ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥

Congratulations to the elected officers for Northwest Section!

The Northwest Section consists of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥Local Sections allow members to build community with other ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥members in their geographical region, learn more about Sections here.

Thank you to these dedicated volunteers to connect Northwest members!

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Chair: Shannon Redell

Shannon graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor&/nwsection2026/8217;s of Science degree in Merchandise Management. She has worked for Pendleton Woolen Mills, and as store manager for The Limited Stores. She worked for Nike for 18 years holding a variety of apparel management roles &/nwsection2026/8212; Vendor Manager, Production; Materials Integrity Manager, Quality Standards, Operations and Material Innovation. Currently, she is working for Columbia Sportswear Company as a Principle Material Researcher focusing on Material Integrity (Quality, Testing and Performance). Shannon has been involved in ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥throughout her career.

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Vice Chair: Susan Sokolowski, PhD

Susan Sokolowski, PhD, has more than 30 years of performance sporting goods experience, working cross-functionally between footwear, apparel and equipment in creative and strategic roles. Her work is holistic in nature, where consideration of the athlete’s body form, performance, materials and styling are addressed to develop game-changing innovative solutions. She is specifically focused on issues surrounding design of products for women, children, and adaptive athletes. Susan has been internationally recognized for achievements in design innovation from the National Academy of Inventors, Nike, The United States Olympic Committee, Vogue Magazine, Fast Company, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Design Museum London, and Volvo. She holds over 45 U.S. patents and 65 foreign patents. Susan is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (PhD), Cornell University (MA) and the Fashion Institute of Technology (BFA). She is currently a Professor of Product Design and the Founding Director of the Sports Product Design MS Program at the University of Oregon. She also owns a boutique consultancy that focuses on athlete/user insights, sizing/fit and product innovation.

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Treasurer: Kham Viengkham

Kham studied Biomedical Engineering with emphasis on Electronics and Molecular Biology. He worked in several labs in the medical sciences, then built upon his experiences at the textile materials testing lab at Nike. Kham has done just about every test found in textiles labs and thrives when given the opportunity to learn first hand and build upon foundational data and knowledge. Kham has done so for over two decades starting in supportive roles and into primary scientist roles, or just about all the possible roles in a textile materials lab. Today Kham is still with Nike and in more of a principal engineering role, mentoring and supporting the next generation of textile materials scientists and investigators with an appetite for curiosity and willingness to ask questions. You may find Kham involved with standards organizations such as ASTM and AATCC, keeping a pulse on the industry.

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Membership Chair: Diana Wyman

Diana Wyman is a Senior Test Engineer at REI, working with in-house and third-party labs to develop and validate materials, apparel, and gear for the outdoor industry. She has been active in the New England, Piedmont, and Northwest sections of ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥as well as serving on numerous administrative and technical committees for the association. Diana was a member of ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥staff for more than 15 years, working in every aspect of the organization, including supporting local sections as Membership Director and Executive Vice President.
Diana has been involved in all aspects of textile testing—from managing a contract lab to developing global standards. She has written or revised more than a dozen ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥and ASTM standards with the goal of making textile testing more reliable and accessible. Diana holds degrees in Fashion Merchandising, Textiles, and Business Administration, with additional work towards a PhD in Fiber and Polymer Science.

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Program Chair, Seattle: Kimmy Schenter

Kimmy received her masters in textile chemistry focused on dyeing at UC Davis. Her work history includes managing a commission dye lab in Los Angeles, leading the testing lab and fabric finish teams at GUESS? Jeans, followed by a stint at X-Rite as an application specialist. From there she moved onto Nike apparel and footwear finishing her time there in color and aesthetics design and innovation. She is currently at SanMar excited to be back in the apparel realm.

She has been an on and off again member of AATCC, always enjoying meeting people and discussing new ideas and technologies. She loves to build community by bringing people together through fun events.

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Program Chair, Portland: Janely Morales

Janely has been involved with ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥since her student years. She actively supported the Delaware Valley Student Chapter by promoting the organization to her peers and participating in conferences and educational sessions. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Textile Product Science from Thomas Jefferson University, she relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where she now works at Nike as a Footwear Materials Developer.

Janely hopes to continue giving back to the ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥community by serving as a Program Chair, focusing on student outreach and fostering meaningful community engagement.

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Secretary: Nancy PeBenito

Nancy became involved in ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥in 1989 after moving to New England. She was Membership Chair in the New England Section and also became involved in many national technical committees. She holds a Bachelor&/nwsection2026/8217;s Degree in Textile in Clothing from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Since graduating, she spent the majority of her career with apparel performance and fashion retailers, and manufacturers in quality and testing management at companies such as Patagonia, Talbots, and Nike. Nancy is currently working as an apparel and materials consultant providing technical expertise to small start-ups and large companies.

In 2005, she successfully petitioned ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥to create the Northwest Section to encourage local involvement, networking and educational experiences for industry professionals. She has served in each of the Northwest Section officer positions over the years and looks forward to serving in the role of Secretary.

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If you&/nwsection2026/8217;re interested in getting involved, reach out to the NW Section committee.