Our Board

Wayne Matulich is currently the College Director for ITT Technical Institute, Portland. Wayne has over 30 years of experience in all areas of corporate management in the Technology Industry. He has held positions in operations, business development, information systems management, systems and application development and as an internal consultant in the area of reengineering / business performance improvement.

Mr. Matulich has conducted numerous reengineering and process design projects resulting in dramatic improvement to business and
technology performance in areas including consumer relations, hotel operations,consumer and mortgage loan origination, ATM and EFT processing operations, direct marketing, technology fulfillment, strategic planning, cash management and post-secondary education.

Christine Cote was serving as Vice President of Operations for Perry Technical Institute prior to being appointed President January 1, 2008. Beginning in November 1997, Ms. Cote served as Director of the Perry Technical Institute Foundation. In that role she managed and grew the Foundation to phenomenal success allowing hundreds of students to benefit from scholarships and equipment funded through the Foundation.

Christine has a Bachelor of Arts in Community Health from Central Washington University. She is involved in the Yakima business community and is a member of the Kiwanis Club. She is married with two children.

Kimberly Lothyan is the Regional Vice President of Operations for Corinthian Colleges, Inc., overseeing the 10 Everest College campuses in Washington and Oregon. From September 2003 until July 2009 she served as the President of Everest College in Everett. Before assuming that role, she was Vice President of Education for Ashmead College and Eton Technical Institute from January 2000 to August 2003 where her passion for education inspired her to develop new curriculum that best served the educational interests of students. Her experience with curriculum development and education delivery began with employment at ITT Technical Institute and Western Washington University where she developed curriculum and taught business courses.

Prior to her work in education she was in the banking environment as an Operations Manager, supervising customer relations, marketing new accounts and overseeing several branch operational functions. Kim holds a Bachelor of Science from Brigham Young University and a Masters of Business Administration from Western Washington University. Before joining the NWCCF Board, Kim had been a board member for years with the Washington Federation of Private Career Schools and Colleges.

Chuck is currently in the 14th year of his career in market driven education. He began his course of vocation in the career college sector as a high school presenter with Heald College in San Francisco. During his tenure with Heald he served students in various roles including admissions, career services, and in the classroom as a general education instructor. He then worked as Director of Admissions and as School President for Corinthian Colleges. He has worked for Carrington Colleges (formerly US Education Corporation) for six years. Prior to his role as Director of Operations he was in Boise as Campus Executive Director for three years and before that at Carrington's Silicon Valley College in Fremont, California.

Prior to beginning his career in postsecondary education Chuck worked as an individual and group therapist for adults and adolescents with severe emotional disturbances and chronic mental illness. He holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Most importantly, he is the dad to three incredible children and husband to an amazing wife.

Jason Ferguson has over ten years of experience dedicated to postsecondary education. He began his career in 1999 at National University in San Jose, California, where he served as Regional Director of Student Services. In 2002 Jason began his tenure with Heald College. He first served students as Director of Admissions at the Salinas campus and in 2004 was promoted to Campus President. In January 2007 Jason was appointed President of Heald College in Portland, Oregon, where he continues to assist students with achieving their career goals.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Utah and a Masters of Business Administration from National University. He lives in Vancouver, Washington with his wife of 16 years and their four children, three boys and a daughter.

In 1999, Meredyth Given began her college career as an instructor for Seattle Massage School, later to become Everest College. In 2003 she became President of Ashmead College, Everett, and in 2007 she moved to the Everest College Seattle campus. In early 2010, Meredyth accepted the offer to transfer to the larger Everest College Everett campus as president. She has vast experience in every aspect of school operations and remains passionate to her commitment of ensuring students a quality, dynamic education that will provide quick access into their chosen career field.

Meredyth graduated from Temple University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. After three years of working in the mental health field she returned to school, attending Seattle Massage School to pursue Massage Therapy. Meredyth holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Illinois.

Danielle Horras is the Associate Director for Stevens Henager College located in Boise, Idaho. In this role she provides leadership and support to faculty, staff and students while managing the daily operations of the campus. She has over five years of experience in the career college sector serving in management roles in the departments of Admissions, Career Services and Student Services.

Ms. Horras earned a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Idaho and a Masters in Counseling and School Psychology through the University of Idaho.

An Idaho native, Danielle lives in Boise with her husband, Joseph, and son, Maxwell.

