Board of Trustees

Bradley Liebrecht was born and raised in the Yakima Valley and graduated from West Valley High School. He graduated from Washington State University with degrees in History and Social Studies Education. Bradley has been a teacher in the West Valley School District since 2013 and most recently served as President of the Washington State Council for Social Studies. The Yakima Valley Libraries have always been very important to Bradley and he is looking forward to working with the Trustees and the Library Staff to continue the proud legacy of public libraries in Yakima County. The Yakima County Commissioners appointed Bradley to serve on the Yakima Valley Library Board for a term commencing January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026.

Jameson Watkins received his bachelor’s in English and Master’s in Library Science from Emporia State University. He began his career in the mid-90s working for the Kansas Library Network Board teaching librarians how to create web sites for their libraries and rural communities, and working on nascent Internet projects like the Kansas Digital Library and the Kansas Library Card.

Jameson was at the University of Kansas Medical Center for 21 years, serving as an IT director over web and application development. In 2014, he also assumed the director position at the A.R. Dykes Health Sciences Library, one of the major academic health science research libraries in the country. As a function of that role, he served on the board of the Network of the National Library of Medicine, a service of the National Institute of Health.

In 2017, he moved to Yakima along with his wife and son to become the inaugural Chief Information Officer at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, where he manages the university technology, campus planning, and facilities services.

Jameson was appointed by the Yakima County Commissioners to serve on the YVL Board of Trustees until his term expires December 31, 2027.

Mary MacKintosh has been appointed to the YVL Board of Trustees.  Her grandmother, Jessie Ballard, was the first trained librarian to work in the Yakima Library, and later served on the Library Board as Jessie MacKintosh. Mary grew up in Yakima, graduating from Eisenhower High School.  She moved back seven years ago.  She earned her Masters in Library Science at the University of Washington and a MA and MFA in English Literature at Chapman University.    Mary worked as a college and university reference librarian for twenty plus years and served as the library director for an aerospace company as well as for three different campuses of DeVry University. She is a dedicated reader, and one of her earliest memories is getting her own YVL library card at the age of five, and how exciting that was. She is appointed by the Yakima County Commissioners to serve on the YVL Board until her term expires December 31, 2027.

Judith Panagakos received her bachelor’s degree in Economics & Urban Studies from Lehigh University and has a Master’s Library Science from Rutgers University with a Specialization in Digital Libraries. She began her career at JP Morgan in New York City, where she worked for over 31 years in Human Resources. She is currently a private career coach for college students and graduates seeking early career opportunities.

She has been formally involved with public libraries for over 25 years. She began by working with the Cranford Public Library Friends in New Jersey, first as Treasurer and later President. She was then appointed as a Cranford Library Trustee for over 10 years. After relocating to Morgantown, West Virginia, she was appointed to the Library Board and served as Board President prior to her relocation to Yakima.

Her decision to move to Yakima in 2022 relates to her husband’s work as the founding Dean of the School of Dental Medicine at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.  Since arriving in Washington State she has become the Treasurer of the Yakima Valley Libraries Foundation and volunteers with several community organizations.

Judith was appointed by the Yakima County Commissioners to serve on the YVL Board of Trustees until her term expires December 31, 2028.

Noemi Sanchez (they/she) was raised in Yakima, where they have spent most of their life. Noemi’s passion for their community is rooted in their lived experiences as a queer Mexican person and student organizer at Evergreen State College and Heritage University. They earned a bachelor’s degree in History in 2020 from Heritage University.

Noemi has a deep love for Yakima and its people, using that love as motivation to give back. As a fierce community organizer, they have been with Yakima Community Aid since May 2020, during the pivotal time when Yakima became the epicenter of the intersection between the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Farmworker Strikes, and the COVID-19 (un)Response.

In their professional life, Noemi is a community advocate with Columbia Legal Services. In their free time, they are a lover of all things gothic, fashion, and music. The most important thing to know about Noemi is their guiding principle, a quote from Audre Lorde: “Without community, there is no liberation.”

Candelaria Mendoza was selected as the library system’s new Executive Director in July 2022.

In her new role, Mendoza will lead the way in helping the library accomplish its mission and strategic goals. As the incoming Executive Director, Mendoza sees her role as a way to uplift and improve the quality of life for YVL patrons and the entire community.

The Executive Director is responsible for overall administration, planning, budgeting, public service, and community relations for the Library District. In compliance with RCW 27.12.210(3) the Executive Director is the only employee hired by the Board of Trustees and reports directly to them for the operations of the Library District.