Inslee appoints Brown co-chair of Workforce Training Board

OLYMPIA (Jan. 31, 2022) — Gov. Jay Inslee appointed two new co-chairs to helm the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board bringing together labor and business leaders at a time when the state faces pivotal workforce and economic challenges during an ongoing pandemic. The board is tripartite with equal representation from business, labor, and government.

The two new chairs are Larry Brown, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and Gary Chandler, vice president of strategic affairs at the Association of Washington Business. They succeed former Workforce Board Chair Perry England, vice president of building performance at MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions in Seattle, who chaired the Board from 2015 through 2021.

“I appreciate the willingness of these two highly respected leaders to come together to collaborate on behalf of Washington’s business and labor communities,” Inslee said. “Maintaining, growing and diversifying our state’s world-class workforce is one of our highest economic priorities, especially as we work towards an equitable economic recovery that opens up new opportunities in rural communities and communities of color.”

“It’s a tremendous honor to serve in this role alongside Gary,” Brown said. “Together, we can work to create and sustain good family-wage jobs and successful businesses across Washington, but particularly in the rural parts of the state in need of economic development. With the once-in-a-generation $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment by Congress, we must ensure Washington’s workers and businesses are prepared to maximize this opportunity. Making sure we have a skilled and trained workforce will help us achieve that goal and make our state an even better place to live and work.”

The Workforce Training and education Coordinating Board is an independent third party evaluator that tracks the performance of the state’s largest workforce programs to ensure a high-quality workforce training system. It oversees a workforce development system that includes 16 education and training programs receiving almost $1 billion annually in state and federal funds. It also sets and evaluates performance standards for education programs eligible for federal and state training dollars as part of the Eligible Training Provider List. Learn more at www.wtb.wa.gov.