Trustee Information

CWU accounting alumnus Robert Nellams has served as the director of the Seattle Center since 2006 where he directs a staff of 240 full-time employees and more than 650 intermittent staff.

He previously worked for more than a decade as the center’s deputy director and as director of patron services. He started working for the city of Seattle in 1982 as an accountant. Previously the Chair of the CWU Foundation Board, he has brought that expertise to the BOT governing board as a member of its finance committee.

Nellams is a member of the Board of Directors for The Northwest African American Museum and serves on their finance committee. He is also a member of The Breakfast Group, a Seattle-based non-profit service organization devoted to mentoring African-American and other low-income and at-risk male youth of color. A native of Seattle and graduate of Franklin High School, Nellams is immensely proud of his family, his city, and his university.

His six-year term on the CWU BOT will continue through September 2027.

Ray Conner is the former president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, as well as the former Vice Chairman of The Boeing Company. He graduated from CWU in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in education. He worked for Boeing for more than 40 years, starting out as a mechanic and steadily climbing through the ranks of company leadership. He retired from Boeing in December 2017.

In addition to attending CWU, Conner’s ties to the Ellensburg community include student teaching at Ellensburg High School, where he also coached football. In 2015, Conner and his wife, Katie, donated $300,000 to establish the Ray and Katie Conner Endowed Scholarship Fund at CWU. The endowment funds annual scholarships for students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines.

Conner recently joined the board of directors of Alaska Airlines, serves as the Chairman of Pursuit Aerospace, and serves as an Operating Advisor for Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

His six-year term on the CWU BOT will continue through September 2023.

Erin Black currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Memorial Foundation, MultiCare Yakima Memorial’s philanthropic partner. She joined the foundation in summer 2015. Within this role, Erin leads an exceptionally talented team in which they collectively build genuine relationships within the community helping connect people’s generosity to impactful health care programs and services.

Black previously worked as the Yakima YWCA Executive Director and is a Downtown Yakima Rotarian, serves on the Rotary Trust Board and will serve as the Downtown Yakima Rotary President in 2023/2024. She was appointed by Governor Inslee to serve as a Trustee on the Central Washington University Board. Black received a master’s degree from Seattle University in Nonprofit Leadership and her bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University in Anthropology. She is passionate about mission-based work and the opportunity for collective impact for the betterment of communities.

Erin enjoys spending time with her husband Monte and beautiful daughter Raelee. Together they love to travel, ski, hike, and camp.

Her six-year term on the CWU BOT will continue through September 2026.

Jeff Charbonneau earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree at CWU in the early 2000s and went on to become the National Teacher of the Year in 2013 while working as a high school science teacher in his hometown of Zillah, Washington.

The longtime STEM educator is now the principal of Zillah High School, where he previously taught science for 17 years. Charbonneau also has worked as a middle school principal in the Zillah School District, a STEM coordinator for Educational Service District 105, and was a College in the High School teacher for Eastern Washington University, Yakima Valley College and CWU.

During his two stints as a Central student, he earned a B.S. in Biology (2000), a professional teaching certificate (2004), and a master’s of education (2005). He returned to Ellensburg in 2013 to earn a Career and Technical Education Certificate in STEM, and again in 2017 for his principal/administrator certification.

Charbonneau’s CWU training prepared him for the biggest honor of his 22-year career: the National Teacher of the Year award, presented by then-President Barack Obama. That same year, he won the Washington State Teacher of the Year honors and received CWU’s Alumni of the Year award. He also received the 2015 Global Teacher Prize, awarded to the top 50 finalists around the world.

In addition to his role as principal, Charbonneau serves on the national legislative committee for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ACSD) and has been a member of the Washington Student Achievement Council since 2013, currently serving as the Vice-Chair. He also has served on board of directors for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2014-18) and the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (2014-19).

He will serve a six-year term through September 2027.

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. Gillis is continuing to expand the Starline Collection.

The Puget Sound Business Journal recognized Gillis as a “Women of Influence” 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 member of the board of the Greater Seattle Business Association and of the Central Washington University Foundation. She is the 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 is helping to create the future of passenger transportation. Gillis is a former member and chair of the World Affairs Council of Seattle.

Gillis, who holds a BS in Industrial Technology from CWU, began her career at Boeing Commercial Airplane Company. She held various leadership positions in engineering, quality assurance, and manufacturing, dealing with lean manufacturing, process engineering, and business process development.

She will serve a six-year term that ends in September 2024.

Jeffrey Hensler is Senior Investment Strategist and Partner with the Bellevue-based financial services firm, Sound Consulting Services (SCS), which manages over three billion dollars in assets. He graduated from CWU in 1998 with a double major in Economics and Geography, and was a 2015 CWU Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. He is a former chair of the CWU Foundation.

Hensler has been in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and is a founding partner at SCS. He has been recognized in the top 5 percent of LPL Financial’s 16,000 advisors for multiple years and is a member of the LPL Chairman’s Club.

His term will run until September 30, 2024.

Zabrina Jenkins is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Starbucks Coffee Company.

Jenkins graduated from Central in 1992, with a degree in Business Administration, and went on to earn an MS degree from the Syracuse University School of Education and a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law.

In addition to her work at Starbucks, Jenkins has been active in a number of legal and civic youth organizations, including Girls Can Do, which encourages and empowers young women to pursue their dreams.

Jenkins also serves on the advisory board of the Washington Leadership Institute, which recruits, trains, and develops traditionally underrepresented attorneys for future leadership positions in the Washington State Bar Association and in the legal community. Previously, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the CWU Foundation and Artist Trust.

Before joining Starbucks in 2005, Jenkins was an associate at the Seattle-based law firm, Garvey Schubert Barer, where she focused on commercial litigation matters, including labor and employment law.

Her term will run until September 30, 2024.