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LEADERSHIP & STAFF
Board Members
President Joyfully retired. Professional Background: 35 years’ management and non-profit experience. Worked with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Snohomish County, United Way, and Edmonds Center for the Arts, leading teams that raised over $150 million in corporate and individual support. Background in theater and dance: Founding actor with Open Door Theatre, an applied theater group working in the classroom to bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse. Board/Community Experience: Joined the League in 2017. Currently serving on LWVSC Board of Directors as Immediate Past President. Co-Chair of the statewide Redistricting Reform Task Force and team lead for local candidate forums. Helped develop Speak Up School training; has trained many groups on how to testify effectively. Past board service includes 7 years on the KSER Foundation Board of Directors, including 3 years as President, and 5 years on the Leadership Snohomish County Board. Personal: Karen has two amazing children. She lives in a 1906 home in Snohomish with her husband, Tom Merrill, who currently serves as president of the Snohomish City Council. I am deeply committed to our dual mission of empowering voters and defending democracy. When not creating ‘good trouble’ I delight in carving out time for my garden and the New York Times crossword puzzle. |
First Vice President Nancy Halvorson, Clark County Nancy joined the Clark County League in 2017 and has served as the President, Co-President ,Vice-President, Voter Services and Civics Chair and currently is the chair of the Observer Corps. Nonpartisanship, the Observer Corps, relationship building and education of the members and public drew her to the League. This flows right into her work with the MELD portfolio—Membership, Engagement, Leadership and Development. Her background includes a lifetime of volunteering with civic and service organizations, 39 years in the financial services industry, and she is a fused glass artist. She lives in Vancouver, WA with her husband and enjoys travels with their 2 grown children. Outside of glass, walking and reading keep her energized. When I walked in the door to my first League meeting, I found my home away from home. |
Second Vice President Marty joined the League in 2017 and for the past 8 years served on the LWVWA Lobby Team covering water, climate and energy issues. Since 2023 he has served on the LWVWA Board of Directors as second vice president. Other League service includes LWVUS Climate Interest Group Renewable Energy Team chair; member of the LWV-SKC City Climate Action Committee; Shoreline Study Group and Research Committee. He was appointed by the LWVWA to the State Energy Strategy Advisory Committee in 2020. Previous volunteer roles: Treasurer, secretary, and president of Evergreen Soaring flying club. Chair, secretary, treasurer of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Pacific Northwest, the professional aerospace engineering society. Homeowner association president, and neighborhood liaison with city government. A graduate of Virginia Tech, he enjoyed a forty-year engineering career in product design, research & development, and management. I value the work of the League promoting voter education, citizen involvement in government, and the careful study of issues. The League’s strength is based on the dedication to those values of the member volunteers, and their commitment to carry on for over one hundred years. |
c3 Treasurer Karen Madsen, Snohomish County Karen is a member of the LWV of Snohomish County, recently serving as president and currently serving as treasurer. She enjoys moderating candidate forums and working with the LWVWA Vote 411 team. Karen retired from ten years of teaching high school chemistry, physics and speech and debate to stay home with her firstborn in 1984. She was actively involved in PTAs at all levels of the Everett School District and ultimately ran for and served on the Everett School Board for 12 years. She has served as treasurer for four PTAs, Washington State PTA, the Washington Science Teachers Association and a Snohomish County-wide book club and worked with OSPI to help develop statewide science standards and assessments. Public schools, libraries and the right to influence the direction of our community at the ballot box are, in my opinion, the underpinnings of a free, successful, supportive society. The mission of the League, to empower voters and defend democracy, speaks deeply to me. I am delighted to support that work as treasurer for the c3 fund. |
c4 Treasurer Cheryl is a steady, policy‑minded leader who believes strong financial stewardship is one of the most practical ways to strengthen democracy. She approaches budgets as tools for trust and alignment and appreciates a well‑organized spreadsheet—not that she insists on talking about it at every meeting. She received her Bachelor of Arts from University of Missouri in 1989, her Enrolled Agent License in 2002, and a Master of Science in Taxation from Strayer University in 2007. Cheryl is employed as a Master Tax Advisor at H&R Block and currently serves as Chairman of the Mason County Board of Equalization, prepares taxes for AARP’s Tax Aide, and is a member of the Washington State Working Families Tax Credit Advisory Committee. Her experience includes serving on the Shelton School Board, as the President of Mason County League of Women Voters, as a member of Mason County Transit’s Board of Directors, and on IRS’s Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. Her leadership style reflects the best of Mason County: practical, collaborative, and unbothered by the occasional plot twist (or logging truck). “Trust but verify.” |