In February 1993, Halene Sigmund joined Construction Industry Training Council (CITC) as executive assistant. Currently she holds the position of Vice President - Apprenticeship. In July of 2010 Halene will become CITC's President. She has been directly involved with the management of CITC's growth, ensuring that the systems and company operations align with the mission of CITC and the vision of the Board of Trustees. Currently, Halene is responsible for CITC's apprenticeship programs. These duties include ensuring compliance with the rules and regulations of each set of apprenticeship standards approved under the Washington Administrative Codes (WACs) and the Revised Code of Washington (RCWs). Halene also ensures that consistency in policy making and the interpretation of CITC's seven standards of apprenticeship is adhered to between seven craft specific apprenticeship committees.

Halene was born in San Francisco and grew up in Southeast Asia. She has traveled extensively through Asia and Europe. She believes that it is through education that diversity is understood and where individuals are given options and access to opportunities that they may not have otherwise had.

Halene earned her B.A. in Art History from San Jose State University. She received her MBA in 2005 and is a certified by SHRM as a Professional in Human Resources.

Peter Tenney has spent his entire professional career in education. After graduating from Eastern Washington University with a B.A. in History and Education in 1978, Peter taught and coached at Medical Lake Middle School for the next nine years. He completed his Master's Degree in 1983. In 1987 he left the public sector and assumed the directorship of the start-up, Huntington Learning Center, in Walnut Creek, California. Expanding on his interest in private education, he next went to work as an admissions representative at Heald Business College in Hayward, California.

Peter was promoted Director of the Oakland campus of Heald. Over the next six years he was appointed to the directorship of the Heald campuses in Stockton and San Jose and concluded his tour with Heald working at their administrative headquarters in San Francisco. In 1997, Peter accepted the position of President of Bryman College in San Jose working for Corinthian Colleges, Inc. Always having a strong desire to return to the Pacific Northwest he accepted a transfer to Bryman College in SeaTac, WA in 1998. After receiving "School of the Year" and "Employee of the Year" honors for his work at SeaTac in 2000, Peter was promoted to the position of Regional Operations Director for CCi .

After a two year stint as a regional Peter was more than ready to get off the road and assumed the president's position at the newly opened Bryman College in Lynnwood, WA. In 2005 he moved to the Bryman campus in Renton and concluded his time in the Seattle area in 2007 after serving one year as Executive Director of Kaplan College also in Renton, WA.

In 2007 the Tenney family moved to back to eastern Washington after a 20 year absence. After enjoying some much appreciated time off Peter was hired as the Executive Director of Apollo College in the Spokane Valley where he is currently employed. Peter lives with his wife Tracy, son Andrew, step daughter Ashley and dog Max in Cheney, WA suspiciously close to where it all started .

Nancy Gale has served as Nancy Gale has served as Treasurer and Administrator for Technology Learning Group, Inc. dba TLG Learning since 1996. Prior to working with TLG Learning Nancy was the Executive Director for Options Healthcare and the Accounting Director for Group Health Cooperative. Nancy currently serves on the Private Career School Advisory Committee and also serves on other community boards.

Nancy has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington. She is married and has a teenage son.

Walt Leathers is currently the Vice President of Interface College in Spokane, WA. Prior to that he served as Executive Director of the Portland and Spokane campuses of Apollo College from May 2005 through 2008.

Walt came to Spokane Apollo campus in October 2005 from Apollo's Albuquerque, New Mexico campus where he was the Director of Admissions. While in Spokane, the campus had earned US Education's Campus of the Quarter award. Under his leadership in Albuquerque and during an interim Executive Director position at the Apollo Tuscon campus, staff and faculty also received numerous recognitions.

Theresa Taggart is a Senior Account Manager with McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Career College Group working with the career colleges in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

She has been with McGraw-Hill for 14 years and has over twenty years experience in education, publishing and technology.

Theresa lives in Santa Clara, California with her husband Jim, son Chris, 16, and daughter Katie, 13.

Ms. Mary Lyn Hammer's belief that education is the vehicle for making dreams come true has led her in a passionate fight, that began in 1987, for identifying problems in the higher education industry and finding solutions to insure future participation for all students. Her innovative "Hands On" Default Management Program is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its remarkable results. Ms. Hammer is the Owner, Founder, President and CEO of Champion College Solutions, an international company offering default prevention, job placement verification, skip tracing, education debt recovery, and consulting services.

Ms. Hammer has actively worked with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Education since 1988. Her many recognized accomplishments include, most recently, the 2005 CCA National Achievement Award for the Allied Member of the Year. She has numerous elections to the Board of Directors and currently serves with Career College Association (CCA), the Northwest Career Colleges Federation (NWCCF) and is the Chairwoman of the Board for the HEAL Coalition (Higher Education Allied Health Leaders Coalition).