Daniel Mead Smith
President
Email: dmeadsmith@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Dann is the President of Washington Policy Center.  Since becoming President in 2001 he has testified by invitation before dozens of 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, founding board member of the Worker Rights Alliance, and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Washington Advisory Committee.  He also served on the Advisory Group of the Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee and the Citizen Performance Audit Oversight Board after being appointed by Gov. Gregoire. Before becoming President of WPC, he worked for the Washington Institute for Policy Studies, was Vice President of the Washington Institute Foundation and worked on two statewide campaigns (for a statewide ballot measure and a candidate for governor).  He is a graduate of Western Washington University and lives with his wife and twin daughters in Seattle.

Paul Guppy
Vice President for Research
Email: pguppy@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Paul Guppy is the Vice President for Research at Washington Policy Center. He is a graduate of Seattle University and holds graduate degrees from Claremont Graduate University and the London School of Economics.  He worked for 12 years in the U.S. Congress as a Chief of Staff and Legislative Director.  As the Vice President for Research, he writes extensively on tax policy, public finance and other issues.  He is a frequent commentator on radio and TV news programs, and in newspapers across the state.




 

David Boze
Communications Director
Email: dboze@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

David Boze is communications director for Washington Policy Center. He has been a long-time fixture in Seattle radio, having hosted morning and afternoon drive shows during his fifteen years on the air. Mr. Boze has been a frequent fill-in for the nationally syndicated Michael Medved show and currently fills in for several Seattle radio programs. His writing has been published by The Seattle Times, The News Tribune of Tacoma, The Olympian, The Weekly Standard, American Spectator and many other publications. 

Liv Finne
Director, Center for Education
Email: lfinne@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Liv Finne is the Director of the Center for Education at Washington Policy Center. She is the author of An Option for Learning: An Assessment of Student Achievement in Charter Public Schools, which in 2011 reignited the charter school debate in Washington state. She wrote “Why parents will love charter schools,” “Why teachers will love charter schools,” and many other publications during the 2012 public debate on Initiative 1240, the nation’s first charter school initiative. When charter schools came under attack from the state teachers union, she wrote “Analysis: Why the state supreme court ruling against charter schools is wrong.”  She is also the author of Washington Policy Center's widely-read education blog, and of Washington Policy Center’s Education Reform Plan: Eight Practical Ways to Improve Public Schools. Liv 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 committed to improving public schools by expanding school options for all parents, regardless of their zip code, including charter schools, vouchers, online and other innovations in education. 

Todd Myers
Director, Center for the Environment
Email: tmyers@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 963-3409

With nearly two decades in environmental policy, Todd Myers’ experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including spotted owl habitat, old-growth forests and salmon recovery. Currently, he serves as a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council and was a member of the executive team at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

Todd’s book, “Eco-Fads: How the rise of trendy environmentalism is harming the environment,” has received national praise. Forbes called it “the definitive tome on the systematic errors of the environmental movement," and Dr. Jay Lehr said “Myers addresses these issues better than anyone I have encountered in a half-century of work on environmental battlefields.”

Myers’ writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, National Review, The Seattle Times, USA Today, and he has appeared on numerous news networks including CNBC, Fox News, and CNN.

Myers also currently serves as President of the Prescription Drug Assistance Foundation, a charity that assists patients who have difficulty accessing prescription medicines. He previously served as Vice-President of the Northwest Association of Biomedical Research, which promoted ethical research standards and science education. In 2018, he was awarded the NWABR Distinguished Service Award for promotion of science.

A former computer programmer, Mr. Myers has a bachelor’s degree in Politics from Whitman College and a master’s degree in Russian/International Studies from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He and his wife Maria have two dogs and 250,000 honeybees. They live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state.

Jason Mercier
Director, Center for Government Reform
Email: jmercier@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (509) 491-3393 (Tri-Cities office)

Jason Mercier is the Director of the Center for Government Reform at Washington Policy Center and is based in the Tri-Cities. He has served on the boards of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and Verify More, and was an advisor to the 2002 Washington State Tax Structure Committee. Jason is an ex-officio member for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Chamber’s government affairs committee.  He worked with lawmakers in 2008 to create the state’s renowned budget transparency website www.fiscal.wa.gov and has been a champion for many of the state’s important budget reform tools including the four-year balanced budget requirement adopted in 2012. In 2010, former Governor Gregoire appointed Jason as WPC’s representative on her Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Panel. Jason is also a member of the State Tax Advisory Board for the Tax Foundation. He has testified numerous times before legislative committees on government reform issues, and his op-eds regularly appear in newspapers around the state, including The Seattle Times and Tri-City Herald. Jason also provides a regular TV update for KVEW (ABC Tri-Cities) and can be heard frequently on several radio stations including KOMO, KVI, KONA, KXLY and KIRO.

