New banners highlight CWU alumni making a difference

A new collection of alumni banners was unveiled this spring on the Ellensburg campus to honor CWU graduates whose leadership and accomplishments have made a lasting impact on their communities and beyond.

The six banners appear outside of Dean Hall as part of the Alumni Legacies of Excellence program, coordinated by University Advancement. The program was introduced in partnership with a CWU shared governance committee that includes: Laura Brant-Hoefer, Exempt Employee Association Chair; Malik Cantu, ASCWU President; Kurt Kirstein, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs; Paul Elstone, Vice President University Advancement; Peter Klosterman, Faculty Senate Chair; Josie Rollins, Employee Council Chair; and Charlita Shelton, Interim Vice President of Equity and Belonging.

The program celebrates graduates who have had a positive influence on their fellow residents and people around the state. The banners will be updated approximately once a year to highlight new groups of alumni based around a common theme.

For the program’s inaugural year, the banners were designed to honor alumni entrepreneurs whose leadership has strengthened both the state and the CWU community. 

Learn more about who these alumni are and how they have impacted their communities below and on the Alumni Legacies of Excellence website.

2025 Legacies of Excellence

Eric Boles

Business Administration, ’95
Founder and President, The Game Changers, Inc.

Eric Boles is the CEO and Founder of The Game Changers, Inc., a leadership training and development company headquartered in Lakewood. Boles is a noted global expert in talent development, change development, culture transformation, and peak performance. He is a thought leader in business strategies and provides in-depth coaching and consulting to help organizational leaders maximize their human asset and increase productivity and peak performance.

His recent clients include Arch Capital, PriceWaterhouse Cooper, Lululemon, GSK, Mayo Clinic, Key Bank, Lockheed Martin, Panera Bread, Meta Facebook, FedEx, Dycom Industries, Georgia Pacific, Bridgestone, and many more. Prior to becoming a sought-after speaker, executive coach, and consultant, Boles learned many of his principles on peak performance, team dynamics, and leadership from his experience as a wide receiver in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

Boles is the author of his book entitled “Moving to Great: Unleashing Your Best in Life and Work,” and an avid golfer and reader. He is a committed husband of 30 years to his wife, Cindy, and father to two adult daughters, Taylor and Madison.

Boles is a former member of the CWU Foundation Board and recently partnered with Central on the first ever CWU Supervisor’s Summit, designed to help implement the CWU values-based strategic plan.

Gladys Gillis

BS Industrial Technology, ’86
CEO/Owner, Starline Luxury Coaches

A seasoned and motivated leader, Gladys Gillis has built a multi-million-dollar passenger transportation enterprise across Washington state. The Starline Collection includes Starline Luxury Coaches in Seattle, Wheatland Express in Pullman, and A&A Motorcoach in Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Wenatchee, as well as the Boise Shuttle and Sun Valley Express in Boise, Idaho. Gillis continues to expand the Starline Collection.

The Puget Sound Business Journal recognized Gillis among their “Women of Influence” honorees in 2016 and named Starline Collection one of Washington’s “Top Women-Owned Businesses” in 2014. Starline Collection earned Seattle Business Magazine’s “Washington Green 50 Award” in 2011 and, in the same year, the “Environmental Excellence Award” of the Association of Washington Business.

Gillis is a current member of the CWU Board of Trustees, was formerly on the board of the Greater Seattle Business Association, and was the former Chair of the Board of Directors of the United Motorcoach Association in Washington, D.C. She was selected to represent the motorcoach industry on the National Advisory Council on Tourism and Transportation Infrastructure in Washington, D.C., where she helped to create the future of passenger transportation. Gillis is also a former member and chair of the World Affairs Council of Seattle and a former board member of the CWU Foundation.

She is passionate about helping students learn more about CWU and building bridges to local communities to allow potential students to experience what CWU could do for them.

Miguel Gomez

Business Administration and Accounting, ’24
Co-Founder, Fresh Valley Products

Miguel graduated from CWU last year with a double major in marketing and accounting, and a minor in entrepreneurship. He is the first of his family to graduate from college. 

Gomez comes from an entrepreneurial-minded family from the Yakima Valley, and the same year he graduated, he helped his parents start a small farming business, selling cucumbers, red peppers, pickles, and other vegetables and fruits.

His parents sell their products to local farmers markets, and after product samples circulated through restaurants in Central Washington, his family was told that if they opened a business, buyers would be interested in their products because they were more affordable and better quality than what they got from larger corporations. That’s when Fresh Valley Products was born, with Gomez is a co-founder. The organic farm supplies local restaurants and food trucks across Central Washington.

