by Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard
August 20, 2026
Cami Feek is no stranger to state government. Every level of it.
She kicked off her career in 1996 as a mailroom clerk typist for the Department of Financial Institutions. She’s worked at General Administration, Washington State Patrol, and the attorney general’s office.
She joined the Employment Security Department in 2017 and played an instrumental role in launching the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Former Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Feek as commissioner in 2021 and current Gov. Bob Ferguson kept her in that post.
Until Monday. That’s when Feek assumed interim leadership of the Department of Enterprise Services that has more than 900 employees, a $280 million operating budget, and a $1.2 billion capital program. Managing state facilities is one of its top duties.
Ferguson announced the change in late July, a couple weeks after Director Matt Jones went on personal leave then quit the leadership post he had held since the governor took office last year. There’s been no explanation why he stepped down.
Feek said she doesn’t know the specific reasons for Jones’ departure. Nor is she intimately familiar with details underlying the exits of several top-level agency administrators in Jones’ tenure.
She also does not know how long she’ll be at the helm, only that the transition will end when a new director is hired.
She understands these are unsettling times for agency employees. She wants to bring calm and revive enthusiasm with a style built on transparency and shared vision. And she’s focused on the department’s future, not dwelling on its past.
“I think there’s always a rearview mirror and a windshield. The rearview mirror is important so you don’t back into a post. There are always historians in every organization that can tell you the entire history of what’s happened from their perspective,” Feek said.
“The windshield helps us all get aligned around how we’re going to work together and move forward,” she continued. “The biggest job as a leader of an organization with such an important mission like DES is how do I understand what people need to be successful and make sure that they have that.”
Feek sat down with The Standard last week to discuss her temporary gig. Here is a lightly edited version of the conversation. Acronym alert: ESD is the Employment Security Department and DES is the Department of Enterprise Services.
How does it happen that the leader of one large agency becomes the interim director of another large agency? Could you have said no?
Sure. It was not a directive. It was a pretty easy yes. I care a lot about state government. I‘ve done some really big things, and this seemed to me an opportunity to bring some of that leadership. ESD is in good shape right now. We have been through a lot at ESD. And I would not have agreed to go help support DES on an interim basis if I felt like it was going to jeopardize ESD.
What is the status of Matt Jones?
He was in an exempt position. When someone makes a decision to leave an exempt appointment like that, they have reversion rights and options. My understanding, and I’m not deep in any of that, is that he has made a formal request to exercise those options.
Have you talked with him?
No.
Do you plan to talk with him?
No. I really am focused on what’s immediate at hand within the agency and what it needs. If at the end of the day there’s a reversion and he’s a DES employee, I will engage with him as a DES employee, just as I will with all the other employees in the agency.
Are you aware of employee-initiated investigations involving the former director?
I can’t speak to any investigations. My leadership style is to really go in and understand directly from folks what the current experience is and operate from that space.
Have you made any adjustments to any positions or notified anybody that you want them to leave?
No. I’m really coming in to understand, eyes wide open, listening and learning from employees.
But that is a potential?
I think there’s always an opportunity from a leadership perspective to understand how things could operate best. So I wouldn’t rule anything in or out right now. My leadership style is a very participatory style. I really do want to learn and listen first. And if there are changes to be made, I’m a very transparent leader.
I know there’s some great work happening in DES. There’s some great leaders in DES. Those are the things that I want to lift up, then figure out where we have gaps and things that need to be on a different path.
One critique from front-line workers is that the agency is top-heavy. With your experience, it won’t take you long to determine if the management level is heavier than it needs to be.
There might be very good reasons for the current configuration of things. I’ll seek to understand those and if they need to be adjusted for any reason.
If there’s a tough decision to be made, I do not shy away from tough decisions. I will be clear about if we’re making a change, why we’re making the change and what the change is. It is important to me that we are moving things forward in a way that builds trust and credibility, and people get the services that they deserve.
You weren’t given direction by the governor to do something, like clean house in, say, 90 days?
No, other than to go bring the leadership that I carry to an agency that needs support right now. My big goal is to help them hire the next director and make sure that that’s someone who can come in and serve in a way that’s going to really move that agency forward.
You’re not going to like it so much that you want the job?
I am planning to come back to ESD. I will pour my heart into DES while I’m there, and I will come home.
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