Mentors
Michaela Doelman
I work for the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services as the Assistant Director – Workforce Support and Development Services. I began my state career in 2007 at WSDOT, moved over to Commerce in 2013 and DES in 2015.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Human Resources, Program Administration
Ethnic Background: First Generation American to Filipino and Swedish parents
Language(s) Spoken: English and Spanish
Michaela.Doelman@des.wa.gov
Mustafa Mohamedali
Mustafa works as a Research Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). He has lived and worked in six countries and travelled 27 on four continents before settling in Washington in 2000. He has served on the board the Project Management Institute (PMI), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Interfaith Works, and is currently on the board of the Islamic Center of Olympia responsible for outreach and promoting inter-cultural/interfaith understanding. He has been able to realize his passion to find common ground in values of people polarized through years of distrust and ignorance and has been able to achieve real and tangible results. Mustafa was also recently appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC).
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Licensed professional civil engineer and certified project manager professional.
Ethnic Background: First generation American, a native of Kenya with Indian ancestry
Language(s) Spoken: Polyglot--fluent in English, Gujarati, Swahili, and Hindi/Urdu, and can get by in Arabic and a couple more.
Wesley Nguyen
I work for the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTB) as a Program Specialist. I joined WTB in 2017 after worked in Seattle for a local workforce intermediary agency. Prior to my time in Seattle, I spent 13 years overseas, worked for international development agencies.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Project/program/policy development and management, workforce strategy and implementation, community-based organization (CBO) partnership, career planning and coaching.
Ethnic Background: First generation Vietnamese-American; former refugee
Language(s) Spoken: English, Vietnamese, and Mongolian (exposed to Khmer, Cantonese, Pashto, and French)
wesley.nguyen@wtb.wa.gov
Allison Spector
Allison is management analyst at the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT’s) Office of Equal Opportunity. For education background, Allison has a joint JD / MBA and a bachelor’s in psychology. Allison is a WSDOT’s representative on the Interagency Committee of State Employed Women (ICSEW) and serves on the advisory committee for the Rainbow Alliance and Inclusion Network state employee business resource group. Allison has been in state government for about three years. Allison is passionate about helping current and prospective state employees find their way in state government.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Legal research, data analysis, civil rights, and public policy.
Language(s) Spoken: English
spectoa@wsdot.wa.gov
Alejandro Sanchez
I work for the Office of the Governor as the Special Assistant for immigration-related matters. I joined the state in 2012 as an administrative law judge with the Board of Tax Appeals.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Tax law, immigration policy
Language(s) Spoken: English
alejandro.sanchez@gov.wa.gov
Alex Countouriotis
I work for the Washington State Department of Transportation as a Transportation Engineer 4. I joined WSDOT in 2006 after gaining several years of Engineering experience with smaller governmental agencies.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Project Management and Transportation Engineering
Ethnic Background: Child of first generation Japanese immigrant
Language(s) Spoken: English
countoa@wsdot.wa.gov