Board Member Bios

Gary Chandler

Former State Rep. Gary Chandler, R-Moses Lake, is the former Vice President of Strategic Affairs at the Association of Washington Business. He served as the association’s chief lobbyist and directed its legislative and regulatory programs.

As a legislator, Chandler co-chaired the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee and served on the Natural Resources and Transportation committees. He was first elected to the Legislature in 1990 from Moses Lake and served in a legislative seat once occupied by his father, Glyn.

Chandler has also been a member of AWB’s Board of Directors. He owns the UPS Store in Moses Lake. He was a hay farmer, apple orchardist, former manager of the family’s farm implement dealership and Grant County Commissioner. Chandler and his wife, Deborah, live in Moses Lake.

Larry Brown

Larry Brown is the past president of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Widely considered to be the “voice of labor” in Washington state, the WSLC has more than 600 affiliated local unions and organizations, representing some 649,000 rank-and-file union members, making it the largest union organization in Washington.

Brown joined the Aerospace Machinists Union IAM&AW 751 in 1983 as an inspector at Boeing, after serving in the U.S. Navy from 1973-1977. He joined the District 751 staff in 1997 and served as a Business Representative and then as the Legislative and Political Director. Brown helped establish the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee and served on the Board of Trustees for Green River College from 1998-2011 and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges from 2011-2018. He also served on the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County 2012-2017. In 2017, he was also elected to serve on the Auburn City Council.

Representing Labor (Voting Members)

Jane Hopkins

Jane Hopkins is the Executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare. As a frontline nurse, she understands the unique challenges and perspectives of caring for patients and fighting for better staffing. She previously worked at Harborview Medical Center for 12 years, and was an active delegate and bargaining team member.

Cherika Carter

Cherika Carter (she/her) was elected Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO by its affiliated unions in October 2022 and was sworn in to begin her four-year term in January 2023. As Secretary Treasurer, Cherika is the chief financial officer of the council, taking charge of all financial documents and records, overseeing all receipts and expenditures, reporting on those activities to the WSLC Executive Board and convention. Along with WSLC President April Sims, she is part of the first leadership team of Black women to lead an AFL-CIO state federation.

Prior to her election, Cherika served as the WSLC’s Political and Strategic Campaigns Director since August 2019, developing and implementing the council’s strategic political plan, running the WSLC’s Labor Neighbor grassroots political action program, promoting member education campaigns on election issues, and helping recruit and elect pro-worker candidates at the direction of the WSLC officers and its affiliated unions via the Committee on Political Education (COPE). When she first joined the council’s staff in March 2018, Cherika was the WSLC’s Field Mobilization Director. She has advanced the WSLC’s Race and Labor work and led the WSLC’s Union Summer internship program to help educate and train the next generation of union activists and leaders.

The activist bug first bit Cherika in 2011 as a Member Political Organizer of UFCW 1059 in Columbus, Ohio. She was part of the team that overturned SB 5, Gov. John Kasich’s “Right-to-Work Is Wrong” bill, by taking it to a vote of the people of Ohio. After graduation from The Ohio State University, Cherika went on to mobilize thousands of activists across the state to take action and win gains for working people as a Field Representative of the Ohio AFL-CIO.

Cherika is committed to fighting all forms of oppression, and advancing the freedoms of all working people. In the struggle for justice, she is guided by these words: Not needing to clutch for power. Not needing the light just to shine on me. I need to be one in the number as we stand against tyranny. We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

She is a resident of Tacoma.

Todd Mitchell

Todd Mitchell is the Business Manager/Financial Secretary for Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 7. He holds accreditations from George Meany College of Labor, as well as teaching certifications from HFIAW.

He is the past director of the Washington State Helmets to Hardhats program, where he transitioned military service members into construction apprenticeship programs throughout the United States. Mitchell is credited with bringing federal, state, and local governments together, with labor-management cooperative trust training programs to better serve veterans.

At work, Mitchell developed regional approaches to apprenticeship development, leading to increased completion rates. During the weekend he can be found in the mountains or fields with his cesky fousek, Atli.

Representing Business (Voting Members)

June Altaras

June Altaras, RN, joined MultiCare in 2018. Previously, Altaras was Chief Executive of Acute Care Services for Swedish System and Chief Executive Officer of Swedish Seattle from 2015 to 2018. Immediately prior, she served as Chief Nursing Officer for Swedish System and Chief Operating Officer for Swedish Seattle. From 2009 to 2012, she was Nurse Executive at the Swedish/First Hill campus.

