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Members
Cindy Zehnder
Jeff Johnson
Lee Newgent
Beth Thew
Creigh H. Agnew
Don Brunell
Lutz Ziob
Randy Dorn
Charlie Earl
Paul Trause
Tony Lee
Rogers Weed
Robin Arnold-Williams
Mark Mattke

Board Members

Board Chair (non-voting)

Cindy Zehnder Email Cindy Zehnder
Appointed 2010, Serves at the pleasure of the Governor

Cindy Zehnder is currently a vice president at Gordon Thomas Honeywell, where she manages the firm’s Washington State Governmental Affairs Division.

Prior to joining GTH, Zehnder served as Gov. Chris Gregoire’s chief of staff. She has also served as chief clerk for the Washington State House of Representatives, as deputy commissioner of the Washington Employment Security Department and held numerous positions with the Teamsters union. In 2003, Zehnder was named president and chief operating officer of TVW, Washington’s public affairs network.


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Representing Labor (voting members)

Jeff Johnson Email Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson was elected President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in December 2010 and sworn in January, 2011. Prior to that, since joining the WSLC staff in 1986, Jeff had served as special assistant to the president, lead lobbyist, research and organizing director, and as shop steward for his staff unit, which is part of Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 8.

Jeff began his union life with Local 2190 of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO in 1979, teaching Labor Economics and Labor Studies to apprentices of IBEW Local 3 in New York City. Through the mid-1980s, Jeff taught union and community members at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, ACTWU (which later became UNITE), the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, and the Harry Van Arsdale Center for Labor Studies, which is a division of Empire State College, SUNY. The Labor College, as the school is known, is the largest college for trade unionists in the United States.

Jeff's work at the Washington State Labor Council has focused on legislation that improves the lives of working people through increasing collective bargaining and organizing rights; economic justice and anti-poverty measures; strengthening our workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and employment standards; improving our health care system; and protecting the rights of farm workers and immigrant workers. He has represented labor on a number of committees, both internal (WSLC Diversity Committee; Workers' Comp. Labor Caucus; UI Labor Caucus; Affordable Housing and Homeless Task Force) and external (Retro Advisory Committee; SBCTC Mission Task Force; L&I Independent Medical Exam Committee; L&I Vocational Rehabilitation Committee).

Jeff earned his B.A. in Political Science from Georgetown University and his M.A. and A.B.D. in Political Economy from the Graduate Faculty at the New School for Social Research. He is married to Rebecca Smith, a member of the UAW and an attorney with the National Employment Law Project. They live in Olympia and have four children: Danica, Luca, Anya, and Addie.

Lee Newgent Email Lee Newgent

Lee NewgentLee Newgent is Executive Secretary of the Seattle Building Trades Council and represents 11,000 Union Craft workers in King County. Lee is also the Chairman of the Washington State Apprenticeship Council and has been recognized as one of the industry leaders in recruiting and retaining women and people of color.

He has worked as a consultant for nationwide apprenticeship programs and has often been called upon to speak on a variety of apprenticeship issues. He is active as a lobbyist for many different apprenticeship and building trades issues.

Lee has served an apprenticeship with The Ironworkers local 86 and has worked as a Foreman, General Foreman and Superintendent.

He has worked at his trade in five different countries including the continent of Antarctica. Lee has been active in the Disaster Response Community and is the Labor Co-Chair of the Fire Incident Response Skilled Trades (FIRST) Committee in partnership with the Seattle Fire Department. Lee was also a volunteer for the Ironworkers at the World Trade Center and other disaster sites.

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Beth Thew Email Beth Thew

Beth Thew is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Spokane Regional Labor Council and a Vice President for the Washington State Labor Council. She also serves as Chair of the WSLC Economic Development and Transportation Committee and sits on the Spokane Worker Retraining Advisory Committee.

In addition to her union commitments, Thew is a member of the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council, Washington Learns Higher Education Advisory, and the Spokane Area Professional-Technical Advisory Consortium (SAP-TAC). She also serves on the Board of Directors for Spokane County United Way.

 


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Representing Business (voting members)

Creigh H. Agnew Email Creigh Agnew

Creigh H. Agnew is president of the Slade Gorton International Policy Center. Previously, she had a 21-year career with the Weyerhaeuser Company where she served as Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Contributions. She was responsible for issue management and government relations at the federal, state and local Puget Sound levels. She also served as sponsor of the Office of Corporate Contributions, the company's philanthropic organization. Over her career, she worked for the company in Washington, DC, Olympia and at corporate headquarters. Before joining Weyerhaeuser Company, Creigh was a legislative assistant, managing natural resource policy work, for Senator Slade Gorton and Congressman Norm Dicks in Washington, DC. 

Agnew holds a master's degree in public administration and a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Washington.  She also attended the senior managers in government program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Currently, she is a member of the executive committee and board of directors of the Association of Washington Business, the state's chamber of commerce; and serves on the board of directors of the Multi-Service Center of South King County.  Agnew is a past chair of the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Council on International Trade and the Weyerhaeuser Company United Way Campaign.

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Don Brunell Email Don Brunell

As president of the Association of Washington Business, Don Brunell oversees the state’s oldest and largest statewide business organization, representing more than 7,500 members employing more than 650,000 workers. The AWB office in Olympia employs a staff of 34.

Don is a native of Walkerville, Montana, and a graduate of the University of Montana, Missoula, with a Bachelor’s of Arts in education. He started his career as a writer and editor for two Montana daily newspapers (The Montana Standard and Missoulian). In 1973, he served as a press aide to Western Montana Congressman Richard Shoup in Washington, D.C.

