Karen Lee confirmed as Employment Security Commissioner - Jan. 25, 2006

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Media contact: Sheryl Hutchison, 360-902-9289

The Washington State Senate today confirmed Karen T. Lee as the 22nd commissioner of the Employment Security Department.

The unanimous vote (with one absent) by the full Senate followed a unanimous vote nearly two weeks ago by the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research and Development Committee.

During remarks in the Senate chamber, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said: “In all my years in the legislature, I have never known an agency head to be as involved with a policy committee as [Karen Lee]. She is very engaged and has been very helpful.”

Lee grew up in a military family that moved frequently, to locations in the U.S., Germany and Korea.  After her father was promoted to brigadier general, the family settled at Fort Lewis near Tacoma.  

Lee eventually attended college at West Point, served as an officer in the Army for nearly five years, then returned to the Northwest to attend the University of Washington law school.

After law school, Lee worked for the Seattle law firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis for three years, then eight years at Puget Sound Energy in several management positions.  Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed her to the Employment Security post in March 2005.

“I am deeply committed to helping people succeed throughout their working lives and helping businesses meet their workforce needs,” Lee said. “To do that, the department needs to be more aware and quicker to respond to the changing marketplace.”

In her first 10 months on the job, Lee has:

Managed a 10 percent cut in Employment Security’s operating budget – by consolidating offices, eliminating 165 positions and making other cuts, with the goal of minimizing the effect on service.

Eliminated a layer of management and reorganized the agency to bring similar types of services together for better organization and efficiency.

Implemented the Government Management and Performance system for analyzing and improving the agency’s performance.

Launched targeted efforts to improve job-referrals and job-matching services.

Developed a legislative package aimed at fighting unemployment insurance fraud.