CLEAR Board of Directors Election 2024-25 Candidate Information

I am seeking re-appointment to the Board of Directors to broaden the way I contribute to CLEAR’s mandate of promoting regulatory excellence and to build on the excellent work done by CLEAR staff, previous Boards and CLEAR member organization participants. Having been involved with CLEAR for the last six years, and with my background in licensure and regulation and my contributions to several CLEAR committees (administration, legislation and policy, international relations, and regulatory agency administration (chairperson), regional symposia and the annual education conferences, I would bring my experience and passion for the CLEAR mandate to the Board. 

 I particularly enjoy seeing innovative ideas about licensure, enforcement and regulation transform into CLEAR program offerings where everyone and their respective organizations, no matter the industry or profession, can impact their own regulatory environment with the takeaways from those ideas.

My areas of interest are:

• Encouraging innovation in regulation
• Participating on working groups for new areas of growth for CLEAR (i.e. mentoring program)
• Optimizing lessons learned from regulatory changes to inform regulatory best practices
• Promoting educational events that are timely, relevant, and varied
• Encouraging a larger audience from the global regulatory community to participate with CLEAR.

I’ve been involved with CLEAR for almost ten years and have seen how much value it adds to its members and the participants at its events. It’s a great organization and I’ve been lucky enough to serve on the Board of Directors for the last four years and play a small part in helping CLEAR grow further. I’ve also been fortunate to serve as Chair of the Regulatory Agency Administration Committee and as one of the Deputy Chairs of the DEI Committee, where CLEAR is starting on a long, but very important journey to do more and do better in this space.

I’m nominating to serve on the Board of Directors for another two years as I feel that I still have more to contribute and would value the opportunity to continue helping CLEAR through this current period of growth and development.

In my day job I’m a specialist adviser at the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and have previously worked in the regulation and accreditation space with psychologists, dentists and engineers, both in Australia and the UK. I’ve also worked for the Australian Government’s higher education regulator so am a self-confessed regulatory nerd. I think this breadth of experience has been really helpful in my roles with CLEAR and will allow me to continue contributing to ensure CLEAR delivers the best support and services it can to its members.

Dear Members,

I am writing to seek your support for my nomination to CLEAR's Board of Directors. My goal is to enhance our community's diversity and to promote continued engagement with, and reimagined solutions to emerging regulatory challenges.

As the roles of regulators continue to change, so too must evolve the way we understand and champion the public significance of regulatory work. Frameworks that recognize shared responsibility for public protection, that leverage the contributions of different stakeholders and forms of expertise, and that promote broad consensus continue to hold the greatest promise in a changing landscape. Through service on the Board, I hope to promote opportunities for our membership to enrich their conceptual toolkit and see their work in new light.

My background is in law and program administration. I have specific experience directing the promulgation of a variety of administrative rules governing the health care industry and public health systems in Wisconsin. I also currently serve as Director for a direct-care workforce background check program and a misconduct (abuse, neglect, misappropriation) investigation program that protects vulnerable and aging adults receiving care and treatment from over 6,000 facilities and programs in the state. These experiences have shaped my understanding of the way regulatory paradigms can take shape and transform throughout their implementation.  

I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to CLEAR's Board of Directors and shape the future of regulatory excellence. I respectfully ask for your vote and assure you of my steadfast commitment to our community, should I be granted the privilege to serve.

 Thank you for your consideration.

 Davis Ciotola, JD, CIPP-US

I am privileged to submit my candidacy for the board, bringing a passion and commitment to eliminating Indigenous racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)  in regulation to the forefront of my work. As a Gamilaroi, Aboriginal woman and the National Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Unit at the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), I have dedicated my career to championing the health and cultural safety needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

My role involves overseeing the implementation of the National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020-2025, where I lead a dynamic team to achieve strategic deliverables. Our work focuses on embedding culturally safe practices within healthcare systems, ensuring that cultural safety and anti-racism practise is not just an ideal but a reality.