In 1975, he joined The Inland Forest Resource Council to coordinate federal timber supply issues for forest products companies in Montana, Idaho and eastern Washington. In 1978, he became the issues and communications manager for Crown Zellerbach Corp. in Washington state and was elected to the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Association of Washington Business. In 1986, Don became vice president of Governmental Affairs for AWB and was named president in 1987.

Don serves on various committees, including the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations, National Council of State Chambers, Kids Chance of Washington, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Industrial Council, Governor’s Global Competitiveness Council, Business Week and Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy.

Don served in the U.S. Army as part of the Special Forces and retired as a Major in the Washington Army National Guard. During his tenure in the Washington National Guard, he commanded the 122nd Public Affairs Detachment which won consecutive Thomas Jefferson (Department of Defense) and Keith L. Ware (Department of the Army) awards (1985 and 1986) for its publication, The Evergreen.


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Lutz Ziob Email Lutz Ziob

Lutz Ziob is General Manager of Microsoft Learning, a world-class skills development organization reaching millions of Microsoft customers worldwide with innovative learning products that help individuals and organizations maximize the use of Microsoft technologies. Ziob oversees the development, distribution, and worldwide marketing of a comprehensive line of products that include Microsoft certifications and training, Microsoft Press books eLearning, and innovative skills development programs.

While at Microsoft Ziob has grown his organization into Microsoft’s Center of Excellence for Learning, which trains and certifies customers and partners on Microsoft technologies from beta phase throughout the life of the products.


 

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Representing State Agencies (voting members)

Randy Dorn Email Randy Dorn

Randy Dorn photoA lifelong resident of Washington state, Randy Dorn is an experienced educator and dedicated public servant committed to creating world-class schools for all of our children. Dorn has spent much of his career in education. He received a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Idaho and a master’s degree in education from Pacific Lutheran University. He taught at elementary and middle schools and served as elementary and a high school principal.

For seven years he served in the state House of Representatives and was a key sponsor of the Education Reform Bill. As a state representative, Dorn chaired the K-12 House Education Committee and was a member of the Appropriations Committee. His honors include the President’s Award from the Association of Washington State School Principals and the Golden Gavel from the Washington Association of School Administrators. In 1999, Dorn became executive director of Public School Employees of Washington, the second largest educational employee’s organization in Washington state. Dorn and his wife, Kaye, live in Eatonville and have three grown sons. The commitment to education runs deep in Randy’s family: one son is a teacher and one is training to become one.

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Charlie Earl Email Charlie Earl

Charlie Earl is the Executive Director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

A graduate of both the University of Washington (BA in Finance) and Washington State University (MA in Political Science), he was president of Everett Community College from 1999 to early 2006 before taking up his current position. Prior to that, he was the general manager of Snohomish County PUD, chief administrative officer of Thurston County, and Deputy King County Executive.

Recent community and professional affiliations include president of the the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges, member of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, the World Affairs Council, Workforce Development Council, and the Alliance for Corporate Education. He also is actively involved with the Cascade Land Conservancy and a board member and chair of Community and Technical Colleges Center for Information Services.

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Paul Trause Email Paul Trause

Paul TrausePaul Trause is the Employment Security Department's 23rd Commissioner. He served as the agency's deputy commissioner since 2005. Before that, Trause served as director of the Department of Labor & Industries. Prior to that appointment, he was deputy commissioner of Employment Security Department under two previous commissioners. He has held numerous positions in state, local and federal government. Trause holds an undergraduate degree and a law degree from Cornell University.



 

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Target Populations Member (non-voting)

Tony Lee Email Tony Lee
Appointed by the Chair

Tony Lee is the Advocacy Director for Solid Ground and Policy Director at the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN). His work focuses on low-income issues such as welfare reform, Medicaid, job training, refugee and immigrant rights, predatory lending and low-income housing. Lee has served as Legislative Director of the Washington Association of Churches (WAC) where he coordinated the public policy work for the WAC representing the Protestant and Catholic denominations in our state. Much of his work has focused on human rights issues (e.g., death penalty, discrimination) and low-income issues (welfare, Medicaid, low-income housing). His work takes him to Olympia where he lobbies full-time during the state legislative session. 

 

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Participating Officials (non-voting)

Robin Arnold-Williams Email Robin Arnold-Williams

Robin Arnold-Williams is the head of the state Department of Social and Health Services. She was reappointed to the position by Gov. Chris Gregoire. Prior to that, Arnold-Williams served as DSHS secretary from March 2005 until January 2008. Later, she headed up the governor's policy office and then went to work as a consultant. Before coming to Washington, Arnold-Williams spent 24 years at Utah's Department of Human Services, including serving eight years as its executive director.


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Mark Mattke Email Susan Dreyfus

Mark Mattke is the Executive Director of the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council (SAWDC).  He is responsible for the design and performance of the regional talent development system, working with a broad community partnership to ensure that the dynamic workforce needs of business are met and individuals have the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy.  His background includes experience in the private and public sectors, having worked in business management, post secondary education, and workforce development in Washington and Idaho.

 

 

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Rogers Weed Email Rogers Weed

Rogers Weed is Director of the Department of Commerce, working to fulfill the governor’s mission to retain jobs and companies located in Washington state today, while attracting new ones. His focus is on forging effective partnerships with the business community, other agencies in the public sector and the Legislature.

Weed attended Duke University where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in computer science. After college he worked for the management consulting firm, Bain and Company in Boston, focusing on strategy and planning for companies in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and high tech industries. He received his MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He came to Seattle in 1990 to work at Microsoft and managed teams in the Windows, Mobile Devices, On-line Content and Consumer Software Divisions over his 15 years with the company. He was promoted to Vice President in 2001. Weed has been a board member and volunteer for regional organizations focused on climate change and social services. He lives in Seattle with his wife and three sons.

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