Washington State Budget and Policy Center Executive Director Misha Werschkul recently shared with partners that she will be stepping down from her role on October 1st. She said in her announcement letter:
Being part of this amazing team and community over the past nine years has been a privilege. I am immensely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to learn and grow in this role and for the people I have had the chance to work alongside.
I’m especially proud to have been part of these efforts, in partnership with so many of you, during my time with the organization:
- Building a diverse and powerful coalition to win a first-in-the-nation tax rebate program in a state without an income tax. In the past two years, our Washington Working Families Tax Credit has delivered over $200 million in cash payments to people in Washington!
- Helping pass and defend Washington’s capital gains excise tax, which has resulted in more than $1 billion of investment in child care and education. Combined with the Working Families Tax Credit, this change represented the most equitable update to our tax code in Washington state’s history.
- Shifting B&PC’s internal practices to better reflect our values, including adopting a $75,000 minimum salary for current staff, moving to a 32-hour workweek, and building more inclusive and transparent decision-making processes.
The future is bright for the Budget and Policy Center. Our hardworking and passionate staff and board recently completed our new theory of change, which provides greater clarity about the role the Budget and Policy Center plays providing trusted and accessible research and analysis in partnership with organizations that focus on movement – and power-building.
I have so much confidence in the Budget and Policy Center staff to continue to dream big, challenge ideas of what is possible, and build strong partnerships that support long-term policy change! Our board of directors is focused and engaged, has developed a thoughtful transition plan, and will be using the theory of change as a key anchor through this transition process.”
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The president of the Washington State Budget and Policy Center board of directors, Ankita Patel, said the following:
On behalf of the Washington Budget and Policy Center board of directors, we are immensely grateful for Misha’s leadership (for almost a decade!) as the executive director. Through the accomplishments that Misha shared [above in her announcement letter], there is a deep undercurrent of values and approaches that Misha has constantly embodied to lead this organization. For us at the Budget and Policy Center, we have seen Misha create strong cohesion between board and staff, approach our partners with an orientation to our collective impact, and support policy work in a manner that centers Washington communities – among the many other impacts Misha has had over the years.
In the past couple of years, we have been doing some important work through our theory of change process to position the organization toward a future that reimagines how we work, what we do, and who we are working with and for. While many organizational leaders leave organizations with a sustainability plan, Misha is leaving us – the board and staff – with a strong blueprint for the future of our work. For that, I am immensely grateful.
We will be using this theory of change to call in our next leader. We are explicit about being advocates for racially just economic policy and tribal sovereignty. Now, as we embark on our search for our next executive director, we have partnered with Motus Recruiting, an award-winning search firm based in Oregon that is strongly aligned with our values and our desire to bring in a leader who will work closely with the staff, the board, and our partners to bring our theory of change to life. We are working to set the stage for our next leader and look forward to welcoming them.
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We anticipate posting a formal announcement for our next executive director soon. Please keep an eye out for communications from us with more updates. If you think you might be interested in the role, please reach out directly to Patrick David or Dreshawn Vance, at Motus Recruiting.