Gomez also founded the Cat Tank, a student-run business competition featuring startups, business ideas, inventions, and an opportunity to network. During his time at CWU, he participated in the Entrepreneurship Club and was the Vice President of Professional Development for ALPFA, an association of Latino professionals. He was a peer mentor, a peer academic success coach, and the student director of business and community services focusing on economic development. He made a significant contribution to building a culture of entrepreneurship at CWU while a student.

Amy Hanson

Accounting, ’90
Founder/CEO, Hanson Consulting Group

Amy Hanson graduated from CWU in 1990 with a degree in accounting and is now a member of the CWU Foundation Board. After many years working for Microsoft in a variety of finance-related roles, she founded her own business in 2008, Hanson Consulting. The company provides services in finance business operations, gaming and entertainment, technology and BI solutions, and managed services. It is a women-owned and led business.

Hanson has built her firm into a global organization. From its headquarters in Bellevue, WA, Hanson Consulting now has operations in Costa Rica, India, and the United Kingdom. As part of her work she has hired and placed many CWU students and alumni into impactful careers.

Hanson and her firm are strong supporters of community projects, student scholarships, and projects supporting the LGBTQ community. Each year, the firm dedicates time and a portion of profits to supporting students, children, and families in need. Employees and business partners join in this effort to ensure that future leaders within our communities have an equal opportunity to succeed. 

The firm has always believed that success is a result of championing its employees and clients and was honored to receive the esteemed recognition of being named one of Seattle Business Magazine’s Washington’s Best Companies to Work For the past eight years from 2017-2024.

Ted King

Music, ’77
President, Creative Content and Studio Productions

Ted King brings more than three decades of experience designing, developing, and producing immersive themed entertainment projects worldwide. Most recently, he served as Senior Show Producer for Paramount Pictures’ Themed Entertainment, where he was responsible for leading the creative development of show and attraction content for multiple international projects.

At the same time, King served as Principal of Ted King Entertainment, which he founded in 2009, and was Executive Producer, Media and Attractions at Granaroli Design & Entertainment, which he joined in 2011.

During his distinguished career, King has worked on hundreds of ground-breaking projects, including the Warner Bros. World Theme Park in Abu Dhabi, where he supervised the development, production, and installation of all music and soundtrack content for the billion-dollar park.

King also worked on the creative development and production of attractions such as King Kong  "Kongfrontation"; “The Ghostbusters Show”; “The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera” for Universal Studios, Florida; “Jurassic Park, The Ride” for Universal Studios Hollywood; and the "Linq High Roller" observation wheel in Las Vegas.

He produced music, soundtrack, and multimedia content for Paramount Pictures “Star Trek the Experience;” “The Race for Atlantis,” IMAX’s first 3-D motion simulator experience; and most recently, the first ever interactive dark ride in Las Vegas, 'SpongeBob's Crazy Carnival Ride".

King is a member of the CWU College of Arts and Humanities Advisory Board and has been a long-time mentor to CWU students hoping to work in the entertainment industry. He has also been a strong advocate for CWU’s music programs, particularly jazz, in honor of his father Waldo King, also a Central alum.

Richard Wang

Business Administration, ’08
CEO, Coding Dojo

Richard Wang is the CEO of the global educational technology company Coding Dojo, a Venture Partner with NextGen Venture Partners, and serves as a committee member for various Future of Work and education-focused leadership councils.

As a leading education and technology executive, Wang is committed to creating economic mobility for underserved communities and increasing opportunities for individuals to reskill or upskill so they can participate in the digital economy. 

At age 13, Wang was the first member of his family to immigrate from China to the United States. As a young adult, he became the first member of his family to attend a university. Having not prepared for the SAT, he got rejected by many of the colleges he applied to, but one gave him a conditional acceptance for being a first-generation student: CWU.

Wang taught himself English after witnessing firsthand how English literacy could create economic mobility for individuals in China. He believes digital literacy could offer the same economic lift for those around the world, and he strives to create opportunities to help others transform their lives.

With a passion for empowering individuals through coding skills, Wang has not only led Coding Dojo to new heights; he has also become a notable figure in the tech education sector. He was the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021, Asian American Luminary Award winner 2021, MIT Inclusive Innovation Award 2016, Inc. Magazine 2021 Best in Business Gold Medal Winner, Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2021 Finalist, Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Awards, and Puget Sound Business Journal Corporate Citizen Award winner, 2020. Additionally, he is the only CWU alumni to obtain a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He is a former member of the CWU Foundation Board and a recipient of the 2024 CWU Distinguished Alumni Award.