Holding a Bachelor of Arts with a Double Major in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies from the University of Queensland, I have continually sought to expand my knowledge and expertise. I have completed various leadership and training programs, including the Future Public Sector Leaders’ Series at the Australian and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and a Certificate IV in Indigenous Leadership.

My commitment to DEI is reflected in my experience presenting at both domestic and international conferences to share our reform approaches with regulators, health practitioners, and communities to improve the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia. I am actively involved with the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR), where I contribute to the Strategic Plan working group and the DEI Committee. Our team’s efforts were recognised with CLEAR’s 2023 Regulatory Excellence Award, reflecting our dedication to regulatory practices that prioritise inclusivity and excellence.

As a keynote speaker at CLEAR’s 2024 annual educational conference, I will share my insights and experiences in promoting cultural safety and equity. This platform will allow me to further advocate for the integration of DEI and anti-racism principles within regulatory frameworks and healthcare practices.

I believe that true leadership in DEI involves not only setting strategic directions but also actively engaging with diverse communities to understand and address their unique needs. My lived experience as an Aboriginal woman in regulation, experience in providing strategic advice to executive leadership, National Boards, accreditation councils, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Group, and external stakeholders to drive legislative and strategic system reform has prepared me to bring a unique, holistic, inclusive perspective to the board.

I am passionate about creating healthcare environments that are equitable, culturally safe, and responsive to the diverse needs of our communities. By serving on the board, I aim to leverage my expertise and commitment to DEI to drive meaningful, positive change. Together, we can build a more inclusive and equitable regulatory systems and processes for underserved communities.

Dear CLEAR Members,

My name is Jennifer Garrett, and I am running for a seat on the CLEAR board of directors. I currently serve on several committees and have participated in virtual and in-person CLEAR events. I am an appointed official in the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, the state agency that regulates licensed occupations, the construction industry, for-profit higher education, and public sector health and safety.

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to engage within the CLEAR community. I have discovered a network of passionate, intelligent, and thoughtful regulatory leaders who are confronting complex and evolving issues and challenges in occupational regulation. Many of my CLEAR colleagues have become informal sounding boards and collaborators. This exposure to diverse regulatory structures and perspectives has frequently challenged my assumptions and helped me see and evaluate my work in new ways.  Because of my CLEAR involvement, I have been able to take steps to transform the way my agency works to protect the public, support licensed professions, and handle complaints and discipline.

As I reflect on how much I have gained from my CLEAR experience, I realize that I would like to contribute more to the organization that has been so generous and welcoming to me. I want to join the board of directors and be a part of CLEAR’s work to serve as a global forum on occupational regulation and offer meaningful opportunities for learning, leadership growth, and professional development.

Some of the areas of CLEAR work where I could immediately contribute:

• Promoting Regulatory Effectiveness: As regulators, our job is to protect the public. Yet safety is a difficult thing to measure and quantify. I would like to continue the work CLEAR has begun to establish learning opportunities and develop resources that both help regulatory leaders better evaluate their work and position CLEAR as the leading source of insight on regulatory effectiveness.
• Expanding Organizational Reach and Relevance: License portability and workforce mobility are constant topics of conversation among policymakers and regulatory leaders and within professional communities. CLEAR already has a strong international presence and has an opportunity to be a global leader in ethical regulation. I also would like to pursue formal learning engagements and international collaborations in parts of the world where CLEAR could expand. The exposure to unfamiliar regulatory frameworks would benefit existing CLEAR members, and the new audiences could contribute to and benefit from CLEAR programming and offerings.
• Engaging A Diversity of Perspectives: In many parts of the world, regulation is highly politicized. This makes earnest, engaged, and civil conversations difficult if not impossible. Yet the issues facing policymakers and regulators are complex and deserve thoughtful discourse. I would work to create additional opportunities for robust and respectful engagement—even disagreement—on various topics and pressing social questions.

