Legislative Advisory Committee Members

Justin Ruffridge

Representative, Alaska State Legisalture

Loki Tobin

Senator, Alaska State Legisalture

Vacancy

Richard Roth

Senator, California State Legislature

Jennifer Bacon

Representative, Colorado State Legislature

Dafna Michaelson Jenet

Representative, Colorado State Legislature

Lisa Kitagawa

Representative, Hawai'i State Legislature

Donna Mercado Kim

Senator, Hawai'i State Legislature

Michelle N. Kidani

Senator, Hawai'i State Legislature

Amy Perruso

Representative, Hawai'i State Legislature

Kevin Cook

Senator, Idaho State Legislature

Dave Lent

Senator, Idaho State Legislature

Senator Dave Lent represents District 33 in the Idaho State Senate, where he is a member of the education and agricultural affairs committees. He is sitewide training manager for Fluor Idaho at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where he oversees both regulatory and facility-specific training programs and served as chair for the Energy Facilities Contracting Group. He received a Distinguished Leadership award from the Department of Energy for regulatory reform and cost-cutting initiatives, has consulted in the nuclear power industry in radiation protection and training, has managed several multimillion-dollar projects, and has participated in mission-critical activities at the INL since 1980. He served on the Idaho Falls School District 91 Board of Trustees, where he played a key role in replacing four elementary schools and transitioning a junior high into a successful project-based high school. A graduate of Eastern Idaho Technical College and Idaho State University, he and his wife, Terri, have five children and twelve grandchildren.

Carrie Semmelroth

Senator, Idaho State Legislature

Julie Yamamoto

Representative, Idaho State Legislature

David Bedey

Representative, Montana State Legislature

Laurie Bishop

Representative, Montana State Legislature

Laurie Bishop resides in Livingston, MT, where she is representing her community in the Montana State House of Representatives. When not working as a legislator, Laurie is the Director of the Montana Afterschool Alliance. Her previous work has included improving statewide high school graduation rates with the Montana Office of Public Instruction and serving as the executive director of a youth development nonprofit.

Daniel Salomon

Senator, Montana State Legislature

Paul Tuss

Representative, Montana State Legislature

Marilyn Dondero Loop

Senator, Nevada State Legislature

Sandra Jauregui

Assemblywoman, Nevada State Legislature

Melanie Scheible

Senator, Nevada State Legislature

Robin Titus

Senator, Nevada State Legislature

G. Andrés Romero

Representative, New Mexico State Legislature

Bill Soules

Senator, New Mexico State Legislature

Bill Soules was appointed to the WICHE Commission in May 2023. He was born and raised in the Mesilla Valley, and has been a lifelong advocate for the interests of students. He has served as a state senator since 2013, taught in the Las Cruces Public Schools for 16 years, and served as president of the New Mexico School Board Association and a member of the Las Cruces School Board. Soules serves as the senate representative to the New Mexico Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NM EPSCoR), a statewide consortium expanding the state’s capacity to conduct scientific research and train a diverse, highly qualified STEM workforce.

Christine Trujillo

Representative, New Mexico State Legislature

Kyle Davison *

Senator, North Dakota Legislature

Kyle Davison has served as a Senator in the North Dakota Legislature since 2014 and represents District 41 in south Fargo. He currently serves on the Appropriations committee and previously chaired Government Veterans Affairs and was a member of the Education committee for three sessions.

In addition, Senator Davison is the Executive Director of the South East Education Cooperative (SEEC). He has held that position since July 2005. The SEEC serves 36 school districts, nearly 38,000 students and over 3500 teachers by providing support to schools in areas such as professional development, business services, special education, and curriculum development.

Kyle is a graduate of Valley City State University with a degree in Business Administration.

