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 joined Multicare Health System in 2018 and currently serves as System EVP and Chief Nurse Executive, Market Leader for MultiCare’s South King Region, and President of Auburn Medical Center and Covington Medical Center.

June is devoted to her work in high reliability and development of cultures of trust. She currently leads MultiCare’s Nursing Journey to Excellence which focuses on developing a strong and vibrant nursing culture that empowers nurses and invests in their professional development. June is also leading a redesign of MultiCare’s nursing care model to relieve the administrative burden placed on nurses, reduce burnout, and give nurses more time to care for patients. And, through her leadership, June continues to build a transformative and robust quality management system at MultiCare.

June recently accepted additional responsibilities to lead MultiCare’s vast array of services in the South King County Region, serving as President of Auburn Medical Center and Covington Medical Center. In addition, June has been called upon to apply her significant operational experience and expertise to the South King County market to further improve team engagement, quality, safety, and economic performance, with a focus on growing primary care and widening the availability of surgical services in South King County.

Prior to MultiCare, June served as the Providence-Swedish System Chief Executive of Acute Care Services and Swedish Seattle’s CEO. She also served as the Chief Nursing Officer for the Swedish System, Chief Operating Officer for Swedish Seattle, and as the Nurse Executive at Swedish/First Hill Campus. Earlier in her career, June served as a Nurse Manager for CVICU, Adult ICUs, PICU, Pediatric Unit, and Pediatric and Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Programs.

June has a Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Washington, where she currently holds an Affiliate Faculty position. She also serves on the board of NurseTRUST.

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.

Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey is the interim executive director of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, a state agency that oversees Washington state’s system of 34 community and technical colleges. Collectively, the colleges serve 290,000 students across Washington each year.

Chris began his tenure with SBCTC on December 2024, after retiring as president of Lower Columbia College in Longview, a role in which he served from September 2011 until January 2024. In his role as interim executive director, Chris also represents the community and technical college system on various boards and councils, including the Workforce Board–along with the Washington Student Achievement Council, Workforce Education Investment Accountability and Oversight Board, Technology Alliance, Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council (ex-officio), and Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing Pipeline Advisory Committee (ex-officio).

Prior to his hire at LCC, Chris was Vice President of Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Centralia College, as well as 22 years teaching business, human relations, and law courses at Centralia College and City University (Seattle). Before joining Centralia College full time, he was president and general manager for Martin Sand and Gravel Company in south Thurston County, and previously worked as an attorney.

Chris holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Washington University.

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)

Cheryl Strange

Cheryl Strange was appointed Acting Secretary of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services by Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson, effective Jan. 15, 2025. At the time of her appointment, she was Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections, a position she held since May 15, 2021. She was previously appointed Secretary of DSHS, the state’s largest human services agency, by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2017. She is a respected, proven leader who cultivates humane, progressive and equitable institutional cultures.

Strange has dedicated her life to public service, with more than 40 years’ experience in government, nonprofit and labor organizations, holding leadership positions in those organizations for more than half of that time. She served as DOC deputy secretary from 2008 to 2011 and as vice president for Pioneer Human Services, where she worked on the important issues of reentry, work release and behavioral health. Prior to her role as DSHS secretary, she served as CEO of Western State Hospital and director of Health Benefits Trust for SEIU 775. Strange was also assistant director for the DSHS Mental Health Division, where she managed Washington state’s public mental health system, including three state-operated psychiatric hospitals and community outpatient mental health services.

Strange earned her bachelor’s degree from The Evergreen State College and her Master of Public Administration from Seattle University. She completed the executive management program certification at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance as well as a certificate in health care policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

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.

Joe Nguyen