Alfie Alvarado-Ramos

 

Alfie Alvarado-Ramos serves as the Deputy Director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. She is responsible for the day to day agency operations. She is the department’s health officer and represents the agency locally and nationally in all matters related to veterans’ health. 

 

Alfie was born in Puerto Rico and served 22 years on active duty retiring in August 1993 as the Command Sergeant Major of Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington. During her military career, she was the recipient of numerous awards and decorations to include the Legion of Merit, Order of Military Medical Merit, Expert Field Medical Badge and Meritorious Service Medals.

 

Her experience and education center in the management of medical service delivery and human resources. She is a graduate of the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program, the University of Washington Executive Management Program, and holds a Nursing Home Administrator’s license, having previously managed two state veterans’ homes in Washington State.

 

Alfie Alvarado is the Chair of the Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee and a former member of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Minority Veterans Committee. She serves on the boards of directors of the Madigan Foundation and Armed Forces Veterans Homes Foundation. In addition, she is a member of the Resident Councils of Washington Advisory Board, Hispanic Women’s Network, and the National Association of Female Executives.

 

She has received numerous local, state and national awards including the Governor’s Distinguished Management Leadership Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award for women in the military from the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Alfie Alvarado resides in Olympia, Washington.

 

  

Joelle Brouner

 

Joelle Brouner, of Olympia was appointed to Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee (GAAP Com) August 2007. Ms. Brouner is the Executive Director of the Washington State Rehabilitation Council (WSRC). The WSRC is a policy partner to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which supports eligible people with disabilities to secure employment. Ms. Brouner has been widely involved in the disability community. She supports the GAAPCom to consider our mission as it relates to state employees with disabilities and how those issues may relate to barriers to equal opportunity facing those in others in protected classes.

 

 

Tina VanderWal

 

For the past 4 years I have worked for the Department of Personnel, first on the Human Resource Management System project, assisting 61 small agencies. Currently, I work as a Client Services Manager and serve as a liaison to 10 agencies and assist them with finding solutions to their workforce needs.

 

I have worked for Washington State government for the past 27 years and California State Government prior to that. I started out as a Clerk Typist 3, and have worked in a variety of positions as I climbed the career ladders. Some of the jobs I have held include: Bi-lingual Employment Counselor, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Children’s Protection Services Caseworker, Affirmative Action Supervisor. More recently, I was a Human Resource Manager for two different agencies for a total of 14 years.

 

On a personal note, I moonlighted as a correspondent for the Olympian, writing columns for state workers for five years. Now, I am endeavoring to write my first book. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree and teaching credentials for the State of Washington. I also was a co-founder and past president of the Hispanic Women’s Network of Washington. I have a wonderful husband, seven beautiful children, eight marvelous grandchildren, and one on the way - who all keep my life energized.

 

  

Sherrie Ann Burke

• Senior Field Representative for the Washington Federation of State Employees
• Union Activist
• Past Board Member of the Thurston/Mason County Regional Support Network
• Past Volunteer, Staff and Board Member Safeplace
• Past Volunteer Family and Friends of Violent Crime Victims

  

Dave Brown

 

Mr. Brown is retired from state service. He works part-time on projects with the NW Disability Law Office.

 

Mr. Brown has more than twenty-five years’ experience working to implement disability laws. From 1987 to 1993, he served as Director of ADA Affairs and Student Assistance at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, ensuring students with disabilities at the university full access to an equal educational opportunity. In 1994, prior to his employment with DSHS, he was recruited to work for the Department of General Administration to modify a range of policies affecting citizens and employees with disabilities as part of Governor Lowry’s ADA Initiative.

 

Mr. Brown moved from GA to DSHS in late 1994 to work with the agency's 16,000 employees and 25+ divisions to eliminate barriers to employment, services and benefits and advise the Secretary on policies related to disability. From 1996 to 1999, he also served part-time as the Governor Lowry’s and subsequently, Governor Locke’s ADA Coordinator, providing consultation and technical assistance to the Governor’s Office and the Office of Financial Management on ADA and other disabilities matters. In 1998, he took an 18 month leave of absence from DSHS to coordinate statewide ADA training at the Department of Personnel.  He served as Administrator of the Disability Reasonable Accommodation Unit, within the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’ Division of Access and Equal Opportunity in Olympia, Washington until January, 2008, when he retired from state service.

 

Mr. Brown received both his Bachelor of Arts and his Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington. Mr. Brown was appointed to the National Council on Disability by President Clinton and confirmed by the US Senate 1997 to 2002. As a member of NCD, he participated in quarterly meetings to advise the President and Congress on a broad range of disability matters.

 

 

Helen Remick

 

Helen Remick is enjoying retirement after thirty years in affirmative action at the University of Washington. She has expertise in civil rights issues in education and employment and in technical aspects of affirmative action.

 

  

Sue Guenter-Schlesinger, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Sue Guenter-Schlesinger is Executive Director of the Equal Opportunity Office at Western Washington University (WWU). Previously, she served 14 years as Assistant Executive Vice President and Director, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action at Utah State University (USU). She also held an adjunct position at USU in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology. After earning her BA and MA in English and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Guenter-Schlesinger began her career with the University of Maryland’s European Division and the U.S. Army Research Institute. She then served as Director for the U.S. Army’s Equal Opportunity Program in the European Command, located in Heidelberg, Germany.

 

Dr. Guenter-Schlesinger’s is the chief advisor to Western’s President and Provost on equal opportunity and diversity issues. Her current responsibilities include strategically working on implementing initiatives aimed at recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. She also implements both equal opportunity and affirmative action legal mandates, as well as investigates race and gender complaints and provides both workshops and training in the prevention of sexual harassment and in valuing diversity. Having worked on equal opportunity and diversity issues for over 20 years, she has received a myriad of honors and awards, including serving at the request of the Secretary of Defense on the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services (DACOWITS). Dr. Guenter-Schlesinger has consulted, spoken and written extensively on diversity subjects both nationally and internally, and is considered an expert in her field.

 

  

Terrie Ashby-Scott

 

Terrie Ashby-Scott is currently the interim director of the Multicultural Student Services of at Eastern Washington University. She also teaches in the School of Social Work. She provides leadership and administration of the Eastern Advantage Programs and the university’s multicultural student services office. She acts as a liaison between the multicultural programs on campus by promoting and enhancing internal relations and partnerships within university programs as well as the community at large.

 

Prior to coming to EWU, Terrie served as the director of the Spokane MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) Center, co-sponsored by Washington State University Spokane and Eastern Washington University. The program serves traditionally underrepresented students, (students of color and young women) in broadening their knowledge and increasing their numbers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professions and careers. The program serves approximately 400 students in the Spokane Public School District in Spokane, Washington. She also served as the Assistant to the Chancellor for Human Relations and teaches in the School of Social Work for Eastern Washington University.

 

Terrie holds a BA in Speech Pathology and a Masters in Social Work from Eastern Washington University and a PhD in Education Leadership from Gonzaga University.

 

Terrie is a Gates Millennium Scholar and is active alum for the organization. She currently serves on board of directors the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho and the Odyssey Youth Center. She has served on the boards and committees of the Second Harvest Food Bank, Women Helping Women, Diversity Child Protection Team, YMCA and the Inland Empire Girl Scouts Council.