Board of Directors

IPMA is governed by a 12-person Board of Directors. The Board holds a monthly meeting on the second Thursday of the month and holds an annual planning meeting. The current chair and members of the Board are listed below.

Name / Office	Agency	Phone
Chris Lamb, Chair (Term expires Dec. 2025)	Office of Financial Management	(360) 407-2672
Heidi Geathers, Vice-Chair (Term expires Dec. 2023)	WA Department of Revenue	(360) 534-1615
Scott West, Secretary/Treasurer (Term expires Dec. 2025)	WA Department of Ecology	(360) 705-7601
Bryce Carlen (Term expires Dec. 2023)	WA Department of Revenue	(360) 647-7706
Mary Craig (Term expires Dec. 2024)	WA Department of Services for the Blind	(360) 725-3830
Jennifer McNamara (Term expires Dec. 2025)	WA Department of Health	(360) 236-4423
Susie Olsen (Term expires Dec. 2025)	WA Department of Agriculture	(360) 902-2077
Matt Oram (Term expires Dec. 2023)	WA Department of Fish & Wildlife	(360) 902-2200
Mark Quimby (Term expires Dec. 2024)	Washington Technology Solutions	(360) 252-9900
Maribeth Sapinoso (Term expires Dec. 2024)	WA Department of Labor and Industries	(360)
Sayee Vaitheesvaran (Term expires Dec. 2024)	WA State Gambling Commission	(360) 486-3480

Chris has served 14 years in CIO/IT Director roles with the State of Washington for the Department of Retirement Services, the Department of Social & Health Services and in his current role for the Office of Financial Management. Chris’ career has spanned 31 years; all but one of which has been in the public sector. Chris is a graduate of Washington State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics. He is also a graduate of the University of Washington Executive Management Program and holds Prosci certification in Change Management as well as Project Management certification, also from the University of Washington.

Heidi Geathers is an experienced IT leader with over 25 years in the technology field. She has been a part of the technology evolution, applying many principles she has learned over the years to technology initiatives today. Currently, Heidi is an executive leader within the Department of Revenue. She provides strategic leadership and oversight to the Information Services, Business and Financial Services, Human Resources, and Information Governance programs within the agency.

Heidi has leveraged her skills in both the private and public sectors to make a valued difference. She notes that the fundamental structures and cultures of business may be different, the need for technology to successfully execute the organizations mission and vision is the same. Heidi worked for two decades in the Banking world and began her public sector career as the CIO at the Liquor and Cannabis Board. During her tenure, she led the technology team in implementing solutions for the legalization of marijuana. She transitioned into the Deputy Director role at Watech for three years, offering services to state government agency’s that included on premise and cloud solutions, brokered services, security governance, and application development. Her current role encompasses all of the administrative services of the organization to continue to provide customer centric support, enhance partnerships with business operations, and grow the organizational strategies to effectively achieve the mission and vision of the Department of Revenue.

Mary has more than 20 years’ experience supporting state agencies. She started providing computer and network support to a variety of state agencies in the 90’s. During this time she managed network projects for the Department of Services for the Blind (DSB) where she became interested in hardware/software accessibility. Mary continued to assist DSB with Assistive Technology projects – supporting both staff and client technology configurations and joined the agency in 1999.

Mary believes in continually expanding her technical knowledge and skills. She holds a Certificate of Proficiency in Data Entry, the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification, the Western Washington University Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation Program Emerging Leaders Certification, and the University of Washington’s Project Management Certification.

Mary is a passionate advocate of accessibility for all computer users – helping those with visual, hearing, and physical impairments maintain employment. Mary is extremely excited to provide the IPMA with the “Small Agency” perspective towards Information Technology subjects. One of her favorite quotes: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller.

Jennifer McNamara is the Chief Information Officer for the Washington State Department of Health. She leads a staff of 180 professionals who provide reliable and secure IT services and solutions in support of public health.

Jennifer received her Project Management and Executive Management certificates at the University of Washington and is a certified Project Management Professional. Jennifer is a Harvard University National Preparedness Leadership Initiative fellow, skilled in crisis management and meta-leadership. She is also an Aspen Institute Justice and Society fellow, completing the Excellence in State Public Health Law Program in 2014.

Jennifer plays a key role in the Department of Health emergency preparedness and response, is trained in the National Incident Management System, and is an experienced Incident Commander and Liaison Officer.

Jennifer is a 38 year veteran of state government, formerly providing project and organizational leadership in the Washington State Department of Information Services and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Mark Quimby is the Deputy Director of Technology & Operations for Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech) where he leads the strategic development and implementation of integrated voice, video and data communication services. Since 2014, he has held several leadership positions with WaTech including Assistant Director for Network Services, Enterprise Data Network Manager and Disaster Recovery Architect for the agency.

