Ashley Wenger-Slaba, Rural Health System Senior Vice President, to Represent South Dakota on WICHE Commission

BOULDER, Colorado — Ashley Wenger-Slaba, who serves as Sanford Health’s senior vice president of employee experience, education, and workforce relations, has been appointed as a commissioner to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). WICHE is a regional interstate compact that assists the higher education and workforce needs of 15 Western states and the U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States.

Wenger-Slaba will represent South Dakota on the WICHE Commission alongside Nathan Lukkes, executive director and CEO of the South Dakota Board of Regents, and Larry Tidemann, retired state senator and representative. WICHE’s 48 commissioners are appointed by the state’s governors or, in the case of the freely associated states, the leader of those three sovereign nations. Since 1953, the Commission guides WICHE’s direction and assures that the Western Regional Education Compact is carried out for the benefit of the West.

“Being part of the WICHE Commission is a valuable opportunity to share insights about workforce trends and employee pipeline needs within health care,” Wenger-Slaba said. “As our future workforce, students are an incredible resource in postsecondary education to sustain and strengthen healthy communities in South Dakota and beyond, and I’m looking forward to advancing the Commission’s important efforts.”

Sanford Health is the largest rural health system in the United States. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization serves more than 2.4 million patients and nearly 425,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest. A labor and employment lawyer by training and first career, Wenger-Slaba graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska Lincoln in 2004 and a juris doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 2007.

“WICHE is fortunate to have Commissioner Wenger-Slaba on board — someone who is professionally focused on an individual’s experience, education, and relationships,” said WICHE President Demarée Michelau. “Her broad experience and strategic mindset are enormous benefits to, not only the Commission, but to the ever-changing educational and workforce needs of residents and policymakers in South Dakota and across the WICHE region.”

Wenger-Slaba is active in the Sioux Falls community where she lives with her four children. She serves on the board of directors and human resource committee for Volunteers of America, Dakotas.