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Crandall, Short Join AWB Government Affairs Team
AWB welcomed two experienced public affairs advocates to its policy team in September.
James Crandall is AWB’ s new lead on employment and labor law. He comes to AWB after 12 years with the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus, where he served as senior staff counsel and policy lead for the Capital Budget and the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee.
Crandall holds a J. D. from the Seattle University School of Law. Prior to law school, he worked for six years at a leading Washington, D. C. government relations firm. He also worked as a communications assistant for Rob McKenna’ s 2012 gubernatorial campaign.
Ken Short now leads AWB’ s policy work on transportation, land use and housing. He came to AWB from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he served as a contracts specialist as part of the National Security Directorate for six years. Prior to that, he worked as an account manager for a public affairs-focused digital media firm.
AWB Institute Wins Award From National Chamber Group
The AWB Institute was presented with the top award for the Greatest Growth in Foundation Revenue at a joint meeting of the National Association of State Chamber Executive and the Association of State Chamber Professionals in August in Kansas City.
This summer, the AWB Institute, together with the Washington Roundtable, launched Washington in the Making 2040, a longrange vision and plan for the state’ s economy over the next 15 years. See the cover story in this edition for more.
Snoqualmie Students Wins Third Place at National Civics Bee Championship
Born and raised in the Tri-Cities area, Short has an MBA from the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University. He was also a planning commissioner with the City of Kennewick Planning Commission and a legislative assistant to former state Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick.
AWB Institute’ s Britney Martin selected for U. S. Chamber fellowship
Britney Martin, program manager for the AWB Institute, has been chosen for the U. S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’ s Business Leads Fellowship Program. She joins 34 other state and local chamber and association leaders in the program’ s twelfth cohort, following a competitive selection process.
The six-month program trains business leaders to be education and workforce champions in their community and connect learners to economic opportunity. The program, which consists of both in person and virtual meetings, will cover the entire talent pipeline, including early childhood education, K-12, postsecondary education, and workforce development.
Maanha Nasir, who recently completed 8th grade at Washington Virtual Academies, took third place in the second-annual National Civics Bee Championship in Washington D. C. She completed against students from 38 other states on Nov. 11 and took home a $ 15,000 cash prize. The Snoqualmie student was crowned the Washington state Civics Bee state champion in June, winning a $ 1,000 cash prize in the third-annual state competition.
Fifteen middle school students from around the state competed in the 2025 National Civics Bee state finals in Olympia. Maanha won top prize following two rounds of a civics quiz competition and speech about education inequality among nearby school districts.
The National Civics Bee, hosted in partnership between the AWB Institute, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and local chambers of commerce, encourages middle school students to engage in civics and contribute to their communities.
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