Wash. commerce director to step down

OLYMPIA — Lisa Brown, director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, will step down effective March 3, according to a statement from the department.

Brown was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee in February 2019, according to the statement. Before that, she represented the 3rd Legislative District in Spokane for 20 years and served as Senate majority leader and chancellor of Washington State University, Spokane and taught at Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington University, the statement said.

In the statement, Inslee praised Brown’s leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic and credited her with administering unprecedented levels of relief and assistance funding.

“Strengthening communities is Commerce’s mission,” Brown wrote in the statement. “We have a short name and a big toolbox of programs, grants and technical assistance to deploy … I am proud of our work over the last four years.”