Roger Stark, MD
Health Care Policy Analyst
Email: rstark@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Dr. Roger Stark is the health care policy analyst at Washington Policy Center and a retired physician. He is the author of two books including 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 for WPC, including The Impact of the Affordable Care Act in Washington State, 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. Over a 12-month period in 2013 and 2014, Dr. Stark testified before three different Congressional committees in Washington DC regarding the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Stark graduated from the University of Nebraska’s College of Medicine and 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 has served on the hospital’s governing board. He retired from private practice in 2001 and became actively involved in the hospital’s Foundation, serving as Board Chair and Executive Director. He currently serves on the Board of the Washington Liability Reform Coalition 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.

Erin Shannon
Director, Center for Worker Rights
Email: eshannon@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (360) 705-6543 (WPC's Olympia office)

Erin Shannon is the Director of the Center for Worker Rights at Washington Policy Center. She has testified numerous times before legislative committees on small business and labor issues.  Her op-eds regularly appear in newspapers around the state, including The Seattle Times and The Puget Sound Business Journal, and she has been interviewed on numerous radio and TV programs including Fox News, CNN Money, and “Stossel with John Stossel” on Fox Business. Before joining Washington Policy Center, Erin 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 she 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 as 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.

Mariya Frost
Director, Coles Center for Transportation
Email: Mfrost@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Mariya Frost is the Director of the Coles Center for Transportation at Washington Policy Center. Born in Russia, she and her family came to the United States in 1993 and she grew up in Washington state.  She is a graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in Political Science. Mariya completed a studies program in the Dominican Republic, Spain and northern Africa through the University of Nations, and has completed courses in accounting and business administration at Saint Martin’s University. She spent ten years working in the private sector and as a staff member at the U.S. House of Representatives and the Washington state senate.

Mariya has lived in both Eastern and Western Washington, and believes strongly in the freedom of mobility for all Washingtonians.  She is on the Board of Directors for the Eastside Transportation Association, a member of the Jim MacIsaac Research Committee, and a member of the Women of Washington civic group.

Pam Lewison
Director, Initiative on Agriculture
Email: plewison@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (509) 491-3393

Pam Lewison is the Director for the Washington Policy Center Initiative on Agriculture and is based in the Tri-Cities office. She farms in Eastern Washington and is a tireless advocate for agriculture both in Washington state and around the country. Before entering the public policy world, Pam spent nearly a decade as a journalist in the Northwest and got her feet wet as the coordination clerk for the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program. She holds a Master of Science from Texas A&M University (Gig ‘em!) and a Bachelor of Arts from Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When she is not in the office, you can find her helping with irrigation and other work on her family farm, shuttling kids to 4-H meetings, or working as the superintendent for the agriculture building at the Grant County Fair.
 

Chris Cargill
Eastern Washington Office Director
Email: ccargill@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (509) 570-2384

Chris Cargill is the Eastern Washington director at Washington Policy Center. A sixth-generation Eastern Washingtonian, Chris graduated from Gonzaga University with a B.A. in broadcast communication studies and political science. Before joining WPC in 2009, he worked in television news for ten years at the FOX and ABC affiliates in Spokane. He has had the opportunity to serve on many community boards, including the Spokane Valley and Tri-City Regional Chambers, as well as the Spokane Regional Transportation Commission. He is the author of numerous policy studies on Eastern Washington issues and is a frequent guest host and commentator on news radio stations throughout the state.

 

Braden Goodwin
Operations Manager
Email: bgoodwin@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Braden Goodwin is the Operations Manager at Washington Policy Center.  He oversees WPC's accounting, government compliance, human resources, and office management. In addition, Braden coordinates WPC's internship program and the Jennifer Dunn Thomson Scholarship. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. When not at the office, Braden enjoys spending time hiking in the mountains. Braden and his family live in Seattle.




 

Sydney Jansen
Development Director
Email: sjansen@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Sydney Jansen is the Development Director at Washington Policy Center. Sydney graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Political Science and remains a loyal husky fan!  She also earned her Certificate in Nonprofit Management from UW. Sydney started at Washington Policy Center as an intern before joining the development team in 2012. Sydney grew up in Bellingham, Washington and currently lives in Seattle. In her spare time, you can find Sydney exploring the San Juan Islands or trying out a new Seattle restaurant.  