Wade Larson

Dr. Wade Larson is the Chief Human Resources Officer for Wagstaff, Inc. For nearly 30 years, he has been on a personal mission to overcome mediocrity and help others achieve their best as he has worked with hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals as an HR executive and workforce consultant to improve processes and optimize performance. As an international speaker, author, trainer, and adjunct professor, he challenges leaders to transform their organizations, people, and communities to achieve their best in this world. Dr. Larson also serves as President of Optimal Talent Dynamics, a consulting group centered around workforce development, leadership, and HR success. This well-rounded background helps him to create and grow networks that align employers, educators, students, and workers to create innovative solutions to solve today’s workforce needs. Dr. Larson holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University; an MBA with an emphasis in Human Resources from Willamette University; and a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix.  

Representing State Agencies (Voting Members)

Chris Reykdal

Chris Reykdal is Washington’s 16th state superintendent. He graduated summa cum laude from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in social studies and earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He coached both youth and adult soccer for several years, volunteered as a local city planning commissioner and served as a trustee for the College Spark Washington Foundation for six years.

His professional career has been devoted to public education. Chris has worked as a high school history teacher, local school board member, state legislator, and budget and education policy executive for our state’s community and technical college system.

Paul Francis

Paul Francis is executive director of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), a state agency that oversees Washington state’s system of 34 community and technical colleges. Collectively, the colleges serve 278,000 students across Washington each year.

 As an immigrant and first-generation college student who grew up in a financially struggling family, Paul credits education for changing the trajectory of his life. He has devoted his career to giving others the same opportunity. Paul became SBCTC executive director in August 2022 after nine years as executive director of the Council of Presidents, an association of Washington’s six public four-year college and universities. Paul previously served as the lead policy staffer for the Washington state House Democratic Caucus on higher education policy and general government fiscal issues, and as a senior admissions counselor with the University of Washington.

 Paul graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona with a political science degree. He then earned a Master of Public Administration from the university. In 2019, Paul completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program through the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

 Paul also represents the community and technical college system on various boards and councils, including the Washington Student Achievement Council, Technology Alliance, Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council (ex-officio), and Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing Pipeline Advisory Committee (ex-officio).

Cami Feek

Cami Feek is commissioner of Washington’s Employment Security Department.

Feek also previously served as acting commissioner in 2018, and as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for the past three years. She was hired to ESD as the first program director of the newly developed Paid Family and Medical Leave program, overseeing the successful launch of the nation’s first state paid leave program with no previously existing infrastructure.

Feek has worked in state government for over 25 years, experiencing state service from entry to executive level positions. She first worked for the Washington Department of General Administration, now the Department of Enterprise Services.

Feek actively works to include Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles in every team she leads, fostering inclusive structures for both employees and the Washingtonians they serve. She founded the LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group at ESD, winning the agency the Outstanding Agency Award from the Rainbow & Inclusion Network.

Feek earned her bachelor’s degree from The Evergreen State College.

Participating Officials (Non-voting)

Jilma Meneses

Jilma Meneses is the secretary of Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services.

Jilma previously served as executive vice president, chief operating officer and general counsel at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. Her portfolio included information technology, human resources, emergency preparedness, risk management, legal services, and the law school, where she served as interim dean. She was the first chief diversity officer at Portland State University where she worked across the university to optimize organizational culture and align diversity and inclusion goals with business and academic outcomes. She also held executive positions in risk management and affirmative action and equal opportunity at Oregon Health Sciences University where she led innovative change in operations and patient quality assurance.

Jilma has either founded, served on boards, or provided guidance to many humanitarian organizations, including Our Family in Africa, The Forgotten International, Latino Network, Adelante Mujeres, and United Way, among others locally and internationally. One of her joys has been serving orphans in the Democratic Republic of Congo with humanitarian aid, legal services, education, health care and food security.

Jilma earned her law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark Mattke

Mark Mattke is Chief Executive Officer of the Spokane Workforce Council. 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.

Michael Fong

Michael Fong is director of the Washington State Department of Commerce.

Fong formerly served as the regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s operations in the Pacific Northwest. President Biden appointed him to this position in January, 2022. In this role, he oversaw the delivery of programs aimed at providing small business owners emergency pandemic relief funding, access to capital, business development counseling and government contracting opportunities.

Fong has more than two decades of experience in the public sector at the city, county and national level, leading people and managing complex policy priorities.