Our annual retreat was the opportunity to:

• Highlights this year achievements and identify what we can do better next year,
• Review and adjust strategy and goals to stay in line with our mission,
• Celebrate our sister cities community with a network event at the end of the day.

We had the pleasure to welcome Lynette Claire, Entrepreneur Professor at University of Puget Sound, and Tom Pierson, CEO of Tacoma Chamber of Commerce, their insights on Entrepreneurship across  borders were very valuable.

We also had the honor of having a recorded video welcome from Roger Mark de Souza.

Tacoma’s mayor, Victoria Woodards, was on in attendance to provide remarks about Tacoma’s 2025 Strategic Plan.

We had approximately 50 board and committee members in attendance. The focus was to continue capacity building by equipping our board and committee members with strategies to engage the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and promote both local economic and tourism growth.

We also spotlighted our Biot, France Sister City’s accomplishments in increasing visibility of Tacoma’s Glass Museum by hosting Biot-Tacoma artist exchanges. Huguette Marsicano, chair of the Tacoma-Biot committee, introduced all the achievements through a colorful keynote presentation.

Tacoma provided a scholarship for local youth to attend the annual conference in Aurora, CO and our student winner, Yanava Ferreria-Allah (Bellarmine Prep) hosted a Q & A about developing local youth programming for Sister Cities.

We were invited to brainstorm meaningful citizen diplomacy efforts with our local schools, government and business community.

Finally, we hosted a “friendraiser” wine reception for individuals interested in learning more about Tacoma Sister Cities. Our membership program was launched and we invited those interested to join us.