Leadership

Read Lynne’s September 2023 Staff Interview.

Lynne K. Varner is the Chief Executive Officer for Washington STEM. She is an education leader and award-winning journalist recognized for her groundbreaking stories and commentary on race relations and public education. As a first-generation college graduate, Varner brings a life-long commitment to broadening access to education for students in Washington.

Prior to her work at Washington STEM, Lynne served in leadership roles at Washington State University, where she led initiatives to increase college enrollment and public-private partnerships in underserved communities. Her strategic conversations with education and community leaders were vital to campus expansion and student engagement efforts at the Everett campus.

Varner received a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Maryland and earned a certificate in specialized media training on education policy from Columbia University School of Journalism. She has served on several boards and is known for her leadership in media relations, public affairs, and DEI leadership strategy. In her spare time, Lynne enjoys soaking up the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Read Jenée’s February 2023 Staff Interview.

Jenée Myers Twitchell serves as the Chief Impact Officer at Washington STEM and is an adjunct for the University of Washington College of Education’s Leadership in Higher Education program. She develops, analyzes, and applies cross-sector, longitudinal data and research on systems changes and student outcomes to help drive Washington STEM’s business plan and strategic initiatives. Jenée has her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from UW and has led research studies on policy changes for secondary to postsecondary transitions for underserved students, regional collective impact network leadership, and regionalized supply-demand gaps for education-to-workforce pathways across Washington state.

Read Yoko’s February 2023 Staff Interview.

Yoko Shimomura is the Chief Operating Officer of Washington STEM. She leads Finance & Operations for Washington STEM with a focus on ensuring financial rigor and operational efficiency to further program impact.

Yoko brings 20+ years in global operations experience spanning both the corporate and nonprofit sector. Her superpowers are in building alignment across operations and programs, improving operating efficiency and advancing culture. She is a natural integrator and systems thinker with a strong commitment to Washington STEM’s mission to advance excellence, innovation and equity in STEM education.

Prior to Washington STEM, Yoko held various leadership positions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ending her 8-year tenure as the Chief of Staff to the COO. Her work at the Gates Foundation included driving strategic transformation efforts, program management and business operations. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Yoko spent twelve years as a Vice President in Corporate Services for Washington Mutual Bank. Through a dozen bank acquisitions and several divestitures, she managed the Corporate Property Services team’s Lease Administration, Space Management and Technology departments.

Yoko is a 4th generation Seattle native with a BA in Ethnic American Studies from Western Washington University, Fairhaven College. When she’s not working she serves on several boards focused on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. She lives in Seattle and spends her free time traveling, running, reading and getting messy with her daughter.

Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Office of the President, Microsoft

Mary Snapp brings her experience and perspective from over 30 years at Microsoft to lead strategic initiatives in office of the president. She formerly led the team responsible for Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts. That team seeks to invest the company’s strongest assets – technology, money, employee talent, and the company’s voice – to partner with nonprofits and communities to create lasting positive impact. In the most recent fiscal year, Microsoft’s total annual giving surpassed $1 billion, with cash donations of nearly $120 million and in kind donations worth nearly $950 million.

Prior to Microsoft Philanthropies, Mary was Deputy General Counsel leading legal support for engineering and services. She led legal support for Bing as a start up and Microsoft Windows as an established operating system. During those years, she led legal support for a number of significant acquisitions.

Mary is an active board leader and community volunteer for nonprofit organizations in Seattle and around the country. She currently serves on the board of directors YWCA of Seattle, King, and Snohomish County, The Seattle Art Museum, the National 4-H Council and The Farm Foundation. She also serves her alma mater, University of Michigan, on the President’s Advisory Group. Mary joined the company in 1988 as Microsoft’s fourth attorney, and its first female attorney.

Former VP Resource Appraisal BP (retired) and NW Washington STEM Network Director. Lecturer at the Institute for Energy Studies, Western Washington University

Michelle Judson began her 35 year career in the energy industry as a geologist. Over her tenure she worked around the globe and was instrumental to the success of major projects across the full upstream energy value chain. Executive roles included leading BP’s Global Geoscience Technology R&D Program and Vice President of Resource Appraisal where she was accountable for the technical and commercial evaluation of new resources in BP’s upstream portfolio. She has expertise in asset appraisal, technology strategy development, and program management. She also led multiple business strategy and organizational change programs. Since retiring from BP in 2014 she has been an advocate for STEM education and served as Director of the NW Washington STEM Network until 2021. Currently Michelle is a lecturer at Institute of Energy Studies at Western Washington University. She holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Geology.

Retired, Chancellor, Community Colleges of Spokane

As Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) Chancellor, Dr. Christine Johnson led a complex district that spans six counties over a 12,300 square mile area. It includes Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Community College, as well as rural learning centers, Head Start/Early Learning centers and more than 2,300 employees. Prior to joining CCS in 2010, Christine’s career included more than 30 years of teaching, administration, leadership and policy development. Christine earned a doctorate in educational administration and supervision and master’s degree in curriculum administration from the University of Colorado Boulder, and bachelor’s in secondary education from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.

