Business Women 2002

Published July 2002

Nelson donates time, experience
to community causes

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

Lead by example — Carol Nelson learned that truth early on in her career.

As a young banker fresh out of college, Nelson noted the importance of community involvement among those in her industry — involvement that went past approving home loans or opening checking accounts and extended into giving of time and expertise.

And she followed suit, spending eight years as a volunteer for Campfire Boys & Girls in King County and becoming President of the organization.

Why Campfire? Because it personally resonated with Nelson, who had been a member of the organization as a child and remembered the pleasure and support it had given her.

Having a passion for your volunteer work makes you “a better volunteer,” she said.

In the past few years, Nelson has found a passion for a number of other organizations, namely the United Way of Snohomish County and the Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County.

She has been Treasurer of the local United Way and in 1999 served as Chair of that organization’s annual fund-raising campaign.

“In both instances, she was absolutely fantastic and took on her responsibilities with commitment and passion,” said Brent Stewart, President of United Way of Snohomish County.

This past year, Nelson was Vice Chair, and in June, she was elected Chair of the organization — something Stewart said he was excited about.

“She is one of the most talented business leaders we have in the community, and the fact that she’s going to be loaning us some of her time and (expertise) is just going to make us a better organization,” he said.

Nelson also serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County as well as a few other “ad-hoc kinds of things,” she said, such as chairing Providence Foundation’s recent Women’s Wellness Lunch.

In August, she and three friends will take part in the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day, a three-day, 60-mile walk from Enumclaw to Seattle to raise funds for breast-cancer research, care and education.

Preparing for the event has meant getting up at 5 a.m. three days a week before work, heading for the gym and putting in a good hour of walking — plus longer walks of up to 16 miles a day on the weekends.

“Because you have an event out there, it keeps you motivated, keeps you really disciplined. I talk to myself every morning when the alarm goes off at 5 o’clock, ‘get up,’ ” Nelson said with a chuckle.

But walking in the Breast Cancer 3-Day and volunteering with United Way takes time, and Nelson said it’s because she has a supportive husband that she is able to give of her time.

“He is an equal partner in everything in terms of taking care of the kids,” she said of husband Ken.

And when it comes to teaching sons Connor, 12, and Wyatt, 8, the importance of volunteering, both Ken and Carol lead by example.

“What we really try to do is pick things that my children ... can feel like they’re really making a contribution to,” she said, such as helping to landscape a park, picking up garbage or sponsoring a family for the holidays, which the Nelsons have done through Housing Hope.

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