At the close of 2023, we said goodbye to three board members whose terms of service had ended: Gideon Cauffman of Oak Harbor, Jeff Murdock of Seattle, and Nancy Ousley of Seattle. All three served on the board’s Executive Committee, with Jeff filling the roles of Vice President and President and Nancy taking on the role of Treasurer. Our deepest appreciation goes to all of them for their longtime commitment and dedication.

At our Annual Members Meeting in Vancouver last October, our incoming board members for 2024 were announced. Two of our Young Professional board members are staying on: Michael Walker of Vancouver will join us for a second one-year term, while Zoe Scuderi of Olympia will transition from a one-year term to her first full three-year term of service. In addition, the following four individuals will begin three-year terms of service starting in January 2024: Dan Chandler of Kenmore, Temple Lentz of Vancouver, Paul Parker of Olympia, and Kyle Walker of Coupeville.

New Board Members:

Dan Chandler, a resident of Kenmore, is both a registered architect and licensed professional engineer in Washington State, with more than 45 years in the commercial construction industry. Most recently, he spent 26 years as principal of OAC Services, Inc., a design and construction performance management firm based in Seattle, where he served as a project manager for Microsoft’s Major Campus Projects Program. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington. He has served on the boards of Lake Washington Citizens for Schools, YouthCARE, Rebuilding Together Seattle, ACE Mentor Program of Washington, and Community Lifeline of Mason County. He looks forward to serving the Washington Trust by sharing his industry and business knowledge for the benefit of communities statewide.

Temple Lentz serves as president and CEO for The Historic Trust in Vancouver. Originally from the Midwest, Temple holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Claremont Lincoln University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago. She moved to Vancouver in 2007 and has called it home ever since. From 2019-2022, she served as Clark County Councilmember. She has been named to Vancouver Business Journal’s Accomplished and Under 40 list and awarded the Iris Award for Women’s Leadership. Temple is currently Chair of the state’s Freight Mobility Strategic Advisory Board and has served on the State Board of Health, State Affordable Housing Advisory Board, the board of the Friends of the Columbia Gorge, and many others.

Paul Parker is a proud resident of Olympia. Now retired, Paul worked for 14 years with the Washington State Transportation Commission and served as Assistant Executive Director for the Washington State Association of Counties. After attending law school at the University of Washington, he was a law clerk at the Washington Supreme Court and a staff attorney in the Washington State Senate. He is currently on the board of the Olympia Historical Society and is also a member of the City of Olympia’s Cultural Access Advisory Board. Paul was a Washington Trust board member from 2015-2020 and is excited to be back for another term of service.

Kyle Walker’s immersion in preservation and community-building began as a member of the first National Park Service team to inventory the cultural assets of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. With a master’s degree in history, historic preservation, and archival management from Western Washington University, she served as the first-ever director of the Centralia Main Street Association and as vice president of the Lower Columbia Preservation Society. In addition to working for a variety of preservation and education organizations, nonprofits, and government agencies, Kyle has served on regional and national boards including as chair for a local school board. Now a resident of Freeland, she works as a consultant and researcher for the South Whidbey Historical Society, piecing together a new narrative of cross-cultural events and revealing a previously unknown history of South Whidbey.