Governor Inslee appointed Mark Quimby to acting State CIO and Director for WaTech in March 2021 when James Weaver, who served as director since 2018, resigned. Mark led the agency through July 2021, driving the agency forward with a focus on continuous improvement.

Prior to his work at WaTech, Quimby worked at Washington State Department of Corrections for 15 years, where he managed the agency’s technology and infrastructure.

Quimby earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and business management from The Evergreen State College and holds four Associates degrees in Database Management, Computer Programming, Network Administration and Information Systems Technology.

Susie Olsen (formerly Fry) is the Chief Information Officer at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. She has over 25 years of leadership experience in an IT organization; 10 of those years in the public sector with both Washington State Department of Labor & Industries and Washington State Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the public sector, Susie spent two years with Alaska Airlines and nearly 15 years with the Frank Russell Company. Her experience in both the private and public sectors brings a unique perspective to her current role. Susie “grew up” in IT through the Service Desk starting out as a junior Help Desk Analyst which has provided a wide breadth of experience and valuable insight especially in her most recent role as CIO. Susie is also a proud alumnus of the IPMA LeaderPath Program (2018 Cohort).

Maribeth Sapinoso was appointed Assistant Director of Labor & Industries' Administrative Services Division in June of 2023. Prior to assuming this role, Maribeth Sapinoso was with the Employment Security Department from 2021-2023 as their Chief Information Officer for their Information Technology Services Division. Maribeth worked for the Department of Labor & Industries from 2018-2021 as their first Deputy CIO, primarily responsible for their daily operations of their IT division. From 2011-2018, Maribeth worked with the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts as an IT Program Manager implementing a statewide Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) case management system for the Washington State Superior Courts. Maribeth also worked with the Washington State Department of Transportation for approximately 15 years holding various leadership and technical roles in Information Technology and Human Resources. Maribeth holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from San Diego State University and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Sayee Vaitheesvaran brings 27 years of technology and leadership experience in both private and government. He is the CIO and Director of Technology in the Washington State Gambling commission.

Sayee has a Bachelor's and master’s degree in computer science and an MBA from the University of Washington, Foster School of Business. He is also a certified project management professional. (PMP)

Among other past employers, he worked for Employment Security Department, Department of Transportation (WA State Agencies), and Chempoint.com in Bellevue (Startup Company), Univar, Walmart.

Sayee has played multiple roles as a Programmer, Project Manager, Product manager, Director, Consultant, and now as the CIO.

Matthew Oram graduated from Seattle University in 2006 with a degree in Philosophy. Worked 8 years for an international online registration company, starting out as customer support and continually took job growth opportunities and training until becoming a Sr. Operations Engineer running multiple teams, multiple data centers, and a portfolio that processed on average $5M in transactions daily.

Started working for Washington State in 2014 at the Department of Fish and Wildlife and was brought on to replace the aging licensing system. Through incident management of the 2017 WILD data breach and the successful launch of the licensing system, Matt was promoted to Deputy Chief Information Officer in March 2017. In July 2017, Matt became the Chief Information Officer for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. For a very short period of time between April and August of 2021, Matt did take a temporary leave from DFW to be the Acting Deputy Director of Technology and Operations at WaTech to help provide executive leadership while the state recruited a new State CIO.

Matt Modarelli is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Director of the Information Technology Division for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The mission of the women and men of WSDOT’s information technology enterprise is to provide safe, reliable and cost-effective technology solutions that enable transportation options to improve communities and economic vitality for people and businesses. As CIO, Matt oversees and directs innovative and reliable telecommunications and cloud-based IT initiatives for nearly 7,000 employees operating and maintaining over 3,200 bridge structures, the largest ferry system in the nation, and multimodal transportation systems that provide more than 220 million passenger trips a year.

Prior to joining the WSDOT team, Matt was the CIO of the Washington Military Department and also served as the nation’s first state-level Cyber Security Manager for Emergency Management. He led enterprise technology initiatives for Emergency Management, the Washington Army and Air National Guard, the Washington Youth Academy, numerous headquarters support units, and training and maintenance facilities throughout the state. He also served as the state’s policy leader and strategist for preparing government and industry partners for significant cyber incidents impacting communities and critical infrastructure and he oversaw quality assurance for the state’s 911 systems. Prior to that, Matt served with the U.S. Air Force as an information systems officer and security leader (retired).

Matt is a member of the Governing Body for Seattle-Area CIOs, the board of directors for Washington State's Information Professionals Management Association, and serves on multiple regional IT executive committees, boards, and working groups. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and holds Master’s Degrees in Operational Art and Design and Management Information Systems (MIS), is a Certified Information Systems Analyst, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).