Dann is the President of Washington Policy Center and has been with WPC since 1991. Since becoming President in 2001 he has testified by invitation before dozens legislative committees in Olympia and appeared on numerous radio and TV newscasts and programs around the state promoting the Center's work. He also appeared on the national PBS "Debates Debates" television program. Dann is a member of Seattle Rotary #4, a board member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and served on the Advisory Group of the Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee. Currently he is serving on the Citizen Performance Audit Oversight Board after being appointed by Gov. Gregoire. He is a graduate of Western Washington University and lives with his wife and twin daughters in Seattle.
Our Staff
Paul is the Vice President for Research at Washington Policy Center. He came to WPC in 1998 after 12 years on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including service as Legislative Director, Chief of Staff and with the House Appropriations Committee, with a focus on budget policy and federal spending. He is the author of numerous published studies and articles, including the Washington State Piglet Book, and is editor of the Policy Guide for Washington State. He specializes in state and local tax systems, health care reform and free market economics. He is a member of the King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee, the Citizen Commission for Performance Measurement of Tax Preferences, and the Attorney General's Eminent Domain Task Force. Paul is a graduate of Seattle University and holds graduate degrees in political science from Claremont Graduate University and the London School of Economics. He lives in Seattle with his wife Diana and their three children.
Braden Goodwin is the Operations Manager with Washington Policy Center. He oversees WPC's accounting, human resources, and office management. He also coordinates WPC's internship program. He has been with WPC since August of 2002 when he was hired as the Administrative Manager. Before joining WPC, Braden worked as a researcher for Project Vote Smart and interned for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He and his wife Maren live in Seattle.
John is the Communications Director for Washington Policy Center and has been with WPC since 2004, when he served as a Policy Analyst and Director of WashingtonVotes.org. He is a published historian and before joining WPC held the Robert M. Utley Editorial Fellowship with the Western Historical Quarterly in Logan, Utah. John is a graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan and holds a Master’s degree from Utah State University.
Stephanie True is the Development Director for Washington Policy Center. Before stepping into the Development Director role, Stephanie focused her time on WPC’s grant writing. Prior to WPC, Stephanie worked in both marketing and PR for Nordstrom, and began her career in sales for Bank of America. She realized her enthusiasm for development and fundraising while working with PONCHO, a Seattle-based arts organization, and volunteering at a corporate level with United Way of King County. She is a participant in the Charles G. Koch Foundation Liberty@Work program which promotes free-market ideals across the country. Stephanie has completed fundraising courses through the Fundraising School at Indiana University, and is a member of Northwest Development Officers Association (NDOA). She graduated from the University of Washington and remains a loyal and active Husky fan. Stephanie lives in Seattle with her husband Dustin and their dogs: Chester (mini-dachshund) and Ally (yellow lab).
Chris Cargill is the Eastern Washington Office Director for Washington Policy Center. A life-long Eastern Washington resident, Chris grew up in Spokane and graduated from Gonzaga University with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communication Studies and a minor in Political Science. Before joining WPC in 2009, he worked in TV news for 10 years at two Spokane television stations. During his time, he organized and produced dozens of political debates and forums, and discussed policy one-on-one with politicians including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Chris authored WPC’s Analysis of Spokane’s Water Price Changes as well as the Citizens Guide to Spokane’s Children’s Investment Fund. He is an ex-officio for the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, and serves on the Spokane Regional Transportation Commission Advisory Committee. He also served on Spokane Transit Authority’s Central City Alternatives Analysis Sounding Board, offering ideas and suggestions on mass transit options for downtown Spokane. In 2011, Chris was named by Inland Business Catalyst magazine as one of the 20 top professional and civic leaders under the age of 40 in the Inland Northwest. Chris and his family live in Liberty Lake, just outside Spokane. When not working for WPC, you can often find Chris at hockey games.
Michael Ennis is Director of WPC's Center for Transportation. Before joining Washington Policy Center, he worked for the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives and was formerly a staff assistant for U.S. Senator Slade Gorton. Michael served in the U.S. Army with the 2nd Ranger Battalion and is currently in his third term on the Enumclaw City Council. He earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and his Master's of Public Administration degree from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, also at the University of Washington. Michael is the author of numerous studies on transportation policy in Washington, including Five Principles of Responsible Transportation Policy, Vanpools in the Puget Sound Region: The Case for Expanding Vanpools to Move the Most People for the Least Cost, The Facts on Light Rail, and more. He appears regularly in print, broadcast, and online media throughout the state and has been covered in The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg News, and Investor’s Business Daily. He lives in Enumclaw with his wife Heidi and their two children.