Secretary Angela Gyurko, Jefferson County Angela first came to Washington in 1989 to take a job as an engineer at Boeing, and although she left to work a variety of technical, policy, and educational jobs, Washington was always the place she felt most at home. When her spouse had a chance to relocate here for his job in 2016, they jumped on it and haven’t looked back. Angela was involved in a variety of civic groups, and through this she was recruited into the League in early 2020 because of her long familiarity with Zoom. She has served as the Chair of the Jefferson County Unit-at-Large since August 2020. In a small members-at-large unit, this means she is the lead organizer for all the county’s candidate forums, the communications lead for all the League’s county-wide messaging, and the coordinator of the Election Observing Corps. She also sits on the LWVUS Health Care Interest Group, doing her best to educate others on how proposed healthcare reform options would play out in rural areas. Angela has a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Columbia University, an M.S. from University of Texas, Austin, and most recently, an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Her plays have been performed in Port Townsend, Seattle, Salem, Boston, and Corpus Christie. When she is not Leaguing, writing, caregiving, or engaging in healthcare advocacy, she is somewhere deep in the forest on a trail. |
Director Sasha Bentley, Member-at-Large Sasha has been passionate about civic engagement since childhood, growing up in both California and Idaho. She’s lived in Washington State since 2004 and White Salmon, in the Columbia River Gorge, since 2016. She has been involved in her community, including as a leader of a local Women’s Action Network and her local League of Women Voters Unit at Large, organizing candidate forums and voter registration efforts. Additionally, she created Checks and Balances, a civic education tabletop card game designed to make learning about American democracy engaging and accessible. Professionally, Sasha has a background in operations and HR but found her calling in equity and inclusion work. She currently leads these efforts at a community action human services agency, focusing on internal policy development and external collaborations that strengthen community engagement and belonging. With her child Ember growing up, she has more capacity to contribute to civic work and is eager to bring her equity lens, budgeting and development experience, tech expertise, and strategic planning skills to the State League. |
Director Wendy Colbert, Snohomish County Wendy Staley Colbert joined the League in 2024 after retiring from a 25+-year career at Microsoft, where she worked as a program manager in the fields of management excellence and leadership development. Wendy holds a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in nonfiction writing and a BA in journalism, and has published personal essays in Huffington Post, Salon, and other periodicals. She co-leads the state Resisting Threats to Democracy team, is Board Secretary for the Snohomish County League and has served on that league’s candidate forum committee as a moderator, timer, and by drafting questions. Wendy has a 25-year-old son who majored in political science and lives in Philadelphia, working as a campaign manager. Wendy loves swimming, walking the Edmonds waterfront with her partner Ed, reading the news and memoirs, and travel. In addition to the League, Wendy supports the Pongo Poetry Project which is dedicated to healing youth trauma through poetry writing. It’s clear to Wendy that the League’s mission of defending democracy has never been so important. Wendy is excited to bring her array of skills to the state league at this critical time. |
Director Dee Anne Finken, Clark County Dee Anne, a member of the Clark County League, has served as a state director for two years, carrying the Local News and Democracy portfolio. Dee Anne played a key role in the national adoption by concurrence of the state Local News and Democracy position and has continued to be deeply involved in other work to support local news and media literacy education as chair of the Local News and Democracy Advocacy and Education committee. As a Lobby Team Issue chair, too, she has been a stakeholder in legislative efforts to generate $20 million to support local news, which is foundational to a healthy democracy. Dee Anne also serves on the Nominating Committee and the state convention-planning team and is the “point person” for coordinating convention efforts among Clark County volunteers. A former newspaper reporter and tenured college faculty member, Dee Anne said she values her participation in the League for many reasons, including the opportunity to work with others determined to make the world a better place. |
