SEC Board

Meet the Board

The four member elected board brings a diverse background of public and private sector experience.

Board members serve for four one year rotations as secretary, treasurer, vice president, and president.

Tom Goodwin, PhD President

Spencer Cohen, PhD Vice President

Tom Goodwin is Principal at Wealth Econometrics LLC, a consulting firm. He has extensive professional experience researching portfolio construction, forecasting, active management and indexing while at Russell Investments and the London Stock Exchange Group.

Tom was Chief Economist of King County, where he developed the first formal revenue forecasting model for the County. He also was an assistant professor of economics at the Claremont Graduate University and University of New Mexico. He published 19 papers in refereed journals. He currently provides screening and due diligence for an angel fund of Pacific Northwest startups. He is a past board member and director of programming for the Chartered Financial Analysts Society Seattle in addition to the Seattle Economics Council. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Spencer Cohen is principal and founder of High Peak Strategy LLC, an international trade and economics research consulting firm based in Seattle, WA. He consults and writes extensively on international trade, China’s economy, industry clusters, and regional economic analysis. Dr. Cohen works with a wide range of clients and stakeholders across the U.S., including port terminal operators, industry associations, law firms, local governments, and business chambers.

Dr. Cohen has a PhD in economic geography from the University of Washington, an MA in China Studies, also from the University of Washington, and BA in mathematics and history from the University of Connecticut. He was a 2021-2023 Public Intellectuals Program fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and is an affiliate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington.

Anneliese Vance-Sherman, PhD Treasurer

Anneliese Vance-Sherman is the Chief Labor Economist for the Washington State Employment Security Department. Prior to this role, she served as a regional economist for 13 years, covering the local labor markets in Northwest Washington and the Seattle area. Anneliese works closely with economic and workforce development partners, the media, and others providing labor market intelligence to inform strategic decision-making.

In addition to her work with the state, Anneliese serves on several boards and advisory groups including the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference, the Seattle Economics Council, the Skagit Population Health Trust, and the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University. She has also served on several educational advisory committees for Washington K-12 institutions, colleges, and universities.

Prior to state service, Anneliese was a visiting fellow at the Border Policy Research Institute and instructor at the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University.

Anneliese has a Ph.D. in economic geography and a master’s degree in economics both from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

James McCafferty Secretary

James McCafferty is Director of Western's Center for Economic and Business Research. In this role he seeks to broaden the connections between the University, the College of Business and Economics and the real world – businesses, non-profits, tribal communities and government agencies – through student internships, classroom based projects and consultative projects drawing on faculty, staff and students.

James brings a unique perspective and critical tools to problems faced by organizations today based on professional and community service experience at local, regional, and national levels. He blends the best approaches from the for-profit, non-profit, government, and individual sectors to create unique blended responses that are effective, efficient, and practical while also maintaining long-term sustainability.

James’ core skill areas include: research, financial modeling, business development, branding/identity, marketing, finance, tax and legal issues (from a lay perspective), operations, growth management, and strategic partnering.

James has an MBA from Western Washington University, a Bachelor of Science in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Oregon, is a Certified Global Business Professional, serves as an Officer for the Seattle Economics Council and is a past board member of the Association of University Business and Economic Research.