H2 Summit - 2025 Washington

H2 Washington Summit Materials

Thank you for joining us at the Yakima Convention Center for a day of H2 and labor updates, breakout sessions, and networking!

Here, you will find the agenda, speaker bios, and supplementary resources to help you make the most of this informative event.

AGENDA | SPEAKER BIOS | SPONSORS

We’ll post all PowerPoint slides, handouts, and recordings from the general session here after the event. Keep an eye on your inbox — we’ll email you as soon as everything is ready!

Agenda

Morning General Session

8:30A – 8:45A
Enrique’s Insights: Reflecting on the Past Year and Shaping the Future
The past year was an emotional rollercoaster for the H-2A visa program. Looking ahead, WAFLA is expanding support for members by building stronger systems, leveraging shared knowledge, and fostering new partnerships. Today is about learning, connecting, and energizing our work with fresh ideas. Together, we’re shaping the future of seasonal labor—smarter and stronger than ever.
Speaker: Enrique Gastelum

8:45A – 9:35A
H-2A Legal Landscape: Changes & What’s Ahead
Explore significant changes to the H-2A program, including the interim final rule on wage rates, DHS’s streamlined filing process, and current legislative discussions. Gain timely insights into what these developments mean for agricultural employers.
Speakers: Leon Sequeira

9:35A – 9:55A
Breakout Sneak Peek: 2 Minutes to Decide
Kick off the Summit with energy! Each breakout presenter has just 2 minutes to pitch their session’s key takeaways, allowing you to plan your day strategically.
Moderator: Enrique Gastelum

9:55A – 10:30A
State of Immigration & the Future of E-Verify
Stay current on U.S. immigration policy and what it means for agriculture. Discover the latest updates on E-Verify today and explore potential changes tomorrow.
Leon Sequeira, Eamon Roach

Breakout Session Round 1: 11:00A – 11:45A (Choose 1 of 4) Ag Labor Compliance Employee Relations H-2A Compliance

Track	Session Title	Speakers
H-2A Compliance	*H-2A Prohibited Fees, Mitigation, and Recruitment Best Practices* Rules around prohibited fees are complex. Learn from recruiters and investigators about why workers often don’t disclose payments and discover strategies to mitigate risk and maintain compliance.	Panel: Leon Sequeira, Guillermo Mathus, Pauline Mollard, (Moderator: Renson Miranda)
Employee Relations	*Nuts and Bolts of a Strong Job Description* A clear, well-crafted job description is the foundation of effective hiring and management. Learn essential components—duties, qualifications, performance expectations—and walk away with practical tips for success.	Sarah Wixson
Ag Labor Compliance	*Mastering Ag Payroll: Accuracy, Compliance, Confidence* Payroll errors in agriculture can be costly, time-consuming, and risky. Learn how to process AG payroll correctly, spot common mistakes, and ensure accuracy every time. Walk away with confidence in your payroll practices.	Sean Worley, Enrique Gastelum
Employee Relations	*Research on People and Machines: The Future of Farm Labor* Drawing on new research with H-2A workers in Washington, this session highlights what workers value most, from family time to skill-building. It also examines the economics of robotic harvesting in apples, offering a forward-looking perspective on balancing labor shortages and automation.	Karina Gallardo

12:00P – 1:00P | Lunch

State of WAFLA, Labor Policy, and Field to Future
Enjoy lunch while hearing updates on WAFLA’s health and direction, labor policy from State Representative Gloria Mendoza, and a new nonprofit, Jeane Delaney, Field to Future.

