Mike Peringer

Mike Peringer (B.A., 1957) has a long list of impressive accomplishments to back up his well-deserved retirement fan fest at the Safeco Diamond Club next Thursday afternoon. The event includes a buffet luncheon, an all-star “roaster” (featuring dignitaries, colleagues, family and friends), and varying baseball-themed ticket prices with all the proceeds benefitting Urban ArtWorks.

A Seattle native, marketing executive, author, and civic leader are all titles that describe Peringer, and are reasons for being inducted into the UW Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame in 2007. He is stepping down from his role as vice president of marketing/sales for Process Heating Co., a manufacturer in the Sodo industrial area, but the impact he has made in the community will live on. He founded the Sodo Business Association in 1992 representing 2,000 businesses and 50,000 employees, and soon after started ArtWorks, a program developed to discourage graffiti by creating murals throughout the Sodo Urban Art Corridor area. The organization works with adjudicated teens that have painted more than 400 murals since 1995. He wrote Good Kids: The Story of ArtWorks and published Lifeline to the Yukon, all the while serving on countless committees and councils and receiving numerous awards for his public action, including the prestigious Jefferson Award.