Karen Krebsbach

Senator, North Dakota Legislature

Bob Martinson

Representative, North Dakota State Legislature

Mark Sanford

Representative, North Dakota State Legislature

Vacancy

Casey Crabtree

Senator, South Dakota State Legislature

Roger DeGroot

Representative, South Dakota State Legislature

Reynold Nesiba

Senator, South Dakota Legislature

Tim Reed

Senator, South Dakota State Legislature

Manny Gregory Castro

Representative, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Kalani R. Kaneko

Senator, Republic of the Marshall Island

Kalani Kaneko has served as a Senator in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Legislature since 2016 and represents the Capital City of Majuro Atoll. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Heath, Education, and Social Affairs (HESA) committee and has been a member for two terms.

In addition, Senator Kaneko is currently a member of the Marshall Islands Scholarships, Grant, and Loan Board (MISGLB). The MISGLB serves as oversight for the nation’s scholarship program for postsecondary education locally and overseas.

Senator Kaneko is a graduate of Post University with degrees in Marketing and Business Management.

Tina Rose Muña Barnes

Senator, Guam Legislature

Amanda Shelton

Senator, Guam Legislature

Melissa Ballard

Representative, Utah State Legislature

Keith Grover

Senator, Utah State Legislature

Michael McKell

Senator, Utah State Legislature

Ann Millner *

Senator, Utah State Legislature

Ann Millner serves as the state senator for Utah District 18. She serves in senate leadership as the senate majority assistant whip.  She serves on several committees including the executive appropriations committee, the legislative management committee, co-chair of the Higher Education Strategic Planning Commission and the appropriations subcommittees for both public and higher education. Additionally, she is a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures executive committee. She has sponsored legislation focused on economic development specifically related to business development strategy and workforce preparation, public and higher education, and improving affordable health care. In 2018, she was awarded the Utah Business Legislator of the Year by the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Utah Technology Council Legislator of the Year.

She is a Regents Professor of Health Administration and former president at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Under Millner’s leadership as president from 2002 to 2012, Weber State became a multi-campus institution, experienced a nearly 40 percent increase in enrollment, initiated a major facilities revitalization effort, expanded its network of community partnerships, launched WSU-Davis, emerged as a regional center for economic development, and earned national recognition for its undergraduate research and community-based learning initiatives.

Millner currently serves on the board of trustees for Intermountain Healthcare, the board of directors for Merit Medical and the advisory board for Zions Bank. In addition, she is chair of Ogden United, and a member of the advisory board for the Kem Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, and the Governor’s Taskforce on Educational Excellence.

Debra Entenman

Representative, Washington State Legislature

Mari Leavitt

Representative, Washington State Legislature

Gerry Pollet

Representative, Washington State Legislature

Representative Gerry Pollet has served in the Washington State House since December 2011. Gerry is an attorney and faculty member at the UW School of Public Health. Gerry is Vice-Chair of the House Higher Education Committee and serves on the Education and Finance Committees.  Gerry was the author of the successful efforts in 2016 to pass the nation’s first comprehensive regulation of electronic cigarettes and a comprehensive program responding to the critical shortage of teachers in Washington, including a grant program to pay tuition for low income students seeking to be teachers in under served areas. Gerry has been honored as the “Legislator of the Year” for his work to improve affordable access to higher education and improved student success. He is the House sponsor of “The Washington Promise,” for free community college tuition.

Vandana Slatter

Representative, Washington State Legislature

Fred Baldwin *

Senator, Wyoming State Legislature

Fred Baldwin, a physician assistant in Kemmerer, and is serving his second term in the Wyoming State Senate. He is the chairman of the select committee on behavioral health, the Senate’s labor, health and social services committee as well as on the revenue committee. Baldwin is active in his community as Chief of the South Lincoln fire district. He also works with Kemmerer’s suicide prevention group. He is a fourth-generation Wyomingite who graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in physician assistant studies and earlier was enrolled in the nursing program at Casper College and pursued studies at the University of Wyoming, the University of Wisconsin Washington County, and Western Oregon State University.

Landon Brown

Representative, Wyoming State Legislature

Wendy Schuler

Senator, Wyoming State Legislature

Art Washut

Representative, Wyoming State Legislature