Afternoon Breakouts Round 2: 1:15P – 2:00P (Choose 1 of 4)

Track	Session Title	Speakers
Ag Labor Compliance	*Tech-Driven Compliance: Managing Your Ag Workforce Smarter* Explore digital tools that simplify compliance management. Learn strategies to track labor, wages, and regulatory requirements efficiently and effectively, reducing risk and saving time.	Panel: Harrison Steed, James Hall, Tim Raiswell, Steve Mantle, Joe Britton (Moderator: Roxana Macias)
Ag Labor Compliance	*Workers’ Comp: Claim Management and Cost Control* Workers’ comp is a necessary cost of doing business—but it doesn’t have to break the bank. This session covers the requirements that every agricultural employer must know, along with proven strategies to keep costs under control while staying compliant.	Gwen Perkins
Employee Relations	*Happy Worker, Happy Farmer: Motivation and Retention Tactics* Motivation is key to productivity and retention. Explore strategies to engage employees, reduce turnover, and foster a positive, high-performing workforce.	Panel: Erik Nicholson, Renson Miranda, Father Jesus
H-2A Compliance	*H-2A and Law Enforcement: Rights, Rules & Roadside Realities* Understand what H-2A employers and workers need to know about roadside interactions with law enforcement. Learn the rules surrounding driver’s licenses, vehicle stops, and identification requirements.	Panel: Troopers Daniel Mosqueda & Carlos Mata, Sarah Wixson

Late Afternoon General Session

3:15P – 4:00P
Quick Take: Navigating the New Labor Laws
Grab a beverage and join a fast-paced, interactive dive into the newest labor laws. We’ll break it down, test your knowledge, and send you home with a practical cheat-sheet booklet of must-know updates.
Sean Worley, Roxana Macias

Late Afternoon Breakouts Round 3: 2:15P – 3:00P (Choose 1 of 4)

Track	Session Title	Speakers
Ag Labor Compliance	*Wage & Hour in Agriculture: What’s Changing and Why It Matters* Wage and hour rules in agriculture are evolving rapidly. Stay informed about the latest trends, compliance updates, and their impact on your operations. Stay ahead of changes and protect your business.	Kalen Fraser, Sean Worley
Employee Relations	*Clarity, Consistency, Compliance: The 3 C’s of Progressive Discipline* Learn how to manage discipline and termination with confidence. Covers documentation, consistency, and compliance—plus tools, sample language, and real-world strategies to protect your business.	Roxana Macias, Renson Miranda
H-2A Compliance	*H-2A Housing Readiness: Common Pitfalls & Quick Fixes* Get your housing inspection-ready with practical strategies and compliance know-how. Learn the most common pitfalls and how to fix them quickly and cost-effectively.	Mike Gempler
Employee Relations	*Happy Worker, Happy Farmer: Motivation and Retention Tactics* Motivation is key to productivity and retention. Explore strategies to engage employees, reduce turnover, and foster a positive, high-performing workforce.	Panel: Erik Nicholson, Elizabeth Medina, Father Jesus

Closing Reception

4:00P – 4:45P
Networking Mixer
End the Summit with refreshments and connections—your last chance to meet vendors, speakers, and peers while exchanging ideas and building relationships.

Post-Summit Survey

Please take a moment to tell us about your experience at the Washington H2 Summit. We’re always looking for ways to improve our events and educational offerings, and your feedback is valuable.

Take Short Survey

HR Certifications

The Worker and Farmer Labor Association (WAFLA) is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits 8 (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

Please see Jean Maybin at the registration table for your certificate of completion after the conference.

Thank you, sponsors!

Harvest Tote

Ag Link Lanyard

Compliance Companion

Labor Leader

Nurture Networking Dinner

Cultivating Connections

Workforce Partner

Exhibitors

AgCode

American Association of AgLabor Providers

BLXCK Pay

CSI Visa Processing/G&T Visa Inc.

Field to Future

Intermex

Picktrace

Stop Claims Corp.

The Labor Brain

Washington State Farm Bureau

Government Partners

Division of Child Support

Employment Security Department (WorkSource)

Jamaica Central Labor Organization

Labor Mobility Program of El Salvador

The Mexican Consulate

WA State Dept. of L&I: Workplace Safety & Health

Working Families Tax Credit

Speaker Biographies

(Alphabetized by last name)

X/X/2016-- Seattle, WA, USA

Photograph by Stuart Isett. ©2016 Stuart Isett. All rights reserved.

