Washington H-2A Summit 2024
January 18, 2024
Yakima Convention Center
Yakima, Washington
Thank you for joining us in Yakima for a day of labor and immigration updates, breakout sessions, and networking! See below for conference materials.
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Agenda
Speaker Biographies
(Alphabetized by last name)
Larry Amedio currently serves as one of five H-2A Supervisors for the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC). He oversees the case processing mainly focusing on the Western Region of the U.S. on the H-2A program. Mr. Amedio currently resides in Albuquerque and is married and has a nine year old daughter. Mr. Amedio has been with OFLC for 16 years and has worked on various OFLC programs, mainly H-2A.
Jacob Boston serves as a visa account manager at wafla. He was born in Oceanside, California, and grew up in Lacey, Washington. As a first-generation high school and college graduate, he understands what an opportunity can provide. This has led him to pursue a career where he can give back to his community in the best way possible.
Gerald "Jerry" Caird is a registered environmental health specialist who has worked in public health over the past 30 years and currently works with the Washington Department of Health as the lodging program supervisor. Previously, he has worked with multiple local health departments in Washington and with the State of Nevada Health Department and has been involved in a variety of environmental health programs, including food inspections, septic systems, schools, hotels, and public pools.
Emmanuel Campos González works at the Department of Labor and Industries as a Bilingual Outreach Specialist. His job duties include conducting monthly presentations in both English and Spanish regarding the changes to the Agricultural Overtime Law. He also attends community events throughout the state to bring the information to the community. He also provides technical guidance to both agricultural employees and employers regarding the applicability of the Agricultural Overtime Law. Emmanuel attended Law School at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico where he obtained a Bachelor's in Law, and he is also a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law with a Master’s Degree in Law. Emmanuel lives in Spokane, Washington and he enjoys taking walks and listening to music.
Daniel Chapman began with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in 2009. He worked as an investigator in Louisiana and Georgia, and as an enforcement coordinator and manager in the Southeast Regional Office before joining WHD’s National Office in 2020. Daniel now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor with the Division of Immigration, Farm Labor, and Trade. His primary focus is on H-2A, MSPA, and all matters related to agricultural labor standards enforcement.
Bertha Clayton has been the Director of the Office of Agricultural and Seasonal Workforce Services (ASWS) at Washington State Employment Security Department since January 2022. A licensed attorney, Bertha is a member of the Washington and Idaho State Bar Associations. Prior to her current role, she was in immigration practice for five years at a small firm in Walla Walla, WA. In 2021, the Walla Walla Union Bulletin named Bertha one of its inaugural “Top 39 under 39.”
Riley Clubb is a cofounder of Harvust. His family has been in the agricultural industry for three generations with Seven Hills Vineyard and L'Ecole No 41 winery. Riley is a graduate of MIT Sloan and Whitman College.
Juan C. Gamez Briceno works for the Washington State Department of Health. He has a bachelor's degree in public health and a master's degree in environmental science.
Enrique Gastelum is the chief executive officer at wafla and is a champion of promoting the sustainability of labor-intensive agriculture across the Pacific Northwest. His background in a farmworker family, his time spent as a government labor law regulator and educator, and his work as CFO of Washington Farm Bureau have provided him a unique perspective that balances the labor needs of seasonal employers with the rights and dignities of workers. He holds a Bachelor of Science in zoology and an MBA in public administration.
Kimberly Geronimo is the senior manager at Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP).
Luis Guitron is wafla's field services director and the housing manager for Riverview Meadows, wafla's 160-bed housing project near Okanogan, Wash. His experience in agriculture began in 2012 when he learned to prune, drive tractors, and spray pesticides for Stemilt Ag Services. He spent two years in the carpenters' union and has experience managing H-2A crews for wafla.
Angelique Guppy is currently the Language Access Manager for the Insurance Services Division of the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. She sees her role as a medium to advance work disability prevention by mitigating or eliminating the harmful effects of confusing processes and delays often rooted in poor communication. In her role, Angelique leads her team to foster collaborative approaches with various internal and external stakeholders to make certain all customers have meaningful access to information in their language. Her expertise in workers’ compensation spans over two decades with deep roots in claims administration and leadership, claims adjudication and practical problem-solving giving way to innovative solutions that positively impact the lives of workers, employers, and various providers.
James Hall, as co-owner of Harvust, builds tools for professional farmworkers.
Dillon Honcoop hosts the Real Food Real People Podcast and is the communications director for Washington state-focused advocacy nonprofit Save Family Farming. Honcoop grew up on a family red raspberry farm near Lynden, Wash. After working for over a decade in media, Honcoop joined Save Family Farming to advocate for the farming community through public outreach. As part of that effort, Honcoop launched the Real Food Real People Podcast to share farmers’ authentic stories and tackle important issues around how our food is produced.
Ramon Huaracha Jr. started with the Wage and Hour Division in May 2000 as a Wage and Hour Investigator and conducted numerous investigations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Davis Bacon and Related Acts, Service Contract Act, Employee Polygraph and Protection Act, and investigations under the H-1B, H-2B, and H-2A program. In December 2008, he was promoted to the H-1B / H-2B Regional Immigration Coordinator for the Western Region, overseeing all of the H-1B and H-2B investigations in the states of WA, OR, ID, CA, HI, NV, and AZ.