Liv Finne is Director of WPC's Center for Education. Prior to that position she served as an adjunct scholar focusing on education policy issues, authoring in-depth studies including An Overview of Public School Funding in Washington and Early Learning Proposals in Washington State. She is the author of Washington Policy Center's Education Reform Plan: Eight Practical Ways to Reverse the Decline of Public Schools, Learning Online: An Assessment of Online Public Education Programs, Review of Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) Programs for Child Care Services, and more. Liv serves on the American Legislative Exchange Council's Education Task Force. She holds a law degree from Boston University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College. She retired from civil litigation practice to raise two children and work as business partner for a small business she owns with her husband. Liv is passionate about improving Washington’s public education system.
Jason Mercier is Director of the Center for Government Reform at Washington Policy Center. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and is the private sector chairman of ALEC’s Fiscal Federalism Working Group. He is a contributing editor of the Heartland Institute’s Budget & Tax News, a columnist for NW Daily Marker, a contributing author at State Budget Solutions, serves on the board of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, and was an advisor to the 2002 Washington State Tax Structure Committee. In June 2010, Governor Gregoire appointed Jason as WPC’s representative on her Committee on Transforming Washington’s Budget, where WPC’s ideas and solutions helped state lawmakers close budget deficits without raising taxes. Jason holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Washington State University.
Todd Myers is Director of WPC's Center for the Environment. He is one of the nation's leading experts on free-market environmental policy and is the author of Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism is Harming the Environment, Five Years of Environmental Policy: Are We Making a Difference; Promoting Personal Choice, Incentives and Investment to Cut Greenhouse Gases, and more. Todd's in-depth research on the failure of the state's 2005 "green" building mandate continues to receive national attention. He formerly served as Director of Communications for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, and was Director of Public Relations for the Seattle SuperSonics and Director of Public Affairs for the Seattle Mariners. Todd holds a Master's degree from the University of Washington.
Erin Shannon is the Director of WPC's Center for Small Business. Before joining Washington Policy Center, she was the Public Relations Director of Washington state's largest pro-small business trade association, and was formerly a Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Congressman Randy Tate in Washington, D.C. Over the past 15 years Erin has appeared regularly in print, broadcast and radio media. She was a recurring guest on ABC's Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, until the show's cancellation in 2002, and participated in a live, on-stage version of Politically Incorrect in Seattle with Bill Maher. Erin has served has the spokesperson for several pro-small business initiative campaigns including Referendum 53, repealing increases in unemployment insurance taxes; Initiative 841, repealing the state's ergonomics rule; and Initiative 1082, to end the state's monopoly on workers' compensation. Erin holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Washington.
Dr. Roger Stark is a health care policy analyst at WPC and a retired physician. He is the author of the book The Patient-Centered Solution: Our Health Care Crisis, How It Happened, and How We Can Fix It. He has also authored numerous in-depth studies on health care policy, including State Abuse of the Medicaid Program, A Review of the Medicaid Program: Its Impact in Washington State and Efforts at Reform in Other States, What Works and What Doesn't: A Review of Health Care Reform in the States, and Health Care Reform that Works: An Update on Health Savings Accounts. Dr. Stark graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and moved to the Pacific Northwest where he completed his general surgery residency in Seattle and his cardiothoracic residency at the University of Utah. After practicing in Tacoma he moved to Bellevue and was one of the co-founders of the open heart surgery program at Overlake Hospital. He retired from private practice in 2001 and became actively involved in the hospital’s Foundation, serving as Board Chair and Executive Director. Dr. Stark has been a member of many local and national professional societies. He currently serves on the Board of the Washington Liability Reform Coalition, the Governing Board of Overlake Hospital, and is an active member of the Woodinville Rotary. He and his wife live on the Eastside and have children and grandchildren in the area.
Tyler Nebeker is the Communications Coordinator at Washington Policy Center. A native of Spokane Valley, Tyler graduated in 2010 from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Public Relations. While at BYU, Tyler held jobs in marketing, research, editing and publication. Throughout school, he also interned in communications with Spokane Shock and the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, and in media relations and marketing with a board sports equipment manufacturer. Prior to joining WPC, he interned at Greater Spokane Incorporated, the regional economic development council serving the Spokane area. There he headed GSI’s Buy Local community campaign, an effort aimed at boosting the economy of Spokane-area businesses. Tyler loves being back home in the Evergreen State.
Sydney is the Development Assistant for Washington Policy Center. Before joining the Development team, she started as an intern with WPC. Sydney graduated from the University of Washington in 2011 with a degree in Political Science and remains a devoted Husky fan. She found her passion for policy and free-market solutions during a study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2009. WPC president Dann Mead Smith arranged a tour of Prague Castle, the official residence of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, during her time there which heightened Sydney’s interest in studying politics. Sydney grew up in Bellingham, Washington, and currently lives in Seattle.
Originally from Auburn, Washington, WPC event coordinator Jenette Warne has worked in both large and small fundraising ventures, community outreach and listener events at a Seattle-area radio group. She has also been very involved in the community, especially in the Maple Valley area. Jenette has been a member of WPC’s Young Professionals group since it began in November 2010.
Jenette serves on the board for a local non-profit, Sports in Schools, and enjoys running, traveling and sports. She lives in West Seattle.