Revisit our event below to hear from the Center for Women & Democracy and the Washington State Women's Commission as they host leaders and experts in policy, law, public service, and education in a conversation on the economic impact of the pandemic on women in Washington State, and talk about policies and actions needed to build a more woman-centered infrastructure that improves equity for working women.
Agenda
5:00 – Welcome and Introduction
Frances Donegan-Ryan, Center for Women & Democracy
Regina Malveaux, WA State Women’s Commission
5:10 – 5:20 - Keynote
Diana Pearce, University of Washington Center for Women’s Welfare
5:20 – 5:40 - Keynote
Sarah Calkins Holloway, McKinsey
5:40 – 6:00 - Keynote
Lauren Hipp, Moms Rising
6:00 – 6:10 - Break
6:10 – 6:40 - Panel
Moderated by Kate Isler, The W Marketplace
Panelists:
Regina Malveaux, Washington State Women’s Commission
Kasi Marita Perreira, Director of Racial and Gender Justice for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO and Commissioner, WA Women’s Commission; racial and gender equity in the workforce
Quinn Dalan, Executive Director, Yakima County Volunteer Attorney Services and Commissioner, WA Women’s Commission; housing
Rebecca Martin, President and CEO of the Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce
6:40 – 7:00– Q&A and Closing
Speakers Bios
Keynote speakers:
Diana M. Pearce is Senior Lecturer Emerita, and Director (and Founder) Emerita and currently Scholar in Residence of the Center for Women’s Welfare, all at the University of Washington School of Social Work. She received her PhD degree in Sociology and Social Work from the University of Michigan; her dissertation topic was racial discrimination by real estate brokers.
Recognized for coining the phrase “the feminization of poverty,” she has testified before Congress and the President’s Working Group on Welfare Reform. Dr. Pearce founded the Women and Poverty Project at Wider Opportunities for Women and helped found and lead several coalitions on women and work, welfare, and poverty. Her areas of expertise include low-wage employment, unemployment insurance, homelessness, and welfare reform as they impact women. She served in the Peace Corps (Turkey) and twice as a Fulbright Scholar (Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), as well as, as a Fulbright Senior Specialist for Social Work curriculum development (Uzbekistan). Dr. Pearce created the Self-Sufficiency Standard, an income adequacy measure now found in 41 states, and has authored numerous reports using the Standard to analyze the nature of income inadequacy and inequality.
Sarah Calkins Holloway is a Senior Partner in the Seattle office of McKinsey & Company and a leader in its Healthcare Systems & Services Practice. She serves healthcare providers, including health systems, community hospitals, and specialized high-acuity providers—such as academic medical centers and children’s hospitals—on a range of strategy and operational issues, including growth, M&A, cost transformation, and personalized medicine. She leads McKinsey’s revenue-excellence work, which includes revenue cycle management, managed care, and growth. In partnership with Lean In, McKinsey published a recent report Women in the Workplace 2021.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Sarah worked in international development with an international not for profit that promotes business solutions to poverty in developing countries, such as Nicaragua, Kenya, and Rwanda, to build competitive farms, business, and industries. She is a graduate of Harvard University and received her MA in International Studies and Spanish Language from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lauren Hipp is the National Director Early Learning and Washington State for MomsRising.org. She brings over a decade of experience in the early learning field doing policy, advocacy and organizing, philanthropy, and policy and program implementation in both Washington state and nationally. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.
Moderator & Panelists
Kate Isler is the founder and CEO of TheWMarketplace and the author of Breaking Borders. She is an activist, wife, author, mother, partner, friend, businessperson, sister, and risk-taker. Born in Southeast Texas, raised in the Southwest, and educated in the Northwest, Kate said “yes” to adventure and career from the start. As a tech executive Kate’s work took her all over the world with her husband as they raised three sons.
Regina Malveaux, J.D. was appointed to Governor Jay Inslee’s cabinet as Director of the Washington State Women’s Commission in August 2020. Regina has served as one of our nine inaugural Commissioners for the past two years. Regina has over 20 years of experience as a tenacious advocate for women and children as a non-profit executive, victim’s services provider, community leader and policy advocate.
