Amy Herzfeld-Copple

Executive Director

A longtime part of the WSC family, Amy’s more than 20 years of service to Western States Center has included experiences at all levels of the organization: as a cohort participant, field partner, volunteer trainer, and board chair before eventually joining staff as the Deputy Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives in 2018 and then becoming Executive Director in 2023.

Raised in Idaho, Amy started volunteering for LGBTQ+ rights campaigns at the age of 14 and never looked back. Her past roles have included Executive Director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center (now Wassmuth Center for Human Rights), Oregon State Director for Working America, and Co-Executive Director for Basic Rights Oregon. Amy first connected to Western States Center as a young human rights organizer in Boise — graduating from WSC’s then Western Institute for Organizing and Leadership Development (WILD) program in 2004. A respected leader with over two decades of experience driving inclusive democracy organizations and campaigns in the Pacific Northwest, her broad expertise ranges from policy advocacy and labor organizing to electoral management and award-winning journalism.