Washington Military Alliance Announces Interim Leadership Team

The Washington Military Alliance (WMA) named four members to serve as their executive leadership team while the organization moves forward as a chartered public-partnership formed to provide a single voice in representing the state’s interests as the U.S. Department of Defense proceeds with spending cuts and potential military base downsizing.

Rich Hadley, representing the Association of Washington Business; Tiffany Speir, South Sound Military and Communities Partnership; Gary Brackett, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, and John Powers, Kitsap Economic Development Alliance will lead the WMA. The leadership team was selected to represent each of the WMA’s four focus areas: industry, infrastructure, military community advocacy organizations, and economic Associate Development Organizations (ADOs) respectively.

“Washington’s military and defense industry represents some $16 billion to our state’s economy and tens of thousands of jobs. I applaud the leaders and members of our Washington Military Alliance for stepping up to promote and protect this vitally important sector,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “I’m confident that this is a powerful, effective public-private partnership to forge a successful path forward for every community that relies on our military assets.”

Convened in 2012 and formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding by Gov. Inslee in September 2014, WMA is a consortium of some 20 organizations with an economic or workforce interest in the state’s defense community. One of the first major accomplishments of this stakeholder group was a joint effort to secure a $4.3 million USDOD Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) grant to help assess and forecast statewide economic impact of Washington’s defense industry, and plan local assistance for potential defense industry adjustments.

Over the next six months, the WMA will draft bylaws, identify a sustainable organizational structure, and reach out to additional community stakeholders. The interim executive team was elected to serve until a permanent leadership team is selected through an approved bylaw process.

The group also appointed a committee of members to advise the Washington State Department of Commerce on activities related to the USDOD grant. The OEA grant advisory committee has 11 members: Troy McClelland (Economic Alliance Snohomish County), Robin Toth (Greater Spokane Inc.), Tiffany Scroggs (Thurston County Economic Development Council), Andrea Spencer (City of Bremerton), Sarah Lee (Puget Sound Regional Council), Tiffany Speir (South Sound Military Community Partnership), John Powers (Kitsap Economic Development Council), Rich Hadley (Association of Washington Business), Gary Brackett (Tacoma-Pierce Chamber of Commerce), Dave Hunt (Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition), and an open at-large seat.

About the Washington Military Alliance

Washington State is home to a diverse military industry, with varied military and defense missions, needs, and opportunities and a different stakeholder group for every aspect of an issue related to the military and defense community. It was important to the Governor to convene a group of diverse military community stakeholders to come together with one voice in response to potential cuts to defense spending.

In response, the Washington Military Alliance (WMA) was convened in late 2012 and formalized under Governor Jay Inslee in September, 2014. Find more information here.