Michael W. Fong ‘95

Senior Deputy Mayor, city of Seattle

inducted 2020

Upon graduation from NC in 1995, Mike moved to Seattle and earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Washington. After graduation, he began what has become a 20-year career in service to the city of Seattle. In 2001, he went to work for the Seattle City Council as a policy staffer, a position he held for 10 years. During that period, he became a voice for racial minorities and low-income people in the community.

In 2015, Seattle’s newly elected Mayor Edward Murray brought Mike to city hall as the mayor’s Chief of Staff. For a few months in 2017, Mike served as the Chief Operating Officer of King County. That same year, new Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan brought him back to Seattle to be the city’s Senior Deputy Mayor. In that office, the mayor and the city benefitted from Mike’s reputation as a hardworking policy designer and city hall dealmaker.

His many community service activities include being named Youth Basketball Coach of the Year for 2009 by the Seattle Chinese Athletic Association. He is a current Honorary Advisor to the Seattle Soo Yuen Association and Kaiping Family Association. In 2018, Mike received the Community Voice Award for Civic Excellence from the Seattle International Examiner.