CLEAR is already a place where leaders converge to learn from each other, gain new skills, and advance regulatory issues. It has been an honor working alongside and learning from regulatory colleagues around the world. I would welcome the opportunity to join the board and do more to support the organization and showcase the innovative work and thought leadership emerging from CLEAR community. Thank you for considering my candidacy.

Alayna currently serves as the Assistant Commissioner for the Arizona Department of Real Estate. Within a year, Alayna has been the Audit & Investigations Division Manager where she created an entirely new process for both Compliance Audits as well as Investigations. Alayna was then promoted to Chief of Investigations where she created multiple agency relationship to encompass the expertise of many while she found areas that needed improvement such as the egregious crime of Deed Fraud and Elder exploitation. Shortly after being promoted to the Chief of Investigations, Alayna was appointed the position of Assistant Commissioner to take part in legislation as the Legislative Liaison, Public Information Officer, and Agency Leader over the licensing and development division overseeing 83,000 licensees. Alayna takes pride on finding weakness in areas that require support and effective change and thereby finds this opportunity to be nominated for the Board of Directors for CLEAR one of her highest priorities.

Setting expectations. When an organization of any type sets clear expectations, the likelihood of success increases exponentially. As the Assistant Commissioner for the Arizona Department of Real Estate, it has been tasked to me to create, revitalize, organize, and improve both internal and external processes and procedures. With knowing the end goal, it’s easier to start the journey. My mission as both an educator and regulator has always been to achieve a mutual understanding of the desired outcomes as well as to be a part of the success of all parties.

The mission of CLEAR is to protect the public by enhancing and improving the regulatory framework of licensing bodies who oversee of the public’s protection. All too often in both governmental and private practices, in an effort to streamline processes and procedures the inadvertent missteps of creating too much oversight and regulation leads to both and internal and external failures. In my current roles, I have been complimented and praised for the reduction of outdated processes while improving and implementing a more streamlined and navigable path for all parties.

Simply put, by watching how things are done from both the private and public side and modifying archaic plans, we set expectations on how WE would want to be treated and managed. Thus but improving our own departments, our State agency has reduced costs, reduced backlogs and our external image to the public which we serve, has greatly improved.

The main problem that people never want to address, is that of change. Change is constant, yet not one entity or person wants change. Change however, when clearly outlined, implemented, and improved, creates a unique willingness by all, to continue. Thus, we set our own expectations.

In total, I want to be both a part of the problem and a part of the solution. It is no surprise why I am applying for this role, but I want to be clear when I state – Change comes from within. If I can’t see the problem, how can I change it? Once we set expectations, we can work on change. Once we establish the change needed, we can collaborate and focus on teamwork to achieve this, leading to the desired outcome: Success for all.

CLEAR is an organization that encompasses some of the world’s leading thinkers in professional regulation.  Where else can one interact and share ideas with regulators and non-regulators from multiple professions from across the globe?

We are all part of an incredible international organization focused on regulation to better the lives of not just our own constituents, but the people of the world.  Through the collaboration that CLEAR inspires, we all help one another.  That is the very collaboration that I believe CLEAR must expand upon.  To remain relevant to our members and the world, I believe that CLEAR must expand to embrace new global partners and new non-healthcare occupations.  We all have so much to learn from one another, and CLEAR is the ideal platform upon which to do so.

As anyone who has ever spoken with me knows all too well, I am not a regulator.  Rather, I manage a team of incredibly talented policy analysts in reviewing a variety of government programs through sunset reviews.  Whenever Colorado’s legislature creates a program that it wants evaluated for necessity and effectiveness, they tap my office to conduct an objective analysis.

My team also conducts sunrise reviews, which evaluate whether currently unregulated professions and occupations ought to be regulated to protect the public.  We serve as the gatekeepers between necessary regulation and government overreach.

This broad-based perspective uniquely enables me to take a strategic look at issues, identify commonalities and differences and craft ways to implement best practices in areas where others may not see a connection.  Finding common ground among competing, often conflicting interests, is part of my everyday job.  It is this strategic, overarching view that I could bring to CLEAR’s Board of Directors to help lead the organization into its next chapter.

