Featured Speakers

Denisse Guerrero (she/her) – Panelist
Director of Advocacy and Membership, Washington Community Alliance

Denisse Guerrero (she/her) is the Director of Advocacy and Membership at Washington Community Alliance, working to close the representation gap in Washington. She began her work with WCA by winning over $3M for Census outreach and supporting the training of 600+ trusted messengers. She currently resides in Spokane and serves on the boards of the Budget and Policy Center and Washington Bus. In the last 5 years, Denisse has managed outreach campaigns for the Washington Immigrant Relief Fund, Child Tax Credit, Working Families Tax Credit, and the Fair Start for Kids Campaign. She successfully led a coalition of King County-based organizations to pass the 2022 Even Year Elections initiative and the 2025 Democracy Voucher Renewal.

Elana Mainer – Panelist
Executive Director, Rural People’s Voice

Elana was born in eastern Washington and calls rural Stevens County home. After many years as a social worker and lots of hard-earned wins as a leader in rural community health, Elana co-founded Rural People’s Voice (RPV) in 2020 to build real power for working people across race and class, and now serves as its Executive Director. Elana has been part of many institutions that shape the health of rural Washington, most recently serving on the board of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and co-leading the Okanogan Coalition for Health Improvement. She now co-owns a small, kick-ass brewery in Chewelah, to which she gives her time when she’s not surfing the political tides with RPV.

Emma Scalzo (she/her) – Panelist
Executive Director, Balance our Tax Code

Emma Scalzo is the Executive Director of Balance Our Tax Code (BOTC). In doing so, she builds public and political support for progressive revenue solutions, including Washington’s recently passed Millionaires Tax. Emma is passionate about making tax policy accessible, compelling, relevant — and maybe even fun — for everyone, not just the tax wonks.

Jeron Mariani (he/him/his) – Panelist
Campaigns Director, State Revenue Alliance

Jeron Mariani is a lifelong organizer committed to the power of the people to advocate, agitate, and affect change – a value passed on from his father who served in the Minnesota State House for over 30 years. Prior to joining the State Revenue Alliance, Jeron led the successful 2022 Fair Share Amendment ballot campaign in Massachusetts as the Campaign Manager. This historic victory for tax justice built upon Jeron’s 6 years of experience in Massachusetts politics working at labor unions, managing statewide coalitions, and organizing on electoral races from the municipal to state and federal levels.

Emily Vyhnanek (they/them) – Moderator
Associate Director of Campaigns, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

With a background in campaign and coalition management, Emily works across each of the Budget and Policy Center issue areas to identify campaign strategies and set long-term, proactive agendas. An advocate for tax and economic justice, Emily previously led the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) Coalition and Campaign. In 2021, they successfully led the WFTC Coalition in passing and establishing the first state-level Earned Income Tax Credit in a state without an income tax.

Following its passage, Emily worked with coalition members to focus on equitable implementation of the credit, which has now impacted hundreds of thousands of people in Washington. Before joining the Budget and Policy Center, Emily led the Free Tax Preparation Campaign at United Way of King County, a regional effort to increase access to federal anti-poverty tax credits. Emily also launched United Way’s 2020 Census Education and Outreach strategy in partnership with a coalition of King County community leaders.

Emily has a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Washington. In their spare time, Emily coaches the UW Womxn’s rugby team and enjoys spending time cooking, fishing, and throwing the rugby ball around the park with their dog Goose.

Don Griswold (he) – Presenter
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)

, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Don Griswold is a Senior Fellow on CBPP’s State Fiscal Policy team. He is responsible for producing rigorous research-based analysis of U.S. state and local tax policy options for eradicating abusive tax avoidance and advancing inclusive prosperity.

Before changing his worldview, Don spent decades serving large multinational corporations in high-profile thought leadership positions. He worked as a Fortune 10 conglomerate’s executive tax counsel, a Big 4 accounting firm’s national partner-in-charge of its 600-person “state tax minimization” group, and a nationwide tax litigation partner with two AmLaw 100 firms. He was a prolific public speaker and taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Brenda Anibarro (she/her/hers) – Board President
Vice President of Learning & Community Engagement, Inatai Foundation

Brenda leads the Inatai Foundation team responsible for shaping and executing the foundation’s approach to community engagement, learning, events, research, and programmatic evaluation in support of our values and aspirations. She aims to ensure the experiences of communities most impacted by inequities are central to the foundation’s learning, guiding how we meaningfully support community-led efforts.

