Gov.-elect Inslee names transition team

Democratic Gov.-elect Jay Inslee has announced the names of the 34 people who will help him fill key cabinet posts and construct a legislative agenda to undertake when he assumes power in January.

“The team we’ve assembled represents both sides of the Cascades, our key industries, and people with experience both inside and outside government. I look forward to their engagement and appreciate their willingness to serve the state,” Inslee said in a statement.

The committee will include familiar names as well as a few who backed Inslee’s Republican rival, Rob McKenna, in the election.

Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, a Republican, are in the advisory group.

Leaders of statewide unions representing government employees, teachers, health care workers and firefighters are on the panel as are a handful of business owners and investors.

The committee is chaired by Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University; Mary Alice Heuschel, superintendent of the Renton School District; and Brad Smith, a vice president at Microsoft Corp.

Here are the other transition team members:

Kirk Adams, president and CEO, Lighthouse for the Blind; Ron Allen, chairman, Jamestown S’Kallam Tribe; Someireh Amirfaiz, executive director, Refugee Women’s Alliance; John Begley, CEO and president, Harbor Paper; Larry Brown, member, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; Brendon Cechovic, executive director, Washington Conservation Voters.

Louise Chernin, president and CEO, Greater Seattle Business Assocation; Maud Daudon, president and CEO, Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce; Greg Devereux, executive director, WFSE/AFSCME Council 28; Marty Dickinson, executive vice president, Sterling Financial Corporation.

Kenny Down, president and CEO, Blue North Fisheries; Perry England, vice president, MacDonald Miller Facility Solutions; Kelly Fox, president, Washington State Council of Fire Fighters; Ollie Garrett, president, Tabor 100; Mike Gempler, executive director, Washington Growers’ League; Cris Guillen, founder, Assocation of Washington Hispanic Chambers of Commerce; Kimberly Harris, CEO, Puget Sound Energy.

Jeff Johnson, president, Washington State Labor Council; Dr. Gary Kaplan, chairman and CEO, Virginia Health System; Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, retiring state representative; Hyeok Kim, executive director, interIm CDA.

T.D. King, owner, Macnak Construction; Michael Kluse, director, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Mary Lindquist, president, Washington Education Association; Chris Rivera, president, Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association; David Rolf, president, SEIU Local 775.

Elaine Rose, CEO, Planned Parenthood Votes! Northwest; Orin Smith, regent, University of Washington; Marilyn Strickland, mayor, City of Tacoma; Steve Stuart, Clark County commissioner; Sue Taoka, executive vice president, Craft3; and Todd Woodard, board member, Aerospace Futures Alliance.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.