Rachel Ben-Shmuel, Director of Entitlements

Rachel Ben-Shmuel has over 35 years’ experience with entitlement of projects in the City of Seattle and over a decade of experience working for both Seattle and King County governments, including King County Metro, the Seattle Planning Commission, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection, and the Department of Transportation.  From 2005 to 2015, she worked as Senior Project Manager-Entitlements for Vulcan Real Estate, managing the entitlement for Vulcan’s projects in South Lake Union for both office and residential development.  She left Vulcan in March of 2015 to work as an entitlement consultant. A longtime advocate for affordable housing, Rachel serves on the board of Capital Hill Housing. Rachel is on the Board of the City’s Transportation Levy Oversight Committee. Rachel has a deep understanding of the people, practices, and procedures of the City of Seattle. She has a BA from the University of Wisconsin in history, and an MA from the University of Washington in history/political science.