Dow Constantine is the Chief Executive Officer of Sound Transit, the Central Puget Sound region’s high-capacity transit authority. He previously served in the Washington State House of Representatives, the Washington State Senate, and on the King County Council, including as its Chair, before being elected in 2009 to the first of four terms as King County Executive, an office he held until 2025.
Executive Constantine led several landmark initiatives. These include Best Starts for Kids, the nation’s most comprehensive investment in children and youth, grounded in research from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences; the Land Conservation Initiative, which secured the preservation of tens of thousands of acres of wilderness and green space; and Clean Water/Healthy Habitat, dedicated to restoring waterways and salmon runs, including returning the ancient Lake Washington kokanee from the brink of extinction. He also established Crisis Care Centers, with immediate treatment and recovery options for individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges; launched Health Through Housing, providing hundreds of units of emergency and permanent supportive housing to move people out of congregate settings where COVID was spreading; and created Doors Open, a robust, ongoing funding source for arts, heritage, and cultural organizations, ensuring access for all. Additional accomplishments include the formation of Regional Animal Services of King County, with a no-kill mandate for humane animal welfare; the protection of the sensitive Maury Island shoreline from a proposed gravel mining operation; and leadership of the planning and voter approval of Sound Transit 3, the nation’s most ambitious high-capacity transit expansion.
When in early 2020 King County became the first jurisdiction in the country with a confirmed outbreak of the virus that became known as COVID-19, Executive Constantine led a science-based public health response that saved lives and set the course for communities across the nation. During his tenure as Executive, he was recognized with the Municipal League of Seattle’s Jim Ellis Award for Regional Leadership, Americans for the Arts’ Public Leadership Award, an honorary doctorate from Cornish College of the Arts, and the Governing Magazine Local Government Official of the Year award, among others.
Constantine holds three degrees from the University of Washington: Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (1985); Juris Doctor (1989); and Master of Urban Planning (1992). His family’s ties to the University span more than a century: His grandfather and great-uncle played football under Coach Enoch Bagshaw during the program’s glory days of the early 1920s, and his parents married while students at Washington in the 1950s.
Constantine is married to Shirley Carlson, a four-time graduate of the University of Washington. They met while volunteering at the UW radio station KCMU (now KEXP) and are the proud parents of a middle-school-aged daughter.
A lifelong resident of West Seattle and alumnus of West Seattle High School, Constantine has been an attorney licensed in the State of Washington for more than 35 years. His favorite diversions include skiing, music and, naturally, Husky athletics.