Washington State School Directors' Association
Visit their website at www.wssda.org
Mary Fertakis
President
Mary Fertakis has been a member of the Tukwila School Board for 16 years. She served as President for two years, Vice President for five years, and Legislative Representative for 10 years. Fertakis was elected to the Washington State School Directors’ Association Board in 2008, and also served on the Board from 2000-2003. She is a graduate of the L-WSSDA Class of 2006.
Other WSSDA service includes the Legislative Committee, Urban Issues Committee, Federal Relations Network, the Achievement Gap Task Force, and D-MAT. On the WSSDA Board she has served on the Finance Subcommittee, Executive Director Evaluation Task Force, and Liaison to the Legislative Committee and Executive Committee.
Fertakis has presented at several conferences, including the WSSDA, NSBA, and Celebrating Educational Opportunities conferences. She is co-founder of the Tukwila Children’s Foundation, which provides grants to serve children in the Tukwila Community.
Dr. Jonelle Adams
Executive Director
Dr. Jonelle Adams is executive director of the Washington State School Directors' Association.
Adams was previously employed as Executive Director of the Washington Alliance for Better Schools, where she served since 1998. In thatposition she was responsible for leading and managing a non-profit consortium of 12 member school districts from Marysville to Federal Way to support school reform and professional development for principals and teachers.
Adams’ previous experience includes 12 years of organizational and educational leadership and management positions with the Boeing Company where she was responsible for supporting school reform through effective business partnerships and providing leadership training and effective team building skills to more than 150 school principals.