WWU Trustee Sue Sharpe retires after 12 years of service

Sue Sharpe has served 12 years on Western’s Board of Trustees, but her first introduction to the role of the board was as a student in the 1970s.

Back then, Sharpe was a student officer who joined other student leaders on campus and around the state making the case for official student representation on the university’s highest governing body.  

Trustees, university administrators and legislators were extremely skeptical of making the change, Sharpe remembers. It would be another 20+ years before student trustees joined university boards across the state  

And while her own accomplishments on the Board of Trustees are plenty, Sharpe says working with those student trustees, and hearing from students about what they’ve accomplished at Western, are among the highlights of her years on the board.  

“I’m so impressed with the student trustees of today,” she says. “The voices they bring to the table, and the perspective they have, their commitment to problem-solving.”

Student trustees often ask illuminating questions other trustees haven’t thought of, she says.  

“When it comes to really navigating some of the dynamics that play themselves out, they have unbelievably helpful (insight) and really help define the issue, probably differently than we would have,” she says. “So that’s a gift.”  

Trustees are appointed by the governor to serve as the university’s highest governing body, responsible for overseeing the operations of the university. The group delegates most responsibilities to the president, whom the board selects and supervises. The board approves budgets, tuition rates, real estate purchases and the university strategic plan. They also award degrees and tenure.  

“The board is a constant counselor,” Sharpe says. “They’re people committed to the future of this university, and they look at it differently – the board’s usually not thinking about today’s crisis as much as thinking about Western five years from now, 10 years.”

Sharpe retires Sept. 30 from her two terms on the board. She was first appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire in 2012 and reappointed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2018.  

During her tenure Sharpe led the nationwide search for President Sabah Randhawa and served as chair of the Board of Trustees for two years. She also served a term leading the board’s Finance, Audit and Enterprise Risk Management Committee.

Her colleagues on the board know her as a thoughtful, engaged and warm leader with a clear understanding of the board’s responsibilities and a steadfast commitment to Western.  

One of Sharpe’s leadership strengths is her commitment to process, says her husband Philip E. Sharpe. “Process produces results,” he says. “Sue understands that if you struggle hard to find the right process, you have a very high likelihood of getting the proper result.”  

Phil Sharpe, a retired attorney, served on the Board of Trustees before Sue Sharpe, from 2002 to 2012. In all, Sue or Phil Sharpe have served on Western’s Board of Trustees for 22 years.

“I think we both in different ways have had the benefit of engaging with a really exceptional group of people” on the board, Sue Sharpe says. “But what some people don’t fully appreciate is that a board member in themselves is not effective or meaningful. It’s the collective group that really provides the leadership.  

“Those relationships are really important,” she continues. “I just love how you can collectively see the future – and that’s not easy to do. And if you can get on a board with people who are selected for the right reason, and you have the right president, you have momentum. It’s not the contribution of the individual, it’s the effectiveness of the collective.”  

After graduating from Western in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication, Sharpe had a career in healthcare administration in Bellingham with both St. Joseph and St. Luke’s hospitals, which are predecessors of PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, and completed her MBA at Western in 1984. Together, Phil and Sue Sharpe led the campaign in the late ’90s to pass the bonds needed to renovate Bellingham High School.  

Sue Sharpe later worked in healthcare consulting, helped lead community coalitions to expand healthcare access in Whatcom County, and spent a decade as the executive director of the Chuckanut Health Foundation. She also served on the board of the Northwest Economic Development Council and as president of Bellingham Bay Rotary.  

These days, both Sharpes are retired, and spending more time with family, including daughters Claire Whelan, ’16, and Katie Kortlever, ’12, and their grandchildren.  

But they plan to continue to stay connected to Western, Sue Sharpe says.  

“We’re kind of big fans.”