On Tuesday afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee took action on several gubernatorial appointments to various higher education related boards.

Among those appointments advanced by the Committee was the appointments of Fred Goldberg and Keith Kessler trustees to The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees.

Fred Goldberg is a philanthropist, Army veteran, banker and entrepreneur. He helped found Saltchuk Resources, a global logistics company, currently the largest private company in Washington State.  Recently retired from active management of the company, Fred continues to serve on the Saltchuk board.  As a banker, Fred saw the evolution of the Thurston County State Bank into Puget Sound National Bank and then into Key Bank, serving in various leadership roles throughout the decades.  He currently serves on the board of Columbia Bank.

Fred has deep roots in Olympia, where he operated his family’s third-generation furniture business, volunteered at the Washington State Capital Museum and helped the Panorama City retirement community regain financial stability in the 1990s.

Keith Kessler is a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney with the Hoquiam and Seattle Law Firm of Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Coluccio, representing brain- and spinal cord-injury survivors.  He focuses his practice largely on highway and product safety.  His recent articles have addressed the need for open government.

Keith is a Fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers, having been selected from among the top 1% of trial attorneys in the United States and Canada. He has served as President of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, President of the invitation-only Damage Attorneys Round Table, and President of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Washington Chapter.  He is a member of the Washington Supreme Court’s Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.

Both appointments now await confirmation by the Senate.