Board of Directors

Nancy Chamberlain

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Nancy remembers being at a PTA meeting in her elementary school gym with hundreds of people and thinking that the school and PTA must be so important if all these people were there participating. This memory stuck with her, as she joined PTA when her first child entered kindergarten.

For the last four years, Nancy has been on the WSPTA board of directors as advocacy director and finance officer. Prior to that, she served as an officer on five local PTAs and Northshore Council, serving as president, treasurer and legislative/advocacy chair at the elementary, secondary, and council levels.

Nancy states, “PTA has a long and proud history, and WSPTA must do several things to remain relevant and sustainable:

• Continue to listen to local PTA and council leaders and remove barriers to participation.
• Expand our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts so our membership and leadership more closely reflect the families we serve.
• Leverage technology to increase our service and training to local PTAs and councils to strengthen our leadership pipeline.
• Extend our strong advocacy program through diversification of the voices so that we can truly represent every child with one voice.”

Reflecting on her PTA journey, Nancy has this to say, “The realization that through PTA, I could make a difference in the lives of many kids has been my full-time focus ever since that first PTA meeting 17 years ago.  I am grateful for the leadership training I have received through WSPTA and look forward to serving as your president for the next two years.”

Angela Steck

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As a new and nervous kindergarten parent, Angela got involved in PTA 17 years ago when her daughter began school in a new community. She hoped her participation would help her to learn more about what the school community was like.

Angela has been an active parent advocate and leader dating back to 2004. She has served in many roles at the local and council level. Her state-level leadership roles include serving as Region 8 and Region 15 director while simultaneously volunteering as the Area E Vice president. She has also chaired or served on several state committees.

When discussing her new role on the WSPTA board, Angela remarks, “I’m honored to serve our association as we expand our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts so our membership and PTA leadership, in our local PTAs, councils, and state board, more closely reflect the families we serve.” She is looking forward to the opportunities to build new relationships within our school communities, as well as strengthen relationships with our educators and families which may have been put on pause by the pandemic.

Angela shares her appreciation with our exceptional and dedicated leaders for their efforts last year! Angela strongly feels that “Despite all the uncertainties, you found a way to PTA, one day at a time. Remember that you are not alone – you have a PTA family to welcome, support, and encourage you.” She feels the famous quote by Margaret Mead sums it up and is a message to members and leaders alike, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Kim Kuhne

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Kim has been involved in PTA since her children were in elementary school. It was not until her oldest headed to middle school that she took a board position at that school, and the rest they say is history.

Since her PTA journey began, Kim has taken on a wide variety of leadership roles. From elementary chair positions to that of president and chair positions at the council region and state level, she most recently has held two state board level director positions, that of membership director and now secretary.

As WSPTA secretary, Kim, along with her fellow board members, would like to rebuild statewide membership post-pandemic, and add a great deal more diverse representation. As she states, “We need to truly represent all the students of Washington state.

Post PTA life, Kim would like to combine her nonprofit experience with her forest management degree to help more people get out and enjoy our beautiful forests.

Candy Walters

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Candy first got involved in PTA to be a voice for the children in her son’s schools. She wanted more for her boys but also more for the students in their schools.

While also being a busy Naval wife and mom, Candy has been a local PTA president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, as well as various committee chairs. She has been a council legislative chair, president, secretary, vice president, and other committee chairs. Just prior to her new role, Candy served at the state level as the Region 1 director, state Reflections chair, and program director.

As the WSPTA finance officer, Candy hopes to be a source of relevant information to fellow board members as well as to our local PTAs and their members.

Most recently, Candy is excited for a new chapter in her life, as she and her husband recently bought a house, as he has just retired from the U.S. Navy after serving for 23 years! WSPTA congratulates Candy for her family’s service to our country.

Per the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws, Article 7, Section 5A, Shelby Reynolds, Family and Community Engagement Director, was elected on June 5, 2022, by the board of directors to serve a one-year term as the 5th Executive Committee member.

For more information on Shelby, see her details in the Family and Community Engagement Director section below.

