22 Facts About Gael Tarleton

Gael Frances Donelan Tarleton is an American politician who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives for the 36th Legislative District from 2013 to 2021.

Gael Tarleton was a candidate for Secretary of State of Washington in 2020, losing to incumbent Republican Kim Wyman.

Gael Tarleton was born on January 1,1959, in Beverly, Massachusetts, the daughter of John J "Jack" and Ann-Jean Donelan.

Gael Tarleton was raised in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, and graduated as class valedictorian and Manchester Scholar from Manchester Jr.

In 1984, Gael Tarleton returned to the Defense Intelligence Agency's Washington, DC, headquarters, where she held various positions supporting defense agencies and the US national intelligence community.

In September 1990, Gael Tarleton and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington, where she worked for 12 years at Science Applications International Corporation, which at the time was a private, employee-owned science and technology company.

Gael Tarleton developed and led the organization's business in Russia, serving as Director of SAIC Global Technology, and vice president and manager of international business, building collaborative science and technology partnerships between US and Russian scientists and engineers.

Gael Tarleton became the first American woman to address a joint session of the Russian Parliament in 1996.

In 2004, Gael Tarleton was hired as the first Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the University of Washington's College of Arts and Sciences.

Gael Tarleton served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs; Manager of Partnerships for the Pacific Rim Visualization and Analytics Center in the College of Engineering; and Strategic Advisor for the Information School's Institute for National Security Education and Research.

Gael Tarleton helped raise funding for research and education on behalf of faculty and students.

Gael Tarleton resigned from the UW when she was elected to the State House of Representatives in 2012.

In 2007, Gael Tarleton challenged a two-term incumbent and won her first four-year term as a Commissioner at the Port of Seattle, a King County-wide elected office for a part-time position overseeing the largest port in the Pacific Northwest with an annual budget nearing $1 billion.

Re-elected in 2011, Gael Tarleton held various leadership positions, including Chair of the Commission Audit Committee and President of the commission.

Gael Tarleton is a volunteer board member at The Ploughshares Fund, Women Legislators' Lobby and Women's Actions for New Directions, Northwest Progressive Institute, Earth and Space Research, and Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle.

Gael Tarleton previously served a three-year term on the National Security Directorate's Advisory Committee at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Gael Tarleton's colleagues elected her House Majority Floor Leader in November 2015 after serving as Deputy Majority Floor Leader during the 2015 legislative sessions.

Gael Tarleton is vice chair of the Technology and Economic Development Committee and a member of the House Higher Education, Rules, and Transportation committees.

Four of the bills Gael Tarleton has prime-sponsored have become law: HB 1647, the Safe Keys Act requiring landlords to protect renters' keys; HB 2580, a legislative task force analyzing the economic resilience of maritime and manufacturing sectors in Washington; HB 2351, authorizing out-of-state health care professionals to volunteer services in Washington; and HB 2708, establishing liquid biomass as a new type of renewable energy.

Gael Tarleton authored HB 2238, which would have made Washington the first state in the nation to require employers to provide paid vacation in order to support a healthy workplace.

Gael Tarleton was selected for the Legislators' Energy Horizons Institute certificate program in 2013 for legislators nationwide and in Canada who are committed to working on energy-related legislation during their careers as lawmakers.

In 2014, Gael Tarleton created and was selected by her colleagues to co-chair the Economic and Community Resilience legislative caucus.