OLYMPIA – The Washington Association of County Officials have announced the appointment of Jennifer Wallace of Olympia to the role of Executive Director. Wallace previously served in the role as Interim Executive Director for the past four months. Wallace has served as the association’s Deputy Director since June 2018. Prior to that Wallace served as the Executive Director of the Professional Educator Standards Board.

Jennifer Wallace brings with her a strong track record of influencing state-level policy and legislation. Wallace came to the State of Washington to serve as education policy advisor to Governor Gary Locke. When Locke proposed a self-governing policy board for educators, Wallace successfully lobbied this significant governance change and assumed its leadership, growing the Professional Educator Standards Board from 2 employees with a $250,000 budget to 17 staff and over $6 million.

Wallace’s prior experience includes serving as policy center director for the Northeast Regional Laboratory at Brown University, policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States in Denver, Colorado and Director of Government Relations for the Evergreen State College. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Stanford University.

As Executive Director Wallace is tasked with managing the day-to-day activities of the association with a focus on legislation, education, and communication.

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