Jennifer White, Executive Director of Idaho State Board of Education, Appointed as WICHE Commissioner

BOULDER, COLORADO — Jennifer White, executive director of the Office of the State Board of Education of Idaho, has been appointed to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) as a commissioner.

As the executive director of the Office of the State Board of Education of Idaho, White leads and coordinates efforts across K-12 and higher education statewide. Her oversight includes several key agencies, such as Idaho Career and Technical Education, the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Idaho Public Television. Before assuming her current role, White served as the assistant vice president for finance and operations and senior counsel for government relations at Boise State University. Her career includes experience as in-house counsel for a major corporation and as a litigator at law firms in the Washington, D.C., area. She also served in the offices of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and then-Lieutenant Gov. Jim Risch. White earned her bachelor’s degree from Willamette University and her juris doctor from the University of Washington School of Law.

“Jennifer White’s statewide leadership, policy expertise, and cross-sector experience is a tremendous asset to advancing educational access and workforce opportunity across the West, and the Commission will greatly benefit from her perspectives working in K-12, higher education, and public agencies,” said WICHE President Demarée Michelau.

The WICHE Commission is comprised of 48 commissioners appointed by their respective governors from the 15 Western states and the U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States. The commissioners are higher education leaders and include state higher education executive officers, college and university presidents, legislators, business and community leaders, and other key partners. Together, they guide WICHE’s strategic direction and assure that the Western Regional Education Compact, which the Western states adopted in 1953, is carried out for the benefit of the region.

“Idaho is at its best when education and opportunity are connected,” White said. “As a WICHE commissioner, I’m eager to share Idaho’s work to align education and workforce pathways and to learn from our partners across the West who are doing the same. The WICHE Commission’s mission is to make education more accessible, efficient, and responsive to the needs of Idahoans, and this appointment is another way to strengthen that work through regional collaboration.”