Previously, Regina served as CEO of YWCA Spokane, Executive Director of YWCA South Hampton Roads, Legal Advocate at YWCA San Diego and founder of the Women’s Legal Center. Through her work with the YWCA, Malveaux has established a national reputation as an aggressive advocate on issues related to gender-based violence and funding supports for families experiencing poverty.
Regina holds an undergraduate degree in Social Policy from San Diego State University, a law degree from Howard University School of Law and a certificate in Non-profit Management from the Harvard University School of Business. During law school, she worked in both the White House and in Congress, for First Lady Hillary Clinton and the Honorable Maxine Waters respectively.
She has worked to train a new generation of advocates as an adjunct professor in Political, Women’s and African American studies at San Diego State University, the Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Old Dominion University, and Whitworth University.
Regina has served on a number of boards aimed at advancing racial justice, economic empowerment and victim safety including the San Diego NAACP, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility and the YWCA USA. Regina is the mother of two adult children and currently resides in Olympia, Washington.
Kasi Perreira currently serves as the Director of Racial and Gender Justice for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, a role in which she leads the work of challenging Washington’s statewide labor movement to better realize collective advocacy for racial and gender justice. Kasi is a member of the Tlingit tribe, and is committed to focusing her skills and time on the leadership development of Black, Indigenous and other workers of color, women, young people, LGBTQ+, immigrants and other marginalized groups.
Kasi has over 15 years of experience in local, regional, national, and international labor organizing and championing equity in her work with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Her membership and coordination experience includes work with the UFCW International Union; the Organization United for Respect Walmart National Constituency Groups; the Asian Pacific Labor Alliance; the Coalition of Labor Union Women; the National LGBTQ Worker’s Center; UFCW Women’s Network; UFCW Minority Coalition; UFCW OUTReach and Pride at Work.
She also serves on the Board of Puget Sound Sage and was a cohort member of Washington State's Women Labor Leaders in Action in 2017.
Quinn Dalan is the executive director of Yakima County Volunteer Attorney Services. She is a passionate leader in the effort to increase access to justice and reduce barriers to the legal system in Central Washington. Quinn also represents indigent juvenile offenders, serves as a Title 11 Guardian ad Litem, District Court Pro Tem Judge, and is an adjunct instructor at Yakima Valley College where she teaches Business Law.
Quinn has previously served as a deputy prosecutor, a special prosecutor, and as a part-time court commissioner. Before joining VAS, she worked for YWCA Yakima as their Development Director. These experiences have crystalized her resolve to make a difference in the lives of individuals and to work to ensure fair and just systems.
Quinn currently serves on the board of Rod's House, La Casa Hogar, League of Women Voters, and Washington Women Lawyers. Quinn is a member of Yakima Rotary Club and is a past president of Yakima County Bar Association. She has been a recipient of the YWCA Yakima Citizen of the Year Award, YWCA Dorothy and Fred Plath Award, and WWL Chapter Member of the Year Award.
Rebecca Martin, CCE, IOM, is the President and CEO of the Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce, supporting business connection and promoting economic opportunities along the Seattle-Tacoma business corridors in Washington.
Martin is a certified Chamber professional with experience in economic development, tourism, small business, and education, as well as membership organizations and public sector entities. She is one of only 4% of Chamber executives in the U.S. with the CCE designation from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) and the only practicing CEO is the State of Washington with the CCE certification.
She currently is serving her second term on the CCE Commission. Recently, Martin was selected as one of 21 executives from 17 states across the country to participate in a nationally Fellowship for Inclusive Economic Growth. The Fellowship is designed to assist Chamber executives in building replicable programs and processes for economic recovery.
In addition to her CCE, Martin also holds the industry designation of IOM, the Institutional Organizational Management offered by the United States Chamber of Commerce. Locally, she serves on the Board of Safe City Federal Way, the FUSION Advisory Board, and was on the transition team for WA state Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti.