Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles

Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles represents District 4 on the King County Council, which encompasses a large part of the City of Seattle, from Madison Avenue in downtown to 145th Street, the northernmost border of the City with the City of Shoreline, and from Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound to Interstate 5 for most of the district.

She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education and an M.A. in Sociology from UCLA and is also a published author of academic and general readership books. She worked as a public school teacher and as an adjunct faculty member in the Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and Sociology Departments and College of Education at the University of Washington for 23 years. She was the principal investigator of two federally funded research grants on child sexual abuse prevention and girls and women in school sports and has been an expert witness for lawsuits on Title IX and school sexual harassment and misconduct. Jeanne is a national and international speaker on women in politics and public policy and human trafficking. 

Councilmember Kohl-Welles took office on January 1, 2016, succeeding Council Chair Larry Phillips who retired. She was re-elected to a second term in 2019. She chairs the King County Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and is the Vice Chair of the Council’s Community, Health and Human Services Committee. Additionally, she serves on the Mobility and Environment Committee, the Committee of the Whole, Law and Justice Committee, Board of Health, Employment and Administration Committee, and the Regional Policy Committee in addition to a number of outside committees listed here, including the 4Culture and Woodland Park Zoo Boards.