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Lizzy Sebring

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Advocacy webpage

Lizzy credits her PTA involvement to her mom who went to PTA meetings. When her son started preschool, she made it a point to find out about the PTA. The legislative chair position was open at the first meeting she attended, and she has not looked back since.

Her PTA journey is short but mighty. In six years, she has served the local, council, and region levels prior to serving on WSPTA committees. Lizzy remarks about PTA service, “I love that you can do anything and everything that you want, so you are not limited in the possibilities!”

Lizzy would like to ensure that the board of directors reaches out to all parts of the state and identifies this as one of its biggest challenges. She believes that “in order to advocate effectively and representationally, WSPTA needs all those voices from the east to the west and from the north to the south and everyone in between.”

One of Lizzy’s favorite quotes is by Alice Walker who said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking that they don’t have any.”  She thinks PTA is a testament to knowing that we do have power—the power of our voices which we use every day to help all children.

Shelby Reynolds

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Family and Community Engagement webpage

Shelby first got involved in PTA when she was asked to be the “reader board updater” when her oldest child was a 2nd grader at Martha Lake Elementary in Lynnwood.  That experience propelled her to serve as president in 2015 and she served two years in that role. Additional roles include secretary and communications chair for Martha Lake.  Shelby shares, “Coincidentally, Martha Lake’s first big fundraising effort during my presidency was for a digital reader board, eliminating the plastic letters and weekly stints in the rain.”

Along the way, as Shelby’s two daughters have moved through the Edmonds School District, she has also served as Alderwood Middle School’s PTA President, Edmonds PTA Council President, been a member of the Region 7 service delivery team and most recently as the WSPTA Leadership Director.

Shelby believes that WSPTA has taken a few recent steps to increase our ability to reach our communities that have traditionally been underrepresented. And that together, we can strive to deepen our inclusive practices, diversify our membership, and empower the next generation of PTA leaders.  Her background in education and technology management will be a solid foundation for this effort as PTA enters a new era in family and community engagement – one that relies on virtual platforms and relationships to build community.

Jay Pulacode

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Leadership webpage

Having seen her parents volunteer at her schools, Jay always wanted to give back to the community. When her daughter was in kindergarten, there was a need for a parent volunteer to help with the reading program, which she volunteered to do and later became the room mom.

From volunteering on various committees to being various committee chairs, Jay has held many board positions.  Jay has served as co-president at Samantha Smith Elementary, co-president at Inglewood Middle School, co-president at Tesla STEM High School. Jay also served on the Lake Washington PTSA council in various chair positions, as vice president of programs, and as executive vice president.

When it comes to her role as leadership director, Jay wants to encourage other members and leaders from all areas of life to volunteer at the local, council, region, and state level. She hopes WSPTA is able to deliver a consistent level of training to all leaders in Washington state.

Jay is a teacher by profession and passionate about teaching and helping students. As an immigrant herself, Jay states, “I understand some of the problems that my ESL students are going through, and I’d like to help them achieve their American dreams.”

Membership webpage 

Laura Peterson

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Events and programs webpage

Laura got involved in PTA by being chair of the birthday book club and “wanted to help make their brand-new school a fun place.” Since then, she has developed a broad PTA background, as she has served in board positions and has chaired or volunteered on numerous committees, most recently on several WSPTA committees.

As a board of directors, Laura hopes they can come together as a team to bring a diversity, equity, and inclusion focus to all their work while helping PTAs navigate returning to a new normal.

Besides her PTA work, Laura is a registered nurse, serves her Mill Creek community in numerous roles, drives a float for Snowflake Lane (a Bellevue holiday tradition), and calls herself “a Phantom of the Opera FANatic.”

Liz Nord

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Region 1 webpage
Region 6 webpage

Very simply, Liz got involved in PTA as a way to advocate for her child with Type 1 Diabetes. This original involvement brought her to a myriad of chair positions, president at both the elementary and middle school levels, service on the Region 6 service delivery team, and a one-year term on the WSPTA Corporate Finance Committee.