Previously, Brenda served as deputy director and policy manager at the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. She feels fortunate to have incredible mentors throughout her life, from her mother who raised four kids on a steady diet of liberation theology, service, and love, to community elders who lead with the value of “nothing for us, without us.” Currently, she serves on the boards of Cascade Public Media and the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.

Eli Taylor Goss (they/he) – Opening Remarks
Executive Director, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Eli (they/he) helps to set the vision and organizational strategy for the Budget and Policy Center. As executive director, they ensure the team’s work to advance economic justice aligns with the organization’s mission and theory of change. 

In their previous role as policy director of OneAmerica, a statewide immigrant justice organization, they built a reputation as a collaborative leader who is committed to centering the voices of BIPOC, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ leaders as well as to building powerful coalitions. Throughout his career, he has contributed to many legislative wins for immigration, reproductive rights, higher education, and for tax justice in Washington state – amid a changing state and federal landscape. 

Eli’s experience growing up in Texas and his experience with the safety nets and policies that our organization champions fuel his passion and give him a profound understanding of the tangible impact these policies can have on individuals’ lives. As a trans leader, Eli is also driven by the desire to ensure that every Washingtonian has access to resources that allow them to thrive and live a dignified life with self-agency and economic security.

In their free time, Eli loves to eat BBQ, be part of their chosen family, and dabble in various creative and outdoor pursuits.

Kaitie Dong (she/her) – Presenter
Senior Policy Analyst, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Kaitie leads the Budget and Policy Center’s immigrant justice policy analysis and advocacy. As a lifelong Washingtonian and granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Kaitie is inspired by her family and community to advance immigrant rights and racial justice. Kaitie is passionate about relationship building and education as strong vehicles to center and support people most impacted to drive transformative change. She has built the leadership of immigrant youth across Washington State, and advanced meaningful policy campaigns focused on keeping immigrant families together, tenants’ rights, language access in K-12 schools, and early learning.

Kaitie loves anything related to food – cooking and baking food, learning about food in relation to culture and politics, sharing food, and, of course, eating food. You can find Kaitie outside on a walk around the neighborhood and connecting with folks at community events, usually with a snack or coffee in hand.

Leila Reynolds (she/her) – Presenter
Campaign Communications and Organizing Manager, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Leila (she/her) manages campaign communications strategies focused on direct cash and economic security. Specifically, she works with our partners to implement strategic outreach and communications and uplift the stories of people affected by policies like Guaranteed Basic Income and the Working Families Tax Credit. Previously, she managed grassroots voter outreach and organizing efforts to strengthen Washington’s democracy, and has many years of experience in education.

She is a strong believer in workers’ rights to dignity and self determination, and the power of collective action. In her spare time she takes advantage of Seattle’s many public street ends to enjoy our beautiful waterways.

Mia Shigemura (she/her) – Presenter
Senior Policy Analyst, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Mia (she/her) focus on progressive revenue policy analysis and advocacy at the Budget and Policy Center. A lifelong Washington resident, Mia is passionate about reimagining how we work and live together so that every community can thrive. She draws on her previous experience in social impact evaluation, public health, and design to strengthen public systems and advance race, gender, and disability justice.

Outside of tax policy, Mia loves to explore the landscapes and communities of Whidbey Island, where she lives. She also enjoys cheering on local sports teams, training with her Chihuahua-Pit Bull mix, and kayaking throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Tracy Yeung (she/her) – Presenter
Senior Policy Analyst, Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Tracy (she/her) focuses on direct cash policies at the Budget and Policy Center. She previously held a State Policy Fellowship with our organization, through the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ two-year national fellowship program. Before that, she served as the 2020-2021 Betty Jane Narver Policy Fellow at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.

Tracy has also worked at the Chinese Information Service Center as a family caregiver support specialist and in-home care case manager, mainly serving low-income, limited-English speaking, and elderly immigrant families in King County. Tracy has a master’s degree in public health from the Community-Oriented Public Health Program at the University of Washington.