Our Team

Angie Mason-Smith serves as Program Director for Career Pathways at Washington STEM where she designs and implements innovative and scalable programs to advance STEM education in Washington state. Her work focuses on excellent, equitable, and engaging K-12 STEM learning, STEM career and college pathways, and STEM literacy.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Angie served as the Core Plus Project Coordinator for Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) where she led the development of career pathways for Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Construction, and Maritime programs, connecting education outcomes to industry workforce needs and creating well-lit paths for students to pursue living-wage careers. Prior to her time at OSPI, she was the Executive Director of the Central Oregon STEM Hub.

Angie had an untraditional path to her career in education, first working 15 years in college athletics. She values her time in college athletics, where she supported a diverse population of at-risk student athletes as a learning specialist. Those experiences serve as a constant reminder of the need to prioritize more access, opportunities, and inclusion for students furthest from educational justice.

Angie completed her BS in Business Administration at Oregon State University and her MEd at the University of Washington. She is proudly raising an inquisitive and active six-year-old son and is excited to be in the Seattle/Metro area to be closer to her siblings and extended family. When she’s not working to promote equity in STEM education, she spends her time with her family at Mason Lake, where her parents built a beautiful retirement home.

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Isabelle Haines is the Communications Coordinator at Washington STEM. Before joining the team, she studied math and English at Tulane University, where she cultivated a passion for STEM writing and education. This passion drove her to intern with NASA’s Artemis communications team and serve as an organizer for Math For All, a New Orleans-based math conference focusing on research, education, and activism.

In her free time, Isabelle loves to read (feel free to give her book recommendations), write, hike, swim, rollerblade, and bake pies.

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Joanne Walby is Washington STEM’s Communications Manager, managing external
communications to enhance the organizational reach and showcase our statewide network
partners’ impact.

Joanne grew up in Pierce County surrounded by children: many sisters and a passel of
neighborhood kids who attended her mother’s Montessori school. During high school, Joanne
worked evenings as the janitor in her mom’s school to save money for a school trip to Spain.
This educational exchange program sparked a love of languages and discovering new places.

After getting a degree in Russian Studies from the University of Washington, she taught English at a Russian orphanage and later worked in Washington, DC for three years supporting legal reform projects in the former Soviet Union. She went on to earn a master’s degree from the American University in Cairo in Egypt where she conducted an ethnographic study of female Russian migrants into Egypt. She continued this love of writing and research as a staff writer for a business magazine in Cairo during the Arab Spring, and upon returning to the Northwest, she served as communications officer for the Refugee Women’s Alliance. When she’s not writing, she loves long walks in the city (or mountains when she gets a chance), playing with nieces and nephews, and trying anything new.

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Josh Apata serves as the Policy Manager for Washington STEM, where he collaborates with both internal and external partners to help generate legislative priorities, track bills, monitor public hearings at the legislative and executive branch, and provide information about early learning, K-12, and career pathways implementation efforts to Washington STEM’s statewide partners.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Josh served as the Legislative Assistant to State Representative Strom Peterson, where he supported the daily operations of the office, tracked policy and state budgets, and created countless relationships in Olympia and across the state. Josh brings a deep understanding of the legislative process and an eye for diversity, equity, and inclusion to help close education and opportunity gaps for Washington students.

Josh grew up in Pierce County where he attended the University of Washington Tacoma and received a BA in American Studies. In his free time, Josh enjoys cooking, traveling, and cycling.  

Katie Schott serves as Program Officer for K-12/Career Pathways at Washington STEM.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Katie worked at various non-profits across Washington and Colorado. Most recently she was the volunteer coordinator the Seattle Aquarium where she oversaw the development and operations of their adult volunteer engagement team. While at the Aquarium, Katie stewarded a group of around 500 volunteers annually who donated their time to help inspire marine conservation.

Growing up in Colorado, Katie developed a love for nature and protecting wild spaces which inspired her to pursue a BS in Biology from Colorado State University. After graduating, she stayed at CSU and completed a M.Ed. with a goal of creating equitable learning environments.