 

Tashina Kreilick
Development Manager
Email: tkreilick@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Tashina Kreilick is the Development Manager at Washington Policy Center. She holds a degree in business from the University of Puget Sound. After graduating in 2014, Tashina was an intern at the Museum of Glass, which she credits for exposing her to the world of non-profits and inspiring her to join WPC’s Development team. Tashina grew up in Missoula, Montana and currently lives in Seattle.

Mariah Knopp
Event Manager
Email: mknopp@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Mariah Knopp is the Event Manager for the Washington Policy Center. Mariah grew up on the eastern side of the state in Spokane, WA where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Recreational Management at Eastern Washington University. Through an internship for Hoopfest, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world, Mariah found a passion and thrill for event planning. After living in Nashville, TN she moved back to the Pacific Northwest and made Seattle her home. Outside of WPC events, you can find Mariah cheering on the Gonzaga Bulldogs and taking her adorable Australian Sheppard, Gabbie, to all the local dog parks.

Riley Wigen
Development Associate
Email: rwigen@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Riley Wigen is the Development Associate at Washington Policy Center. She graduated from the University of Washington in 2019 with a degree in International Studies. Her senior year she participated in UW’s Non-profit Mentor Program which introduced her to WPC and inspired her to pursue a career in the non-profit world. She was born and raised in Issaquah, Washington and now lives in Seattle. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and trying new Seattle restaurants.

Charlie Gers
Development Apprentice
Email: cgers@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 937-9691

Charlie, a Miami native, graduated from the University of Minnesota in May 2019. Charlie started his involvement in the liberty movement in 2016 by volunteering in the Rand Paul campaign, Gary Johnson campaign, joining student organizations like Students For Liberty and Young Americans For Liberty, and eventually running for mayor of Minneapolis in 2017. Besides his current summer position as a Development Apprentice at the Washington Policy Center, Charlie is a contributor at Young Voices and has had his work published in the Orange County Register, Spiked, and other media outlets.

Miranda Hawkins
Young Professionals Director
Email: mhawkins@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (509) 954-2449

Miranda Hawkins is the Young Professionals Director at Washington Policy Center. Miranda grew up in Ohio and served as the Public Relations Officer at her high school, actively engaging in community events. She moved to Spokane in 2013 and earned her B.A. at Moody Bible Institute. In 2017, Miranda won first place in the MBI Homiletical Jury Competition. She was also featured as a chapel speaker at Schweitzer Mountain Resort and became heavily engaged in the Eastern Washington community through her experience as Executive Assistant at We Believe We Vote. Volunteering at Life Services of Spokane, Miranda further developed her intercultural communication and leadership capabilities through experience in counseling. Apart from her work at WPC, Miranda enjoys everything outdoors, singing, tennis, and having some good laughs with friends and family, especially her husband.

Rosemary Harris
Eastern Washington Office Coordinator and Research Assistant
Email: rharris@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (509) 405-1271?

Rosemary Harris is the Eastern Washington Office Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Washington Policy Center. Rosemary grew up just North of the Tri-Cities and is proud to call the Columbia Basin her home. She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2017. While in college she was an active participant in Christian Students for Free Enterprise and member of Franciscan University’s Center for Leadership. She credits her Dad, a successful small business owner, with instilling in her passion for small business and free enterprise. Some of Rosemary’s favorite things are discovering new hiking trails around the PNW and spending quality time with her family and friends.  
 

August Bress
Digital Communications & Publications Coordinator
Email: abress@washingtonpolicy.org 
Phone: (206) 937-9691

August Bress is the Communications Coordinator and Publications Manager at Washington Policy Center. He graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in Government in 2016. Outside of work he enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and reading.

Donald Kimball
Operations Assistant
Email: dkimball@washingtonpolicy.org
Phone: (206) 946-1008

Donald Kimball is the Operations Assistant at Washington Policy Center. He graduated summa cum laude from Northwest University with a degree in Political Science, where he also served in various leadership roles, including as a part of the debate team and as Student Body Vice President. Other professional experience includes working as an administrator for Advent Anglican, a Culture Guide and Teacher for ESL students, an Assistant Market Research analyst, and working on various political campaigns within Washington State. Outside of work hours, one can find Donald in his natural habitat reading books, ranting about any and everything on Twitter, playing banjo with his roommates, or enjoying lively debates and hearty laughs with good friends.