David Means, Board President

David brings a wealth of experience to Sound Foundations NW.  He has several years’ experience in all phases of light construction, having specialized in remodeling single-family homes.  In addition, he has more than 40 years’ experience in managing projects large and small.  For many of those years, he led teams designing, building and marketing computer systems.  Later, he managed his own software design business, and served on a national non-profit board for 6 years.  During the COVID shutdown, David learned about the Hope Factory, and decided that doing something about homelessness was much better than sitting around complaining about it. He has been a regular volunteer, team leader, and board member since June 2021 and now holds the role of Board President.

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Mark Horowitz, Board Treasurer

Mark has studied and taught in the field of human systems for over 40 years as a licensed therapist, as a professor, and as a management consultant and coach for businesses in the United States and internationally. If he were still teaching, he would use The Hope Factory as an ideal case example of a self-organizing learning organization because of the way it uses input from all its internal and external resources to continually improve and grow.

Mark is an amateur woodworker and a founding board member of The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. He is also the founder of the Uniterra Foundation, an international non-profit committed to the practical application of spiritual values to social change. Mark and his wife moved to Seattle from Boston in 2021 to be near family and grandchildren. Mark immediately started volunteering at the Hope Factory, recognizing it as a perfect expression of many of his interests and concerns. Mark joined the Board in 2025.

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Ruth Miller, Board Secretary

Ruth is an Occupational Therapist by training and spent her career working in the fields of physical rehabilitation, education, and assistive technology. Always a volunteer, one of her many roles was as the coordinator of shelter for people experiencing homelessness for over 10 years in the Chicago area.

Shortly after moving to the Seattle area in 2023, Ruth found The Hope Factory as she was looking for ways to volunteer in her new community. With years of home DIY experience and an appetite for learning new skills, Ruth is handy with tools and always willing to teach and learn from others. She has many years of experience working with people who are homeless and is passionate about repairing our world. Her favorite part of building tiny homes is the final cleanup and making sure each home is in perfect condition for its first occupant! Ruth joined the Board in 2025.

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Beatrice VanTulder, Board Member

Beatrice earned her nursing degree in Brussels, Belgium and spent 32 years working at Highline Medical Center caring for patients of her community, including the homeless and immigrants. She’s been involved in nonprofit work at various levels since her children were young.

On March 16th 2018, Beatrice was visiting Camp Second Chance, the original building site of what would become Sound Foundations NW, and met Barb Oliver who asked, ”Have you ever used a circular saw?” When Beatrice admitted no, Barb replied, “Guys, move out – I’m teaching her!” Together, they cut the wood for the first tiny home and after that, Beatrice was hooked!

Fast forward a few weeks and Beatrice came back to use her new saw skills to pre-cut and organize lumber. By visiting existing villages to understand how they could build the homes more efficiently, Beatrice learned more about building and understood the great importance of caulking for the homes’ longevity. For 8 years now, caulking has been her favorite activity!  Beatrice is an original Board Member of SFNW.

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Tom Lennon, Board Member

Tom has been a dedicated volunteer since February, 2021 and has served as a board member of SFNW since the non-profit achieved its certification in 2022. His areas of expertise include Audit, Accounts Payable, and Inventory Costing. Tom also has significant experience in supply chain logistics and has consistently ensured compliance with both GAAP and customs regulations. Tom believes in proactive problem solving and operational excellence.

At SFNW, Tom manages the ordering, delivery, and tracking of all of our building supplies. When he’s not tracking inventory, he’s likely putting a roof on a tiny home which he estimates he’s done at least 300 times. His commitment to supporting our mission is rooted in a genuine desire to make a positive impact, to make things work better, and to build and improve systems, particularly while helping the homeless.

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Steve Roberts, Director of Operations

Steve discovered the Hope Factory while working at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Ten years of commuting into Seattle by bus and seeing the on-street encampments and doorway shelters become worse every month, fueled his growing frustration and sense of helplessness. Then, an AWS colleague made a presentation about Sound Foundations NW shortly before Christmas of 2022. Resolved to “do something,” Steve joined an AWS group build in the first week of 2023, working on a home scheduled for South End Village. Inspired, he went back again the following week, started building more and more on his own time, and began organizing groups from Amazon to build tiny homes. Aftrer leaving AWS in April of 2023, Steve retired early and began spending multiple days a week volunteering at the Hope Factory, becoming increasingly familiar with day-to-day operations. In October, 2025, Steve took over as Director of Operations.

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Liz Thayer, Volunteer Coordinator

Liz was an Athletic Director, PE Teacher, and Coach at a K-8 school for 12 years before stepping down from teaching in 2023. She started volunteering at The Hope Factory in January of 2024 and soon became a “regular”. Liz took over the job of painting with the big sprayer that spring and, in addition to her painting responsibilities, started leading volunteer groups. Liz fully assumed the role of Volunteer Coordinator in October of 2025.

As fun as it was to lead online PE to elementary school students during the pandemic, Liz appreciates the opportunity to use her years of experience with scheduling and logistics as well as share her approach to teaching in an inclusive way. Age is just a number and Liz is happy to support and lead volunteers of all ages and all experience levels.

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Andrew Buchanan, Development Director/ Fundraising

Andrew moved to Seattle in 1998 and ran a successful architectural photography business for 24 years, including stints on two nonprofit photography association boards. By 2019, he’d decided that life as an independent creative business had run its course. During COVID, Andrew studied Nonprofit Management at UW, hoping to eventually leave more of a mark on this world than making photos to help other people sell things.

He began volunteering at the Hope Factory in June, 2021 and worked on home #97 on his first day. Now with three decades of hospitality management, small business marketing, and nonprofit board experience, Andrew is our one-person development team. He connects with others who want to help our neighbors who are homeless, and shares the power of the tiny home solution to lift everyone who wants a tiny home out of homelessness with dignity, compassion, and proven success. Andrew continues to volunteer building homes at least once per week and recently helped on #697, the 600th home built since he started.

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