About Us
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Aisling Kerins
Aisling is a nationally recognized political strategist with roots in Washington state. She turns data and research into strategy and turns strategy into tactics that win. She has led nation-leading campaigns that advance social change and change-makers.
Aisling works at the intersection of advocacy and elections. In 2024, she helped form and lead the campaign that soundly defeated Initiative 2117, which threatened to repeal Washington’s ambitious cap-and-invest system. She was a strategic advisor to the coalition that upended conventional political wisdom about taxes in Washington state, winning the 2021 passage of the first new progressive tax in over 100 years – a capital gains tax generating over $800 million for education in its first year. She was also a part of the team behind SEIU 775’s groundbreaking effort to pass a first-in-the-nation long-term care benefit.
Aisling's statewide campaign management experience is unmatched. She managed Nick Brown’s successful campaign for Attorney General in 2024, and in 2012 she helped lead one of the country’s closest governor’s races, electing Jay Inslee as governor of Washington state. She went on to manage his 2016 re-election and served as an advisor on his historic campaign for a third term in 2020. She's also been a part of countless ballot measures ranging from cleaning up toxic waste at Hanford to defeating a "takings" initiative.
Aisling managed Inslee’s 2020 presidential campaign, which is widely credited for changing the national debate on climate action. After the presidential campaign, she helped found Evergreen Action and continues to serve as a strategic advisor there. She has also served as an advisor to the Democratic Governors Association, working with incumbent governors on their re-elections.
When she's not working, you'll find Aisling coaching her daughters' lacrosse teams, planning her next trip or crafting with sticks and yarn.
Kelly Wicker
Kelly is a widely respected, award-winning political and government powerhouse who has successfully worked at various levels of state government and helped manage several competitive statewide campaigns for three governors and a United States Senator.
Kelly understands the intricacies and workings of state government better than anyone. She served 12 years as deputy chief of staff to Governor Jay Inslee, the longest anyone has served in that role. As a member of his executive team, Kelly helped oversee the operations, issues, and personnel matters of over 50 state agencies and 300 boards and commissions. She helped lead Washington state government through complex change, rapid growth, recessions, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues.
Kelly pairs her 20+ years of government knowledge with deep connections and partnerships. Under her leadership, appointments to staff, the governor’s cabinet and Washington’s boards and commissions achieved record levels of equity and diversity. This work builds pipelines of emerging leaders throughout the state.
Kelly's drive is shaped by her lived experience. A fourth-generation Washingtonian and Japanese American, she was raised by a single mother who instilled the values of service, hard work and doing what you love. Her family’s incarceration during the Japanese American internment in World War II influenced her interest in politics and social justice, leading her to work on many historic and competitive campaigns. In 1996, she was part of Gary Locke’s groundbreaking campaign, making him the first Chinese American governor in the United States and the first Asian American governor in the continental United States. In 2008, she helped lead Governor Chris Gregoire’s re-election, turning the nation’s tightest gubernatorial race into a decisive victory. And in 2012, she helped lead Jay Inslee’s hard-fought gubernatorial win.
In her spare time, you’ll find Kelly spending quality time and laughing with family and friends, tending her garden and traveling the world.