Ryan Schopp is the Managing Partner/Director of Financial Planning at Alpha Partners. Ryan’s expertise and passion are in the world of financial planning, primarily working with first responders & military families. With tax efficiency and tax forward-thinking being at the center of his planning process, Ryan is continually educating himself and the Alpha Team...
Mr. Valencia is the deputy director for the Washington State Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ (LEOFF) Plan 2 Retirement Board, a policy-making board with the responsibility to study pension issues, set contribution rates and recommend pension policy to the state legislature. Mr. Valencia has 30 years of experience in public pension policy and...
Bruce joined the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems in 2022 and worked in financial services for the previous two decades. Bruce has a BA in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College and lives in Salmon Creek, WA with his wife and daughter. His father is a retired Undersheriff from Imperial County, California and...
Eric Monroe is a retired Battalion Chief from the Shoreline Fire Department and is the Director of the newly formed Washington State Council of Firefighters Cancer Foundation. As director, Eric coordinates a team of fire fighter mentors and educators from around the state providing the services of the WSCFF Cancer Foundation. Prior to the...
Chris Barney is currently a Lieutenant with Lacey Fire District 3, Local 2903. He started his fire service career as a volunteer in 1998 and has been with Lacey since 2005. He has been heavily involved in special operations and is a member of Lacey’s water rescue team as a Rapid Entry Rescue Swimmer...
Abby is an associate at Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt and has represented IAFF Locals and other public sector unions across Washington state in contract negotiations and enforcement, ULPs, campaign finance, and other matters. Before entering legal practice, she worked as a union organizer and researcher for almost a decade. workerlaw.com
Tom Jenkins serves as a Senior Advisor / Research Manager for UL Fire Safety Research Institute on the NERIS project. Prior to joining the NERIS team, he was the Fire Chief for the City of Rogers (AR). In that capacity he led over 160 career firefighters and successfully attained accreditation from the Center for...
Andrew Hedden is Associate Director of the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington. He is a historian of urban and labor history focused on the Pacific Northwest. His work has been published most recently in the Journal of Urban History and a chapter in the book Seattle’s Working Waterfront,...
Megan has been working in digital marketing and website design since the early days of the internet- back when she stumbled into making Angelfire fan websites and never managed to pull herself back out. For the last ten years she’s only dug deeper into the digital realm, and specializes in SEO and marketing consultation...
Jen is the founder and creative director of The Rhizome Collaborative, a creative and digital agency specializing in impactful content, website development, and technical solutions for socially responsible organizations and eco-friendly businesses and gov agencies. Jen has been working with the State Council since 2015. Since then, her team has been responsible for the...
