Gael Frances Donelan Tarleton (January 1, 1959) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
politician who served as a member of the
Washington House of Representatives
The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...
for the
36th Legislative District from 2013 to 2021.
Tarleton was a candidate for
Secretary of State of Washington
The secretary of state of Washington is an independently elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Washington. Fifteen individuals have held the office of Secretary of State since statehood. Th ...
in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...
, losing to incumbent
Republican Kim Wyman
Kimberley Marie Wyman (born July 15, 1962) is an American politician who served as the 15th Secretary of State of Washington from 2013 to 2021. Wyman resigned as Secretary of State on November 19, 2021, to work on election security at the Cyberse ...
.
Early life and education
Gael Tarleton (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Donelan) was born on January 1, 1959, in
Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...
. She is the daughter of John J. "Jack" and Ann-Jean Donelan. She was raised in
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, and graduated as class valedictorian and Manchester Scholar from Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School in 1977. Years later, Tarleton organized a group of her high school classmates and their parents to establish the Timothy C. Averill Debate Education Fund in honor of her debate coach and English teacher, Tim Averill, when he retired.
She attended the School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University, where she studied
Russian language and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. She graduated in 1981,
cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
, and earned an additional honors certificate in international business diplomacy and membership in
Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta () is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.
It has more than 400,000 members, with new members numbering about 9,000 a year through its 970 chapters.
Founding
Phi Alpha The ...
. In 1983, she earned a
Master's degree in government and national security studies from Georgetown.
Career
During college, she worked in the office of a member of the
United States House of Representatives and at the
United States Department of the Treasury in the National Security Affairs office.
Defense Intelligence Agency
Following her graduation from Georgetown University, Tarleton joined the Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C., where she worked as a specialist in Soviet strategic issues for nine years. From September 1983 to August 1984, the Defense Intelligence Agency granted her a one-year
leave of absence to accompany her husband during his one-year assignment to the US
Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California. During that year, she worked part-time as an Adjunct Research Instructor for the Postgraduate School's National Security Affairs Department. In 1984, Tarleton returned to the Defense Intelligence Agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters, where she held various positions supporting defense agencies and the US national intelligence community. In 1989, she was awarded the Director of Central Intelligence's
National Intelligence Medal of Achievement.
Science Applications International Corporation
In September 1990, Tarleton and her husband moved to
Seattle, Washington, where she worked for 12 years at
Science Applications International Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support.
History
The original SAIC was created in 196 ...
(SAIC), which at the time was a private, employee-owned science and technology company. She developed and led the organization's business in Russia, serving as Director of SAIC Global Technology, and vice president and manager of international business, building collaborative science and technology partnerships between US and Russian scientists and engineers. Tarleton became the first American woman to address a joint session of the Russian Parliament in 1996.
National Bureau of Asian Research
In August 2002, Tarleton began serving as the Director of Eurasian Policy Studies at the
National Bureau of Asian Research in Seattle.
University of Washington
In 2004, she was hired as the first Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...
's College of Arts and Sciences. During her employment with the University of Washington, she helped establish the endowed Herbert J. Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and the Institute for National Security Education and Research. She also served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs; Manager of Partnerships for the Pacific Rim Visualization and Analytics Center in the College of Engineering; and Strategic Advisor for the Information School's Institute for National Security Education and Research. She helped raise funding for research and education on behalf of faculty and students. Tarleton resigned from the UW when she was elected to the State House of Representatives in 2012.
Port of Seattle
In 2007, Tarleton challenged a two-term incumbent and won her first four-year term as a Commissioner at the
Port of Seattle, a King County-wide elected office for a part-time position overseeing the largest port in the Pacific Northwest with an annual budget nearing $1 billion. The five-member commission employs a port executive to manage
Sea-Tac International Airport, Fishermen's Terminal, Shilshole Bay Marina, cruise and grain terminals, and four shipping container terminals in
Elliott Bay. Re-elected in 2011, Tarleton held various leadership positions, including Chair of the Commission Audit Committee and President of the commission.
During her tenure, the commission introduced numerous reforms to expand commission and staff accountability and transparency; invested in clean air programs; adopted an innovative aviation clean fuels strategy; and spent tens of million of dollars to begin early-action clean-up of the Lower
Duwamish River, a
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
clean-up site. The commission also initiated the Century Agenda to help create an additional 100,000 jobs in the maritime, aerospace, fishing, seafood, and manufacturing-industrial sectors in the coming 25 years.
Board memberships
Tarleton is a volunteer board member at The Ploughshares Fund, Women Legislators' Lobby (WiLL) and Women's Actions for New Directions, Northwest Progressive Institute, Earth and Space Research, and Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle. She previously served a three-year term (2009–2011) on the National Security Directorate's Advisory Committee at the Department of Energy's
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the United States Department of Energy, Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. The main campus of the labor ...
.
Washington House of Representatives
First elected in 2012, Tarleton serves Washington's 36th Legislative District, covering the neighborhoods of
Ballard,
Magnolia
''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
, and
Queen Anne in Seattle. This district is the center of the state's maritime and fishing industrial base with the homeport of the North Pacific fishing fleet and other maritime industries, cruise ships, grain terminals, and two public marinas – all of which are operated by the
Port of Seattle, the largest public port district in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to election to the state legislature, Tarleton served for five years as an elected Port of Seattle commissioner.
Tarleton's colleagues elected her House Majority Floor Leader in November 2015 after serving as Deputy Majority Floor Leader during the 2015 legislative sessions. She also is vice chair of the Technology and Economic Development Committee and a member of the House Higher Education, Rules, and Transportation committees.
Four of the bills Tarleton has prime-sponsored have become law: HB 1647, the Safe Keys Act requiring landlords to protect renters' keys; HB 2580, a legislative task force analyzing the economic resilience of maritime and manufacturing sectors in Washington; HB 2351, authorizing out-of-state health care professionals to volunteer services in Washington; and HB 2708, establishing liquid biomass as a new type of renewable energy. Her work to protect houseboat owners in Seattle led to a Senate-sponsored bill that passed into law in 2014. Tarleton's HB 1725 spurred efforts to strengthen the state's college savings fund for the middle class. Tarleton also authored HB 2238, which would have made Washington the first state in the nation to require employers to provide paid vacation in order to support a healthy workplace. Another of her bills, HB 2579, proposed a prohibition on the practice of "suction dredging" by hobby miners in public waters where salmon, steelhead, and bull trout spawn.
Tarleton now co-chairs the legislative task force on the economic resilience of maritime, fishing, and other manufacturing sectors that constitute about 40% of Washington's economy. She also represents the House of Representatives on the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) Executive Committee, a US–Canadian public and private sector partnership to advance shared economic interests and develop strategies supporting cross-border trade and cultural relationships. Tarleton also was selected for the Legislators' Energy Horizons Institute (LEHI) certificate program in 2013 for legislators nationwide and in Canada who are committed to working on energy-related legislation during their careers as lawmakers. In 2014, Tarleton created and was selected by her colleagues to co-chair the Economic and Community Resilience legislative caucus. Additionally, members of the State Aviation legislative caucus selected her as co-chair.
Personal life
Tarleton is married to Bob Tarleton. They live in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.
References
External links
Campaign websiteGovernment website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarleton, Gael
1959 births
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
Women state legislators in Washington (state)