CLEAR is an incredible organization focused, first and foremost, on helping regulators protect their respective constituencies.  I believe I can contribute to this mission in a unique way, and I hope you agree.  I would be honored and humbled to receive your vote to serve on the Board of Directors.

Thank you.

I am excited to submit my nomination for a CLEAR Board of Directors position. I have spent over twenty years working in leadership roles in regulatory bodies in Ontario, Canada, and have learned about what it takes for a regulator to excel in its role. There are so many considerations and risks that we all encounter and CLEAR plays a fundamental role in helping regulators navigate these evolving challenges.

CLEAR’s ability to bring the international regulatory community together has allowed regulators to consider different perspectives from around the world and bring home ideas and promising practices to improve the work in our own jurisdictions.

My regulatory experience has allowed me to reflect on how to be a better regulator and to demonstrate that we make an impact in the areas that we regulate. I have a strong interest in monitoring changing regulatory trends and helping the regulatory community adapt to the key issues that we will face in the future.

For the last several years, I have been involved in CLEAR committee work. I have joined more CLEAR committees as I continue to recognize the value that this participation has brought to my own learning and to my work. I have shared my own knowledge by participating in presentations, moderating sessions, and acting as a mentor in CLEAR’s new mentorship program. I have learned from my regulatory colleagues and built many friendships thanks to CLEAR. As I moved into leadership roles on CLEAR committees, I have demonstrated my ability to contribute to the work that is done at CLEAR, and I have an interest in increasing my role within the organization that has brought me so much.

Serving on the Board is about living the mission, vision, and values of the organization, supporting the strategic initiatives, and demonstrating good governance to ensure the continued success of CLEAR. I am confident that I can fulfill these expectations. Throughout my career, I have always supported regulatory colleagues in providing resources and collaborating to explore ideas together. I would love the opportunity to serve other regulators in continuing CLEAR’s tradition of striving for regulatory excellence and committing to an ongoing focus on the evolving issues which impact the work of the regulatory community.  Thank you for your consideration of my interest to serve on CLEAR’s Board of Directors!

I am excited to submit my nomination for a CLEAR Board of Directors position. I have spent over twenty years working in leadership roles in regulatory bodies in Ontario, Canada, and have learned about what it takes for a regulator to excel in its role. There are so many considerations and risks that we all encounter and CLEAR plays a fundamental role in helping regulators navigate these evolving challenges.

CLEAR’s ability to bring the international regulatory community together has allowed regulators to consider different perspectives from around the world and bring home ideas and promising practices to improve the work in our own jurisdictions.

My regulatory experience has allowed me to reflect on how to be a better regulator and to demonstrate that we make an impact in the areas that we regulate. I have a strong interest in monitoring changing regulatory trends and helping the regulatory community adapt to the key issues that we will face in the future.

For the last several years, I have been involved in CLEAR committee work. I have joined more CLEAR committees as I continue to recognize the value that this participation has brought to my own learning and to my work. I have shared my own knowledge by participating in presentations, moderating sessions, and acting as a mentor in CLEAR’s new mentorship program. I have learned from my regulatory colleagues and built many friendships thanks to CLEAR. As I moved into leadership roles on CLEAR committees, I have demonstrated my ability to contribute to the work that is done at CLEAR, and I have an interest in increasing my role within the organization that has brought me so much.

Serving on the Board is about living the mission, vision, and values of the organization, supporting the strategic initiatives, and demonstrating good governance to ensure the continued success of CLEAR. I am confident that I can fulfill these expectations. Throughout my career, I have always supported regulatory colleagues in providing resources and collaborating to explore ideas together. I would love the opportunity to serve other regulators in continuing CLEAR’s tradition of striving for regulatory excellence and committing to an ongoing focus on the evolving issues which impact the work of the regulatory community.  Thank you for your consideration of my interest to serve on CLEAR’s Board of Directors!