Board Members
Board Chair (non-voting)
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 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
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.
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Lee Newgent
Lee 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
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
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
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
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
A 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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Marty Brown
Marty Brown is executive director of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges which administers Washington’s system of 34 public community and technical colleges. Brown has 34 years of experience in policy development and budgeting for the Legislature and Governor’s office. Prior to joining the SBCTC in September 2012, he served as director of the Office of Financial Management (OFM) under Gov. Chris Gregoire. He was also a previous chair of the Workforce Board.
Brown began his state career in 1978 as a Senate committee staff member and later became Senate Democratic Caucus attorney, Senate Democratic staff director, and secretary of the Senate. In 1997, Brown was named director of legislative affairs for incoming Gov. Gary Locke and later became Gov. Locke’s deputy chief of staff and OFM director. Upon taking office in 2005, Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Brown as her director of legislative affairs. She then appointed him as OFM director in 2010. Brown graduated from the University of Iowa in 1974 and the University of Puget Sound Law School in 1979.
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Dale Peinecke
Dale Peinecke (PINE-uh-kee) is commissioner of Washington’s Employment Security Department.
Before joining Governor Inslee’s cabinet, Dale accumulated more than
37 years of experience in the aerospace and materials industries.
This included executive positions at Giddens Industries, Alcoa,
The Aerostructures Corp. and Neuvant Aerospace Corp.
His interest in hiring skilled workers spurred him to get involved in the state’s workforce development system. In 2006, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms as board chairman for Snohomish County’s workforce development council, and he remained on the board through 2012.
He also served on the advisory board for the M.B.A./Business Program at the University of Washington-Bothell from 2006 to 2008.
Dale grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and has lived on both sides of the Cascades during the course of his career. He earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University and a master’s in manufacturing engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.
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Participating Officials (non-voting)
Kevin Quigley
Kevin Quigley is secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). He came to DSHS following a business career that most recently included serving as President of U.S. Fab, LLC, the largest shipbuilder in the Pacific Northwest, with yards in Seattle, Everett and Portland. Prior to that, Quigley served as President of Everett Shipyard, which he built from a small yard to the leading dockside repair contractor for Washington State Ferries.Everett Shipyard also completed significant work for the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy.
Prior to shipbuilding, Quigley served as co-president of Gear.com, Inc., an Internet e-retailer specializing in the sale of name-brand sporting goods that was acquired by Overstock.com, and as Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives and Global Business Development for Teledesic LLC, a global satellite communications venture founded by Bill Gates and Craig McCaw to offer broadband access worldwide. Quigley served as a state senator in Washington’s Legislature from 1993-97 where he was chosen by his colleagues to chair the Health and Long-Term Care Committee. Quigley is active in his community and has served as a board member of the Lake Stevens County Food Bank where he played the leading role in securing a new site for the Food Bank.
He holds a degree in political science from George Washington University and law degrees from New York University School of Law and Harvard University.
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Mark Mattke
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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Brian Bonlender
Brian Bonlender was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee as Director of the Department of Commerce in January 2013. A Yakima native, Bonlender served as Inslee’s chief-of-staff and legislative director, running the Congressman’s office and acting as his primary advisor on economic issues. He worked on legislation and policy in a range of industries including agriculture, life sciences, information technology, aerospace, maritime and clean energy.
Bonlender brings nearly 20 years of public and private experience to his new post, including as a regulatory compliance consultant for industries across the state and as an advisor to a clean tech startup. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington State University. Brian lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.
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