Members' Bios
The Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee (GAAPCOM) represents 15 Governor-appointed members representing state agencies and higher education institutions involved in affirmative action issues. The committee also represents the diversity and protected groups in Washington State. Members include representatives from the Department of Personnel and employee organizations and from all geographic regions of the state. Each member serves a three-year term and may serve for two consecutive terms.
Lourdes E. 'Alfie' Alvarado-Ramos, Chair
Alfie Alvarado 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, having served as Command Sergeant Major and Troop 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 attended the Harvard University Executives in Government Program, holds a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration and is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator.
Alfie Alvarado is the Chair of the Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee. She serves on the boards of directors of the Madigan Foundation and Hire America’s Heroes 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 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.
Dr. 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.
Joelle Brouner, Member 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.
Elijah Forde, Member
Elijah Forde serves as an Assistant Attorney General with Washington State’s Attorney General’s Office in the Labor and Industries division. He is responsible for representing the Department of Labor and Industries in their efforts to administer the Industrial Insurance Fund.
Through his membership in the Diversity Advisory Committee, Elijah is actively involved in the office’s diversity and recruitment efforts. Elijah is also Vice President of the Loren Miller Bar which is the Black Bar Association for Washington State.
Prior to coming to Seattle in 2006 Elijah attended law school at Howard University School of Law in Washington D.C.. Before law school he resided in Oakland California where he worked to keep youth out of the juvenile justice system and helped survivors of domestic abuse to rebuild their lives.
Elijah is fiercely committed to the public good and enjoys spending his free time teaching mock trial skills to youth and spending time with his growing family. Elijah Forde resides in Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Sue Guenter-Schlesinger
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.
Thomas Hoffer, Member
No BIO available.
Avreayl Jacobson, Member
No BIO available.
Annelle Lerner, Member
Annelle Lerner currently serves as the Human Resources’ Division Director for the Washington State Liquor Control Board where she is responsible for the day to day divisional operations. She is the Agency’s Co-Ethics Officer and represents the agency regarding all matters pertaining to human resources and safety.
Her experience and education center in the fields of training & development, employee & labor relations and human resource management. She received her undergraduate degree from Whittier College and received a certificate in negotiations from Harvard University.
Annelle Lerner is the former District #1 Director for the Sierra Nevada Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas; Current member of Soroptimist; Alumnae Representative for her Alma Mater (Whittier College, ‘80); and was recently appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to the Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee. (GAAPCOM).
Annelle was born and raised in Southern California, has over 25 years in human resources and now calls Bonney Lake, WA home. Annelle’s father Ed lives with her along with her canine “Child”, Poblano.
Michaela Payton
After receiving a Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington, Michaela joined the U.S. Air Force in February of 1985. This gave her the opportunity to live in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan; Athens, Greece; Hessisch-Oldendorf, Germany; and Belleville, Illinois (very close to St. Louis). After eight years, she returned home to the Pacific Northwest, where she continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve with the 939th Air Rescue Wing (RQW) in Portland, Oregon. She met her husband there and moved to Olympia with him. In 1994 she received her teaching certificate from St Martin’s College.
She continued in the Air Force Reserve, working as Chief of Military Equal Opportunity in Portland, then at McChord AFB, and teaching 5th grade, then middle school math and science until May of 1980, when she accepted a commission in the Washington National Guard (NGWA) and working full time as the State Equal Employment Manager for NGWA. She has served on the Thurston County Cultural Diversity and Human Rights Counsel for over 5 years, and was appointed to the Governor’s Affirmative Action Policy Committee in 2009. She has been married for over 15 years, and has two teen-aged daughters.
Santiago Ramos
Santiago Ramos is a member of the Human Services Advisory Board for the City of Kirkland Washington. He is responsible to give recommendations to the city council for the biannual human services budget. He is one of the senior members of the committee. Santiago is one of nine children. He was born in Mexico and when he was nine his family moved to Kirkland in 1990 from Mexico.
He was the first in his family to attend and graduate from college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington Business School in 2002.
Santiago is currently working toward his Masters in Business Administration from the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University. He is expected to graduate in June of 2009. At Western he served on the Graduate School Council as a student at large. Santiago is also serving as an intern with United States Senator Maria Cantwell.
Santiago has been a successful small business owner. After graduation from the University of Washington he started his small business as an agent for Farmers Insurance Group. In 2006 he unsuccessfully ran for the Washington State House of Representatives.
Helen Remick, Co-Chair
Helen Remick retired in 2005. During her 31 years at University of Washington, she had at various times responsibility for employment affirmative action compliance, discrimination complaint investigation, employee disability accommodations, and non-discrimination and equal opportunity policy.
She is an internationally known expert on comparable worth and sexual harassment. In early 2009, Helen was in Ethiopia to consult with three higher education institutions on gender equity and sexual harassment. Helen Remick retired in 2005. During her 31 years at University of Washington, she had at various times responsibility for employment affirmative action compliance, discrimination complaint investigation, employee disability accommodations, and non-discrimination and equal opportunity policy.
She is an internationally known expert on comparable worth and sexual harassment. In early 2009, Helen was in Ethiopia to consult with three higher education institutions on gender equity and sexual harassment. With Jeri McCray, retired Associate Vice President for Facilities Services, Helen has endowed a scholarship open to University of Washington service workers (custodians, food service workers and laundry workers) and their families who attend UW. In the inaugural year of 2009, the scholarship provided two $750 scholarships and four $100 scholarships to five children of custodians and to one custodian. It is the hope of Helen and Jeri that this scholarship can encourage others to establish similar scholarships for State employees in lower paying positions. For more information.
Since her retirement, Helen has become an award-winning quilt artist.
Danielle Stephenson
No BIO available.
Tina VanderWal
For the past 4 years Tina has worked for the Department of Personnel, first on the Human Resource Management System project, assisting 61 small agencies. Currently, she worked as a Client Services Manager and served as a liaison to 10 agencies and assisted them with finding solutions to their workforce needs.
Tina has worked for Washington State government for the past 27 years and California State Government prior to that. She started out as a Clerk Typist 3, and has worked in a variety of positions as she climbed the career ladders. She has held jobs that include Bi-lingual Employment Counselor, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Children’s Protection Services Caseworker and Affirmative Action Supervisor. More recently, she was a Human Resource Manager for two different agencies for a total of 14 years. On a personal note, she moonlighted as a correspondent for the Olympian, writing columns for state workers for five years. She is currently writing her first book.
Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and teaching credentials for the State of Washington. She was a cofounder 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.