Taking on her new role as area vice president, Liz hopes to help the board of directors create more paths and opportunities to leadership within the association.

Liz also has a passion for drama, as she chaired a PTA drama program for six years and has also served on a high school drama booster board.

Melissa Stone

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Region 2 webpage
Region 5 webpage

Melissa got involved with PTA to support her child’s school by working on the assembly committee. She liked that this program impacted every child at the school and jokes that she made eye contact with too many people and asked a lot of questions about why local school bonds were not passing and what could be done. This was her pathway into advocacy and PTA work at the local, district, and state levels.

Hailing from Region 2 and the Kirkland area, Melissa has served on numerous committees and in various leadership roles with advocacy being a constant theme to her leadership.

“As the Area B Vice President, my job is to serve Regions 2 and 5,” states Melissa. “Coming out of the challenging last year, my hope is to support PTAs, grow leaders, and work on making PTA more diverse and inclusive.”

Melissa has also served on the Lake Washington Citizens Levy Committee, where she worked on the past three bond and levy campaigns.

Jennifer Ritchie

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Region 9 webpage
Region 10 webpage

Jennifer attended her first PTA meeting when her daughter started kindergarten to participate in the school as much as she could while being a full-time working mom. Having gone on to serve in multiple leadership roles at the local, council, and region levels, Jennifer most recently has been a member of three WSPTA committees.

In her role as area vice president, Jennifer would like to see the board strengthen connections between the local, council, and state level of PTA. Her hope is to help local PTAs and councils emerge from the COVID restrictions and assist them in building back their membership base. She stated, “My AVP campaign promise was to make all your PTA dreams come true, so I will have to try to live up to that!”

Jennifer has been a Girl Scout Service Unit Manager, recently elected a PCO (precinct committee officer)  for the 47^th Legislative District, and has been a Kent Parks Commissioner for the past three years. Fun fact about Jennifer, during college she worked for four years on a fish and crab processor and in a land cannery.

Teri Davis

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Region 3 webpage
Region 4 webpage
Region 11 webpage
Region 12 webpage

As a full-time working mom, Teri got involved in PTA when her daughter was in kindergarten, as it allowed her a way to be part of Tori’s school life. Once Teri discovered she could volunteer for things from home, her PTA journey snowballed from there.

Teri’s past state-level positions include membership director and vice president. Happy to be back on the board as an area vice president, she wants to continue being a part of all of the good things for which PTA stands. Teri states, “PTA leadership has developed my skills for more than PTA – for life.”

For her part on the state board, she wants their work to help PTAs get connected again. Learning from this past year, Teri would like to see the utilization of both virtual tools and in-person gatherings to help build back a sense of accomplishment and fun.

Teri also volunteers at her church and serves as a leader of a Swedish heritage group. To support her love of volunteering, she works in the advertising department of a local newspaper where she coordinates the newspaper’s community partnerships marketing for nonprofits, as well as working with small businesses.

Tori Emerson

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Region 7 webpage
Region 8 webpage

Tori was first involved in PTA as a middle school teacher prior to the birth of her son. She had a pretty limited view of what PTA was about, even after becoming a parent. She states, “It wasn’t until I attended Convention that I began to really get the bigger picture of what PTA was founded upon as well as being part of something so much bigger than just our one PTA and the activities we were doing. That bigger picture is what hooked me on learning more about PTA and participating.”

She began helping her son’s PTA by providing food for potlucks and doing other odd jobs. Once her son was in first grade, Tori quickly began her leadership journey. She started by helping organize the school carnival, then moved to secretary followed by a term as president. She continued on as Arlington Area PTA Council secretary, co-president, and president and joined the Region 7 service delivery team.

Tori hopes her board service provides empowerment and opportunities for new leaders to develop their own special skill sets to keep this organization strong. She strongly feels that this all benefits kids as we all become our best selves.

Outside of PTA, Tori has had leadership roles in a regional summer camp, the Arlington Kids’ Kloset, and has volunteered for the Citizens’ Committee for Arlington Schools on bond and levy campaigns.