Elise is the executive director of Faith Action Network and brings three decades of mission-­driven work in human services and advocacy, especially in hunger, homelessness, and poverty issues. She is a lifelong resident of Washington State, born and raised in Yakima, completing undergraduate education in Spokane at Gonzaga University, and making Seattle home since the 1980s. Her graduate studies at Maryknoll School of Theology and Seattle University focused on liberation theologies and pastoral leadership. She served for six years as a board member for Mary's Pence, an NGO focused on funding women and their communities in the Americas.