then went on to work for Community Frameworks developing their Built in Bremerton Program structure before transferring to Housing Kitsap as their first Marketing Assistant in the Self-Help Housing Program. In her six years there, Carli implemented a contact management database and redesigned their website and social media platforms. During that time, she also was a graduating member of the Leadership Kitsap Class of 2017 and a Project Co-chair for the class of 2018.

In 2020, Carli came back to the Leadership Kitsap Foundation as a Program Manager. In this part-time position, she focused heavily on business operations – create and update a contact management database, streamline business processes, reduce overhead, and develop a marketing strategy that enhances the program. In just over one year, we invited her to be the Interim Executive Director.

Carli is a proud, active alumni of Eastern Washington University (earning alumni status of a CoEd Business Fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi), Salem International University (earning alumni status of the National Society of Leadership and Success) and of the Leadership Kitsap Program (LK17).   Carli has also been the Vice President of the Kitsap Housing Coalition, the President of the Asset Building Coalition of Kitsap, and a member of the following organizational groups: Kitsap KIRN, Mesa Rotunda, KCNE, KEDA, and KBA.