Mary Fertakis, M.Ed. serves as the Chair of the Washington State Board of Education (SBE). Her SBE service includes chairing the Legislative Committee, serving on the Equity Committee, and representing the Board on two state-wide groups – the Social-Emotional Learning Advisory Council and the K-12 Funding Equity Work Group. She is the CEO of M Fertakis Consulting, LLC, specializing in P-12 education issues, governance, strategic planning, leadership development and policy, She is a Consultant with the National School Boards Association and a member of the WSSDA Leadership Consultant Cadre, which provides training to school boards and district leadership teams.
She served on the Tukwila School Board for 22 years, representing a school district that was named the most ethnically diverse in the United States by the NY Times. She was the 2012 President of the WSSDA, and served on WSSDA’s Closing the Achievement Gap Task Force, Urban Issues Committee, and Diversity & Multicultural Action Team.
Mary served in the US Peace Corps – Senegal as a rural community development project manager, which included building a school in her village. She is a founder of the Tukwila Children’s Foundation, which helps meet the unmet needs of children in the Tukwila community, and serves on the Board of Still Waters, a non-profit serving McKinney-Vento children in the Tukwila School District.
Mary received B.A.’s in Political Science and International Studies, an M.Ed. in Education Policy, and Executive Leadership Certification in P-3 Systems all from the University of Washington, an ELL Teaching Certification from Seattle University, an Education Finance Certification from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and Certifications in Family Engagement and P-3 Systems from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the proud mom of two young men, Golden Retrievers, and is a die-hard Seahawks fan.