Alma Plancich, Executive Director, Ethnic Heritage Council, Seattle, WA

Since 1996, Alma Franulovic Plancich has served as the Executive Director of the Ethnic Heritage Council (EHC). Established in 1980 as a non-profit organization, the EHC works to preserve and document ethnic heritage and advance cross-cultural understanding in local communities. Ms. Plancich has devoted her life to inspiring others to discover the roots of their own heritage. In 1975, she and her family founded the Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble and the Ruze Damatinke Orchestra.

Ms. Plancich was born in the town of Vela Luka on the island of Korcula in Croatia. In 1944, the Nazis invaded and bombed her hometown. During the siege, Ms. Plancich and her family fled to Italy where they spent the next two years forced to move from one refugee camp to another. In 1949, the Franulovic family entered the United States settling in Anacortes, WA.  Ms. Plancich attended Central Washington University, where she majored in English and later attended the University of Washington, taking courses in the Slavic Languages Department.

Ms. Plancich became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954.