Chief Technology Officer, SVP, Global Technology Services, lululemon

Venki Krishnababu is a senior executive over 28 years of experience leading transformational, enterprise-shaping strategies such as digital transformation, cloud migration, cybersecurity, and seamless omni capabilities for major market leaders, large retail and healthcare providers. He is a high-energy, results-oriented leader with a proven track record of “getting things done” through mindful people-centric leadership, partnership, and commitment to enable business through technology.

In Venki’s current role as Chief Technology Officer, SVP, Global Technology Services at lululemon, he leads an organization of +700 people responsible for technology enabling business capabilities associated with guest and educator facing commerce, and employee facing corporate functions and global shared functions such as Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Architecture.

Venki is a committed community leader including service as a board member for Bellevue Youth Theater, key sponsor & supporter of IGNITE (Inspiring Girls in Technology Evolution) and recently joined the board of Washington STEM. Venki received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from PSG College of Technology (Anna University) and is completing the Wharton CTO Program in Sep 2022.

President and Chief Market Officer, McKinstry

With nearly 25 years of industry experience, Ash Awad is responsible for McKinstry’s market development strategy and provides leadership for the sales and business development efforts of all lines of business. His extensive knowledge in the industry includes systems engineering, evaluation of sustainable ideas, development of alternative-financing solutions, and optimizing and securing utility incentives and grants.

Ash has served the community in a variety of industry and philanthropic roles. Currently he serves on boards of the Smart Buildings Center and Climate Solutions. Ash also provides support to University of Washington’s Mechanical Engineering department.

Ash earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s Degree from the University of Washington. Ash is a registered professional engineer. He serves as President for McKinstry Essention, LLC.

Superintendent, Renton School District

Damien Pattenaude is Superintendent of the Renton School District. He is a product of the Renton School District and, after graduated from Renton High School, he went on to obtain three degrees from Washington State University, most recent, a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership. Over the past 18 years he has served the Renton School District as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, chief academic officer, and assistant superintendent of learning and teaching. In July 2017, Pattenaude assumed the role of Superintendent of the Renton Schools where he continues his focus of improving student achievement for every child, and ensuring each student graduates with options and prepared to fully participate in our democracy.

Executive Vice President, Managing Director – Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking, PNC Bank Inc.

Jennifer Daquiz Hare is Executive Vice President, Managing Director and Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking at PNC Bank, one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the U.S. with $580B in assets and a strong commitment to supporting Washington’s businesses and communities. Based in Washington, she is responsible for establishing and leading corporate and institutional banking expansion and growth for PNC.  Prior to this role, Jennifer served in a variety of leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, Microsoft and AT&T Wireless. In addition to serving on the Board of Bellevue Chamber, she serves as an active mentor to entrepreneurs in the business community. She earned an MBA from the Albers School of Business at Seattle University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington. She holds Series 24, 79 and 63 securities licenses.

Former Senior Managing Director, Accenture; Professor, University of Washington Foster School of Business

Liz Tinkham is a former Senior Managing Director with Accenture, with 30+ years’ experience serving global communications, media and technology clients. While at Accenture, Liz held successive leadership positions including growing the largest account within Accenture, leading the global management consulting practice, and launching two new businesses. She led and participated on multiple CEO-initiated task forces to shape Accenture’s strategy as it transformed into the leading global digital consulting and technology company. Currently, Liz is a Professor at the Foster School at the University of Washington. She also serves on several for-profit and not-for-profit Boards as well as advises local technology startups. She is proud engineering graduate of The Ohio State University.

President, MK Wagner and Associates, Inc.; Former Senior Vice President of Global Product Innovation, Food Safety and Quality, Starbucks Coffee Company

Mary Wagner is a recognized executive leader and board director with a reputation for creating innovative products, managing risks, handling corporate crises, and managing food quality and safety. She is a strategist, an operational leader, and a team builder who has been an executive in a range of branded global retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, including Starbucks, Mars, and E. & J. Gallo Winery. Mary holds a Ph.D. in Food Science and Nutrition from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Dr. Mia Tuan has been the Dean of the University of Washington College of Education since 2015 and joined the Washington STEM board in 2024.

Previously, Dr. Tuan was a professor of sociology and education at the University of Oregon. She also served as Interim Dean of UO’s College of Education, Associate Dean of UO’s Graduate School, Director of its Center on Diversity & Community, and Director of UO Department of Sociology Honors Program. Dr. Tuan has won numerous academic awards, including the 2012 Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) and Education Testing Services (ETS) Award for Excellence and Innovation, for Diversifying Graduate Education in STEM Disciplines.

Senior Research Scientist, Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon

pedrito maynard-zhang is a Sr. Research Scientist on the Amazon Future Engineer (AFE) team where he leads the team’s Global Research & Measurement initiatives. He has worked at Amazon and Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer for over 15 years, specializing in solving problems in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science. Preceding his career in industry, he held a faculty position at Miami University where he taught computer science courses and conducted AI research. He earned his doctorate in computer science from Stanford University and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Walla Walla University. His professional experience as an engineer, educator, and researcher together with his lived experience as a child of Jamaican immigrants have led to a passion for increasing equitable access to STEM education and careers for all young people, especially those from communities underserved and underrepresented in STEM. His current role at AFE provides a perfect opportunity to meaningfully impact this critical challenge.