Adam Belzberg is a partner at Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle, Washington, where he advises employers on labor and employment matters across agriculture, construction, healthcare and energy sectors. He has substantial experience in litigation under the ADA, FLSA, FMLA, MSPA and Title VII, and regularly represents management before the National Labor Relations Board. He earned his J.D. in 2002 from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Joe Britton serves as Vice President of Customer Success at AgCode (Glenwood, MN), where he oversees client onboarding, support, and growth initiatives for specialty-crop growers leveraging AgCode’s farm-management software platform.

Jeane DeLaney recently retired from a 30-year academic career focused on Latin America. She grew up on a family farm, and her experiences in Mexico and Central America made her keenly aware of the region’s poverty and the importance of migration to the U.S. as one of the few paths people have to a better life. DeLaney has volunteered to help on several WAFLA projects related to equitable employment.

Kalen Fraser is the founder of The Labor Brain Inc., a consulting firm that helps agricultural employers stay compliant with federal labor laws, including the H‑2A visa program and H‑2B visa program. Formerly an investigator with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division, she examined hundreds of employers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). A graduate of Northwestern University, she now provides training, audits, and expert-witness services across the agricultural labor compliance sector.

Karina Gallardo is a Professor and Extension Specialist in the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University (WSU). Her research focuses on consumer demand for specialty crops and the economics of technology adoption in agriculture. She joined WSU in 2008 and holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University (2007).

Enrique Gastelum is the chief executive officer at WAFLA and a champion of promoting the sustainability of labor-intensive agriculture across the Pacific Northwest. His background in a farmworker family, his time as a government labor law regulator and educator, and his work as the CFO of Washington Farm Bureau have given him a unique perspective that balances seasonal employers' labor needs with workers' rights and dignities. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and an MBA in public administration.

Mike Gempler is Executive Director of the Washington Growers League, where he leads advocacy and support for agricultural employers in Washington. He holds a B.S. in Agriculture from Ohio State University and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wyoming.

James Christopher Hall is co-founder and President of Harvust, a Walla Walla, Washington-based agritech company that streamlines HR, hiring, training, and communications for farm employers. He aims to modernize labor management in agriculture using intuitive digital tools.

Roxana Macias is the chief people and community officer at WAFLA. Macias is a first-generation daughter of Mexican farmworkers and a University of Washington graduate. She has worked on all angles of the guest worker programs, including wage determinations, filing H-2A and H-2B contracts, human resources, foreign recruitment, and program compliance. Her role at WAFLA involves developing and implementing programs to help growers and workers navigate the complexities of state and federal laws and regulations and work in cohesion toward a shared goal.

Steve Mantle is Founder & CEO of Innov8.ag, a Walla Walla-based ag-tech company that provides data and innovation services to modern farms and agribusinesses. Previously, he spent nearly two decades in leadership at Microsoft, including work on the Azure cloud product line. Steve holds an MBA from the University of Washington. He applies his tech and business experience to build solutions for growers’ data, labor, and sustainability challenges.

Guillermo Mathus is a recruiter with CSI Labor Services in Durango, Mexico, where he works with U.S. agricultural employers under the H‑2A visa program and helps source, place, and transport workers from Mexico to farms in the United States.

Rep. Gloria Mendoza is the Republican state representative for Washington’s 14th Legislative District (Position 1), taking office in January 2025. She previously served on the Grandview City Council and as mayor of Grandview, Washington. A Mexican-born immigrant who came to the U.S. at age 8, she later founded a vocational-training business.

Renson Miranda is a field services manager for WAFLA. He specializes in H-2A worker onboarding, supervisor and manager training, housing inspections, and conflict resolution in the orchards. Miranda is a Prosser High School graduate with various skills in the agriculture sector. He was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and came to the United States at three years old with his pregnant mother.