In her free time, Katie enjoys getting outside exploring the incredible landscapes of the Pacific Northwest with her partner and their puppy. She can also be found letting her creative side shine in the ceramics studio and in the kitchen!

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Laura Peckyno serves as the Development Manager at Washington STEM. She has worked in both the education and non-profit sectors for many years, serving as a capacity and sustainability specialist with DIBS for Kids, an Omaha literacy program, and as a public information representative for the Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium.

Laura was raised in a small Pennsylvania steel-town, but she has lived her adult life in a wide variety of communities across the United States and New Zealand. This diversity of experiences, as well as her own educational journey, have informed and driven her strong personal commitment to educational equity and inclusion.

Laura holds degrees in English from the University of Pittsburgh and Publishing from Whitireia New Zealand. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hiking, writing, and playing board games with her partner.

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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.

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Min Hwangbo serves as the Impact Director at Washington STEM, leading the organization’s work around data governance, data visualization, and research-policy partnerships for strategic initiatives and systems change in early learning systems and beyond for equitable and sustainable policy provision.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Min’s research focused on early learning research practitioner partnerships, supporting the implementation of a research-based curriculum to fidelity among state-funded Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs, and navigating the context of early learning systems including exploration of Washington’s Quality Rating Improvement System (Early Achievers) Continuous Quality Improvement for exploring coaching patterns.

Min started his education career as a student report card entry specialist before becoming a soccer coach and student newspaper writer at Shoreline Community College. He continued to contribute various levels of early learning system from Child Care Aware of Washington, to the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), YMCA, and the University of Washington.

Min holds a PhD in Learning Sciences and Human Development with concentration in Demographic Methods and Data Driven Decision Making processes, MEd in Education Policy, and BA in Early Childhood and Family Studies from the College of Education, University of Washington.

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Scott Dalessandro serves as Washington STEM’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for overseeing, organizing, and maximizing collaborations with regional STEM networks, state agencies, and other key partners. He joined the Programs team after spending over eight years in program and portfolio officer roles at a large, Seattle-based private family foundation. His expertise lies in supporting ambitious, multi-stakeholder efforts, but he ultimately considers himself a generalist committed to equitable, inclusive outcomes.

During the early part of his career, Scott spent time living and working in Europe, Africa, and Washington DC, in a variety of social impact areas including international labor, microfinance, public access to information, HIV prevention, family planning, and higher education. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh, Scott taught English to middle- and high-school girls, worked with English teachers-in-training, and he achieved a third grade reading level in Bengali.

Scott’s postsecondary journey started as a first-gen student at Hope College (BA, French and Spanish). He later earned graduate degrees from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance (MPA) and the Information School (MLIS). These days, he finds joy pedaling bikes, learning about plants, and preparing and sharing dishes from around the world. He lives in Beacon Hill, Seattle with his wife and two tenacious daughters.

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Soleil Boyd serves as Senior Program Officer for Washington STEM, supporting the organization’s Early STEM and King County strategies. She partners with key education and industry partners to support programming and policy intent on dismantling the institutional and systemic inequities that disproportionately impact families and students of color, those from low-income and rural backgrounds, and women.

Prior to Washington STEM, Soleil was Director of Professional Development and Coaching at Cultivate Learning. She directed the Certificate in Practice-Based Coaching and teaches Early Childhood and Family Studies courses at the University of Washington, where she completed her doctoral degree in education. Boyd started her early childhood education career as a preschool teacher assistant before becoming a preschool lead teacher, program supervisor, early learning coach and product developer.

Her past research addressed caregivers’ beliefs and practices related to early mathematics learning and the design of professional development that promotes reflection and practice and supports young children’s engagement in learning. Her professional work includes directing coach support in Washington state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), directing coach support for Early Achievers and implementing professional development for educators and coaches in and beyond Washington state.

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