Generous Soul, Thought Leader & Educator on Belonging and Finance

M. Michelle Purnell-Hepburn serves as the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity, joining the UW Foster School in December 2022. She served as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director of the Seattle Foundation beginning in June 2020. Ms. Purnell-Hepburn joined the organization as its Managing Director, Controller, and Accounting in June 2018. Prior to this, she was Vice-President/Controller of Salal Credit Union from 2012 to 2018, SVP/Chief Financial Officer at Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union from 1999 to 2011, and Vice-President of Finance at Group Health Credit Union from 1989 to 1999. 

She has worked in the accounting and finance field since 1982 in both the high-tech industry as well as credit unions. Michelle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and economics and her Master of Business Administration degree, specializing in finance and accounting, from the University of Washington Foster School of Business. She was President of the Association of Black Business

Students during her graduate school years and in 2021 were awarded the Spratlen Legacy Award.

Michelle is a past board member of the Group Health Foundation and Express Credit Union, serving on the Executive Committee of both organizations and a past board member of Zion Preparatory Academy. She is a past a board member of the King County Chapter of Credit Unions, serving as Treasurer and President, and past Board Treasurer of the African American Credit Union Coalition. She is a Past Matron of Mt. Rainier Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.

Michelle was appointed to the Advisory Board of Capitol Hill Housing to preserve the legacy and site of Liberty Bank of Seattle, which was founded by her parents and in April 2020 was elected to the Board of Trustees of Community Roots Housing. In 2021she joined the UW Foster as an adjunct professor to create and teach an MBA-level course entitled, The Power of Access: Impact Lending to Underserved Communities, in Winter Quarter 2022.

A Seattle native, she is very happily married, has two stepsons, a goddaughter, and lives on Queen Anne Hill, enjoying all aspects of city life. Michelle is a vocalist and has given concerts for the Philorati Club as fundraisers for scholarships, and currently is a singer in The Approximations, a local band.

Her hobbies include swimming, yoga, biking, and walking, as she is a former triathlete, completing her first triathlon in August 2000 and her first half-marathon in 2007. She has been a student of hula, joining Na Hanu ‘O Ku’uleialoha, a local halau (hula school) based in Burien, and participated in her first group competition in August 2002.