Nikkie Gomez-Whaley has served on the Washington ESD Governing board since 2017. Washington ESD serves approximately 20,000 K-8 students across Northwest Phoenix. 31 WESD’s 32 schools qualify as Title 1 and 75% of students are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other People of Color) according to Arizona Department of Education’s 2021-21 School Report Card. Serving as Vice President in 2021 & 2022, Nikkie became the district’s first ever BIPOC Board President in 2023. Her oldest child promoted from WESD in 2020 and her young child currently attends WESD.
As the daughter of an immigrant and a first-generation university graduate, the pursuit of equity in education has been central Ms. Gomez-Whaley’s work. With a Bachelor of Sociology, a Master of Public Administration, Nikkie has spent the last 20 years working in the areas of mental health, education, human resources, and DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion). She has worked for Valle del Sol, United Way and Arizona School Boards Association where, for six years, she presented and coached on educational equity while also elevating organizations and resources to support school boards’ equity efforts. Currently, Nikkie works at Planned Parenthood of Arizona as their Director of DEI.
Nikkie is dedicated to bettering her community and has served on various boards and councils dedicated to empowering women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities in addition to individual mentoring. Her dream is to work with the community to build social systems that center humanity and provide equitable access to all.