SOAR - Spokane Chapter
The Spokane Chapter joined the SOAR family in January 2023. The history of Spokane, Washington, developed because Spokane Falls and its surroundings were a gathering place for numerous cultures for thousands of years. The area’s indigenous people settled there due to the fertile hunting grounds and abundance of salmon in the Spokane River. Today, Spokane is transitioning to a more service-oriented economy in the face of a less prominent manufacturing sector. Developing the city’s strength in the medical and health sciences fields has resulted in the expansion of the University District, with University of Washington and Washington State University medical school branches. The past 25 years have witnessed the completion of the River Park Square Mall, the building of the Spokane Arena and expansion of the Spokane Convention Center, the building of the Big Easy concert house (now the Knitting Factory), and renovation of the historic Montvale Hotel, the Kirtland Cutter-designed Davenport Hotel, the Fox Theater, and the completion of the WSU Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Arpine Nicholson
President
Arpine Nicholson/Margaryan was born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia and moved to United States when she was 16 years old. Arpine holds a master’s degree in Management and Leadership from George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology and attended Eastern Washington University for her undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Accounting. She resides in Post Falls, Idaho and works in Spokane Washington as the Director of Clinical Programs at Providence Healthcare and provides leadership and oversight for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine service line. Arpine is married with two young children and three dogs. When not working she enjoys traveling to Armenia to visit family, painting, and exercising.