I am a Washington native - albeit the Eastern side of the state. 

I went to school at Eastern WA University,  dabbled in a bit of everything because I was interested in EVERYTHING (started pre-vet med, hopped to psychology, then to school of business where I thought I wanted to be a CPA, ended up with a business degree with majors in marketing, HR and management). Finished undergrad during an economic recession, took my advisor's advise and applied for grad school. I have a Masters in Business Admin and a Masters in Public Asmin (pro tip: NEVER do companion program degrees). 

While in my masters program, I took an Entrepreneurship course where business plan writing was required - my team authored one for a friend's family. We gave it to them after it was graded. They actually implemented it and had their first year breaking a million dollars revenue - thst was pretty awesome to see.

I moved to this side of the state as I was finishing up my degree because I knew I wanted to work for the state and there aren't many opportunities for that in Eastern WA. 

I worked at the Insurance Commissioner's Office for 14.5 years, working my way up from a payables analyst to fiscal supervisor - which I did for 8 years before moving on the the Gambling Commission as CFO.

I volunteer for Performance Excellence Northwest, which is affiliated with the national Baldrige program. Organizations submit their applications to us and we review and provide feedback, help identify areas that they may want to focus on for improvement, and help them be more efficient, integrated businesses. 

I'm currently (literally) working on a certification in Organizational Change Management, and have taken courses in facilitation and project management.

I am an avid Crossfitter - it has had a huge positive impact on managing my anxiety and my mental health in general.

I crochet and knit, and like to listen to audio books or watch random series on Netflix or Hulu while I do so (always looking for recommendations for both!).

As y'all are aware, we have a gaggle of dogs - our four are Gizmo (8 y.o. chihuahua/papillon), Teckel (11 y.o. mini short hair weenie), Schnitzel (12 y.o. long/wire hair mini weenie), and Lila (13 y.o. rat terrier). Fosters already currently Dagna, Sadie, and Happy. We've fostered since Sept 2015 and these three are numbers 8, 9, and 10. 

We've both always had dogs in our lives, except for brief periods of flux and change.

Strong points: I think I'm a good leader and I like mentoring. I'm a whiz with spreadsheets and I'm passionate about diverse teams and everyone having a voice.

Weaknesses/things to work on: I'm a TERRIBLE note taker. I don't retain anything when I take notes, so I just sit and listen. I'm not good at small talk, and can be pretty blunt at times, which I've received feedback that it can be perceived as blaming.