Diane Sugimura

Now retired from public service, Diane had more than 38 years with the City of Seattle – including 13 in variously named planning offices, then 11 years in a primarily regulatory agency. She came full circle, leading the agency that combined the two, Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development from 2002 through 2015. The department was responsible for a full range of development activities from comprehensive and neighborhood planning to policy and code development, plan and project review, permit issuance, inspections and enforcement.

Diane was named an Honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle in 2005; a member of the Green Building Advisory Group for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America, 2006-07; 2007 Public Employee of the Year awarded jointly by the local chapters of Master Builders Association and the American Planning Association; named a Living Building Hero by the International Living Future Institute and a Cascadia Fellow by the Cascadia Green Building Council, both in 2013; and named Public Employee of the Year by the Municipal League Foundation in 2016.

Diane has degrees from the University of Washington and Oregon State University. She is on the Board of Trustees for the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, its Executive Committee, and the Redlining Heritage Trail Community Advisory Committee; on the Advisory Board for the University of Washington Runstad Department of Real Estate and co-chairs its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force; volunteers at Mary’s Place and serves on its Facilities Committee; is on the Waterfront Advisory Group for Cultural Wayfinding; and is a facilitator for the Housing Equity Accelerator program (LISC-Amazon).