Director Susan Martin, San Juans Susan Martin has been President of the League of Women Voters of the San Juans for four years. She serves on the boards of Rutgers University, the Center for Migration Studies, the Rotary Foundation of the San Juans, and the Comptroller General of the United States’ Advisory Council. She chaired the study committee for the LWVWA study, Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State. which led to an LWVWA position on issues related to immigrant integration and rights. She serves on the Steering Committees of the LWVUS discussion group on immigration and the LWVWA Taskforce on Redistricting Reform. Susan is the Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emerita of International Migration at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is the founder and first director of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. She is also the co-founder with the actress Liv Ullmann, of the Refugee Women’s Commission, which seeks to protect the rights of refugee women and girls. From 2013-2020 she chaired the Working Group on Migration and Environment Change at the World Bank. Prior to joining Georgetown’s faculty, Susan was the Executive Director of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which was mandated by statute to advise the President and Congress on U.S. immigration and refugee policy. Susan has authored or edited more than a dozen books and numerous articles and book chapters based on extensive field research as well as her experiences working in government. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, including several conflict zones. |
Director Marlene Niemeier, Clark County Marlene’s experience as board member / officer and corporate administrator has given her practical ability, strategic perspective and passion for excellence to initiate and collaborate for substantive, sustainable change. She was construction / project manager of Miami luxury high-rise condominium communities that set new world benchmarks in culture, design and lifestyle, also facilitating due diligence and change management for an innovative strategic alliance of Fort Lauderdale HANDY/H.O.M.E.S, Inc. nonprofits that provide services to at-promise youth and housing for clients aging out of foster care. She’s been Whitworth University adjunct faculty and international business trainer for NIKE and Phillips Petroleum, as well as strategic planning consultant for publicly-traded Source Capital Corporation and farmer-owned cooperative CoBank clients. Marlene has built houses with Habitat for Humanity and served as able-bodied crew for Paralympic sailors training for Greece 2004. She has fundraised for community-based nonprofits including condominium/homeowner associations, credit unions and cooperative banks. I am proud of the League’s courageous, groundbreaking, and unapologetic response to the Constitutional Crisis and heartened by the thoughtful and measured development of strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations. With a growing understanding of LWV’s strength and culture as a grass roots organization, my service goals include member engagement and empowerment, strategic planning and donor development. |
Director Robbie Soltz, Kittitas County A self-described “Advocate for Democracy,” Robbie began her journey from scientist to humanist in Southern California where she earned a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Ecology from University of California, Irvine. In addition to learning the value of scientific research, she also learned a great deal about sexism and misogyny in her area of research. From there, Robbie began her career in conservation and resource management at both the US Army Corps of Engineers and finally at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. After retiring from those august organizations, Robbie and her husband Dave were finally able to escape Los Angeles, and moved to Ellensburg, Washington on September 1, 2001—a most auspicious date. In Washington, Robbie was able to engage in what she truly wanted to do—teach, respond to grant solicitations, work with the League of Women Voters, Girl Scouts and many community/county organizations dedicated to preserving/enhancing environmental resources we depend on. |
Director Toyoko Tsukuda, Clallam County Toyoko was born in Japan and became a US citizen. English is her second language Most of her adult life, she devoted herself to science, studying Biochemistry at UC Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Cornell followed by post-doctoral study at Yale, and undertaking research at Pacific Northwest National Lab and University of New Mexico cancer research. In the next phase of her life—her focus shifted to serving society and her family. She found her passion in volunteering for the high school band, the Kiwanis Club, and working in church social action groups (despite not being Christian), and participating in LWVWA and its local league projects. While the joy of volunteer work has replaced her passion for science, she still applies the sharp analytical skills and data-mining expertise honed during her research career, bringing precision and insight to her social action efforts. Working with the various groups and initiatives, she has also played a pivotal role in shaping programs and bringing them to fruition. | State Office StaffAmy Peloff, Administrative Director Carolyn Stewart, Administration and Communications Assistant LWVUS LiaisonKimberly Hamlin | Nominating CommitteeChair: Cindy Piennett, Seattle-King County Tricia Grantham, Pullman Area Beth Pellicciotti, Spokane Area
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We wish to honor our past presidents who have served us so well.
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