Welcome to the team, Kat Santana!
Executive Director, Centralia Community Foundation
The Centralia Community Foundation (CCF) is proud to announce Kat Santana as its first Executive Director. Kat comes to CCF after leading innovation and expansion of programs for five years with Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council (PacMtn).
While with PacMtn, she provided support to job seekers and businesses under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for low-income Adults and Dislocated Workers in Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Grays Harbor, and Thurston Counties. At PacMtn, Kat also served as the Career Connected Learning Coordinator, leading regional Career Connect WA initiatives alongside education, industry, and local youth support organizations. Kat believes the greatest joy in her last role as Senior Program Coordinator of Work-Based Learning at PacMtn, was overseeing regional work-based learning and training opportunities for youth and priority populations, traditionally identified as those highly barriered from opportunity.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1637115960173{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Kat brings 20 years of workforce development and leadership experience across a myriad of career roles in both the private and public sector. She has had substantial success in establishing trusting and beneficial relationships with customers, systems, industries, agencies, businesses and community organizations within the Pacific Mountain Region and greater Seattle South Sound. Expanding the Foundation’s partnerships to accomplish the work ahead and supporting the Foundation’s mission to improve the quality of life for all our citizens is paramount to her. Her experience is critical to our Foundation’s key initiatives, the Career Pathways Initiative and the Schools of Excellence Initiative. Our goal is to bring greater career awareness, exploration, and support for the success of the youth in our community.
Kat, who was born in Centralia, says “It is only fitting that my life and career experiences have brought me full circle to the place of my birth. I am thrilled to have been selected by the Foundation to support their efforts. I look forward to working hard and investing in this vibrant community, and the people who live here.”
