Mandy Wallner
President

Mandy is the Economic Development Manager at the City of Richland. Growing up in the Tri-Cities she has watched the growth of our area, both in population and development. She has always had an interest in the community, networking, meeting new people, planning events, and working for local business. In her current role, she gets to put that history and experience to work to better her community, a passion of hers since she was young. She is also a proud Coug, graduating WSU with her MBA. She also graduated as a mentee in 2018.

Those who know her know she always has a ‘side-hustle’ or two in the works from small business consulting to wedding officiating, event planning to her Tastefully Simple business and everything in between.

When she is not at work (in its many forms), she enjoys creating, visiting wineries and points of interest throughout our region with her friends and family. She also has a thriving plant collection that she has made into a hobby.

Mary Ann Breshears
Vice Chair

Mary Ann Breshears and her husband, Rich, have been wildly passionate about taking images since childhood. Mary Ann started in her teen years with 4H, amassing enormous scrap books for her fair princess and high school projects. In college she continued her love of photography while studying to become a Consumer Science Teacher. It wasn’t until 2000 when Mary Ann and Rich found themselves burned out on their chosen careers and decided to make it a go as professional photographer.  Rich and Mary Ann opened their studio out of their garage, working nights and weekends. As the quality of their work grew, so did the word of their availability. In 2004 Mary Ann made the transition to being full-time in their studio. Since then their studio has grown out of their home, and into a beautiful 3,000-square-foot storefront space, specializing in family wall portrait art, high school seniors, and commercial product photography. The key to her success is passion, hard work, and integrity.

Lena Garza
Secretary

Lena is founder and CEO of Nourished by Design and an NCCA Certified Health Coach. She offers life and wellness coaching focused on habit changes, personalized accountability, and community. She helps busy professionals who have poured all their effort into their career or carding for others, only to neglect their own health. Nourished by Design focuses on making you the priority and helps you get energy back, stop being overwhelmed, and gain confidence. Since starting her own business, she has expanded beyond individualized coaching to include private workshops and corporate workshops, coaching and retreats.

Sybil Young
Treasurer and Luncheon Chair

Sybil is the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Three Rivers Convention Center. She loves that her job lets her work with new people and organizations all the time, while still getting to see familiar faces through the Convention Center doors. Each day is a new adventure! Sybil graduated from WSU with a BA in Business Management & Operations and from WGU with a Masters in Business Administration. A native of the Tri-Cities, she has enjoyed watching the community grow and can’t wait to see what the future holds. Sybil is a graduate of the Powerful Connections Mentor Program (Class 4) and is proud to serve the organization as their Treasurer. As a new mom, she enjoys spending time with her son, Vince and her husband, Andrew, as well as with their bulldog pups. She also loves trivia and dabbles in beekeeping – she could tell you more than you could ever want to know about honeybees (just ask!). 

Anne Spilman
Social Chair

A graduate of Kennewick High, Pacific Lutheran University, and WGU, Anne holds a Masters degree in Business Administration with undergrad expertise in psychology and marketing. Anne is currently the executive director for the Academy of Children’s Theatre, a non-profit where she began acting nearly 30 years ago. Through theater arts education, Anne learned life skills and built lasting friendships that made her a strong advocate for all arts today. As an active community member, Anne has served on multiple volunteer boards and councils, including Leadership Tri-Cities, P.E.O, Columbia Basin Nonprofits Association, Powerful Connections, Richland Arts Commission, and Girls on the Run.

Staci West
Luncheon Speaker Chair

Staci is a Seattle transplant who fell in love with the Tri-Cities’ close-knit community, wine country, and amazing people including the women of Powerful Connections. She leads communications for a Bechtel project at the Hanford Site. She received her degree in print journalism and political science from Central Washington University and began her career as a newspaper reporter, which taught her the value of asking tough questions and, as the famous journalism quote says, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Staci’s active with Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce as a board member and the Tri-Cities Legislative Council and with Visit Tri-Cities. She has been married to Corey for 10 years and is a bonus mom to his two grown sons. She loves to travel overseas with her mom and spend time socializing with her girlfriends. Staci is best known for her Bengal cat, Sassy, who lives up to her name daily.

Megan Nichols
Programs Chair

Megan Nichols is a proud wife, mother, and Certified Financial Planner™. Most of her energy is devoted to spending time with her husband and kids, helping her clients along their financial journey, or getting inspired by the amazing ladies of PC. Megan has both been with HFG Trust and a member of Powerful Connections since 2015. She is a graduate of the Powerful Connections Mentor Program (Class 2) and led Class 4 along with Julie Sovereign. She is a graduate of Washington State University (GO COUGS!). Though she is an Idaho native, Megan has called the Tri-Cities home since 2010 and feels fortunate to be part of such a great community.