Board of Directors

The Board has many responsibilities, including ensuring the priorities adopted by the WSNA General Assembly are incorporated in the strategic plan for each biennium. The Board also approves the budget for WSNA and appoints and reviews the executive director. Board members act as ambassadors for WSNA, representing the association to the membership and other organizations as appropriate.

The chairs of the Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare, Legislative and Health Policy Council, and Professional Nursing and Health Care Council are elected separately and serve as full members of the Board by virtue of their offices. Two of the director-at-large positions must be filled by non-managerial, non-supervisory, direct patient care providers represented by WSNA for collective bargaining.

President
Lynnette Vehrs
IENA, Spokane

“My top priority while on the board of directors is racism. It was one of the big issues that were revealed during the pandemic. It has always been there, but I now have eyes and ears to try to recognize it and address it. I hope to be a little bit better and more evolved.”

Vice-President
Justin Gill
NWRNA, Bothell

“One perspective I feel that I bring to the board is the fact that I still consider myself a ‘newer’ member of the profession. Our health care system, workforce and care delivery systems will face unique challenges moving forward. We can learn from our approaches to solving tough problems from the past, but the next generation of nurses needs to be engaged and active in order to tackle problems of the future.”

Secretary/​Treasurer
Martha Goodall
IENA, Mead
"I will bring a unique perspective to the board because I am always willing to look at and try to understand others’ opinions and ideas. The best answer to a problem usually comes from a group effort.”

Chair, Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare
Julia Barcott
CWRNA, Yakima
“We’ve seen how coming together as nurses during the pandemic, and before, can really change the lives of our patients and in our communities. I don’t want people who aren’t nurses making decisions about nursing issues. It’s important for WSNA members to join elected and appointed bodies because these get you closer to being in ‘the room where it happens.’”

Chair, Professional Nursing and Health Care Council
Chuck Cumiskey
RONA, Olympia
“I spent 27 years in the Army Reserve and retired as a Colonel Nurse Corp Officer. I found my Army career very rewarding and the service to our country an essential part of being an American. I also played football in high school and college, which fostered my competitive mindset and outlook on life. These life events strongly influenced my leadership philosophy and will provide a unique perspective to the board.”

Director At-Large
Phoebe Dang Lim-Vuong
KCNA, Kent
“There seems to be an enormous chasm for those in the field being able to join our efforts to help create supportive health care policies, as nurses already commit themselves in clinics and hospitals. I would love to push an initiative in getting my fellow young nurses and their passion for patient care into our fold and helping to drive the much-needed health care policies supporting both nurses and the patients.”

Director At-Large
John Gustafson
RONA, Poulsbo
“My top priority on the board is to help nurses in Washington state achieve safe nurse staffing. I will stand up, speak out, show up and do whatever it takes to improve staffing issues because doing so will have a huge, positive impact on the retention of nurses and quality of patient care.”

Director At-Large
Heather Stephen-Selby
KCNA, Renton
“I had a passion for nursing very early on in my childhood; I had multiple health issues and was cared for by compassionate nurses who put their patients first. My mother went to nursing school, only to find she fainted at any sign of blood — but shared her love of caring for others with me. My father’s great, great grandmother was one of the nurses who went to Crimea to work with Florence Nightingale. I became a nurse because it is in my DNA!”

Director At-Large, Staff Nurse
Sara Bergenholtz
North Central Region, Wenatchee
“In all the history of nursing, I do not think there has been a moment where nurses were so primed to stand together against those who think to utilize our time, skills, knowledge and passion. You can run a hospital with a handful of physicians, but you can’t run a hospital without enough nurses. I would like to see us own that fact and use it to stand together across the state.”

Director At-Large, Staff Nurse
Martha Galvez
Southeast Region, Pasco
“Because I continue to work at the bedside, I feel I can give a realistic and true perspective of the day-to-day challenges of nursing and how it relates to safety of patients and job satisfaction. So many times, the people making decisions that affect nursing are disconnected from bedside nursing or have very little hands-on patient care experience.”