Trooper Daniel Mosqueda is with the Washington State Patrol (WSP) assigned to District 3 in Kennewick, Washington, where he focuses on traffic enforcement in Benton, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties. He holds an A.S. in Criminal Justice from Columbia Basin College and is certified as a Drug Recognition Expert and Child Passenger Safety Technician. Trooper Mosqueda serves as the full-time coordinator of the WSP’s bilingual community outreach initiative, the El Protector Program, helping build trust and provide traffic-safety education to Hispanic/Latino communities.

Erik Nicholson is a founding partner of Pandion Strategy and a former National Vice President of the United Farm Workers (UFW), where he served for over 20 years. In 2022, he launched his consulting firm in Kennewick, Washington, advising farms, non-profits, and companies on labor, innovation, and ag-industry strategy.

Ryan Ogburn is the WAFLA visa services director. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts and cum laude honors. While at PLU, Ryan spent over six months studying in Cuba and Spain and speaks fluent Spanish.

Gwen Perkins is a seasoned workers’ compensation professional with over 21 years of experience aiding employers with claims challenges. She is passionate about strengthening the agricultural industry and helping those businesses grow in the state of Washington. Gwen has a history in agribusiness and continues to extend her talents to aiding equine-related entities. In her leisure time, she enjoys horse activities, dressage, and of course, two exuberant cats.

Tim Raiswell is Principal of Advanced Analytics and a Cofounder of Loftus Labs, a Yakima-based ag-tech firm delivering data analytics and engineering to agribusinesses. He oversees the company’s analytic strategy and helps clients translate data into actionable business insights—such as labor-cost reductions and performance optimization.

Eamonn Roach is a Washington attorney based in Pasco. A native of Pasco and alumnus of Tri-Cities Prep, he earned a B.A. in International Studies and Politics with a Spanish minor at Seattle University, studied Mandarin in China, and then obtained his J.D. from Gonzaga University. Roach practices primarily in immigration law (including family and employment-based visas, asylum, and work with foreign-trained medical professionals), working alongside his father, Tom Roach, and is fluent in Spanish.

Leon Sequeira is an attorney with more than two decades of experience advising employers and industry associations on employment and immigration matters involving foreign workers. He represents clients across the United States, from small family farms to some of the nation’s largest employers of H-2A and H-2B guest workers. In addition to defending employers in government investigations and litigation, he also represents employers on public policy, regulatory, and legislative issues in Washington, D.C.

Harrison Steed is the founder and president of PickTrace, a software company providing workforce and harvest management solutions for large-scale farms. He co-founded the company with his brother, Austin, and has guided its mission to modernize farm labor, productivity tracking, and compliance from its roots on their family’s farm.

Vicente Vargus is the Chief Executive Officer of Redes Sociales para el Desarrollo (REDDES) and the Observatorio de Desarrollo Regional y Promoción Social (ODP) in Mexico. Since 2013, he has led efforts to build one of Mexico’s largest databases on municipal governance and development. He specializes in developing networks of social promoters, and his organizations support federal, local, and private-sector clients—particularly in extractives and agriculture—to improve livelihood opportunities for impoverished families.

Lee Wicker is the Deputy Director of the North Carolina Growers Association, one of the nation’s largest H-2A farm labor programs. Based in Sanford, NC, he works with agricultural employers on seasonal labor compliance and workforce management. He has more than two decades of experience in farm labor relations and advocacy, helping connect growers with reliable, legal agricultural workers.

Sarah Wixson is a shareholder at Stokes Lawrence in Yakima, Washington, with over two decades of experience in employment and agricultural litigation. She advises closely held companies in the agricultural sector on complex matters such as wage-and-hour, discrimination, retaliation, labor strikes, and policy audits.

Sean Worley is a shareholder and attorney at Stokes Lawrence in Yakima, Washington. He represents employers in labor and employment matters, including discrimination, wrongful termination, and collective bargaining issues. Before joining Stokes Lawrence, he served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Yakima County. Sean earned his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Yocelin Martinez