Jessica Infante-Castro is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and the owner of Columbia Basin Family Therapy, LLC in Eastern Washington. Jessica graduated from Pacific Lutheran University's Marriage and Family Therapy program in 2015. She graduated from Gonzaga University in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in psychology. She embarked on her professional career in community health, and in 2017, made a transition to academic counseling. As a daughter of Mexican immigrants who work the lands of the Columbia Basin, what makes her work even more special is that she returned to her hometown and is supporting rural families, many of whom share her background. She is passionate about promoting family healing and secure attachments. She provides services for many Spanish-speaking and low-income families. She enjoys volunteering her time on the Hispanic Academic Achievers Program (HAAP) scholarship committee. Her self-care activities include dancing with her two children and partner, scrapbooking, and watching series on Netflix.
Uriel Iñiguez is an immigrant from Mexico. He joined the Department of Labor and Industries in December 2016 as Director of Community Relations, serving as the Department’s primary point of contact with Washington’s immigrant and tribal community regarding complex policy issues and the department’s policy direction. It helps ensure that customers with limited English proficiency can navigate L&I services throughout the agency by liaising with staff, managers, and external stakeholders. In his position, Iñiguez’s primary goal is to break down barriers that cause conflict by establishing effective relationships with key members of Washington’s immigrant and tribal communities. Before joining L&I, he was appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire as Executive Director of the Commission on Hispanic Affairs in June 2005, and reappointed by Gov. Inslee in January 2014. In 2014, He was also appointed by Gov. Inslee to serve on the Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees. He holds a BA in Human Resources Management from Eastern Washington University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from City University.
Ruben Lugo is the Ag Enforcement Coordinator for U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in the Western Region. He oversees enforcement and outreach activities on the H-2A Visa program and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (MSPA) for eight western states. Ruben has been with the DOL Wage and Hour Division for 29 years. Ruben is one of Wage and Hour’s technical experts on H-2A and MSPA and is actively involved in providing training to Wage and Hour Investigators and the ag employer community.
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.
Father Jesús Mariscal is a priest at the Diocese of Yakima. He was ordained in 2018 and helped launch a local migrant ministry program when he was a seminarian. He now supervises the program on behalf of the diocese.
Guillermo Mathus is the CEO of CSI Visa Processing S.C., one of the largest H-2 foreign visa processing and recruitment firms based in Mexico. Guillermo has seen the H-2 visa application process evolve over the last 23 years, while assisting H-2 employers nationwide with visa processing and recruitment across six different countries. Guillermo oversees 12 agent-processing offices strategically located in Mexico’s agricultural regions and consular cities. Guillermo has worked in every aspect of foreign visa processing, including compliance, recruitment, visa application completion, and foreign travel logistics.
Elizabeth Medina works at wafla as a senior account executive.
Julia Medrano serves as an account executive at wafla. She was born in Juarez, Mexico, and later moved to Colorado, where she spent most of her childhood. During her upbringing, Julia spent the summers with her parents, working in the fields planting onions, picking tomatoes, and weeding asparagus. After high school, Medrano enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving two combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and providing humanitarian relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. She earned a bachelor's degree in health care management from the University of Maryland.
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 graduate of Prosser High School 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.
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.
Anita Panko is a senior account executive at wafla. She has dedicated her career to helping farmers get apples into kids’ lunch boxes. She attended Idaho State University, receiving an Associate of Arts degree in paralegal studies and her Bachelor of Arts in pre-law. She earned a Master of Arts in paralegal studies from George Washington University. Panko served the ag community while working for the Montpelier (Idaho) Police Department as their coordinator of victims' services.
Susana Rodriguez has been part of the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries' Office of Community relations since 2020. Her role as Outreach Specialist helps to create awareness about L&I services to various communities and employers. Her proactive approach has developed her into a trusted resource for workers, community organizations, and various stakeholders across the state. Prior to joining L&I, Susana worked with medical programs in the state of Oregon developing an interest in working with minorities and diverse populations.
Leon R. 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 co-founded PickTrace, a workforce and harvest management enterprise platform for large-scale farms. Together with his co-founder and brother, Steed has grown PickTrace from a software tool for the family farm to a high-growth, venture-backed startup working with some of the largest produce growers in the world.
Elsy Vasquez is the head of the Labor Mobility Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador.
Sean Worley is a litigator at the Stokes Lawrence Yakima office and represents private and municipal employers in labor and employment matters. Sean represents employers before state and federal agencies on cases involving wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, wage and hour issues (including class action defense), whistleblower conduct, breach of contract, non-competition, FMLA, ADA/WLAD, as well as matters involving unions and collective bargaining. He is a former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, where he worked in the Corporate Counsel Division, District Court Unit, and Special Assault Unit.
Steve Yunker is L&I’s DOSH Statewide Agriculture Compliance manager overseeing the Agriculture and Logging Compliance program. Steve has worked for the Department of Labor & Industries for 31 years, as a workers' compensation claims manager, a safety inspector, and a safety and health supervisor. Before joining L&I, Steve worked in the agriculture, commercial fishing, and cannery industries. His time in workers' comp made him interested in actively working to prevent the injuries that he dealt with on a daily basis.
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