Board & Organization
PNSQC is managed by a seven-member board elected by the voting members at our annual board meeting in November. Board members serve a three-year term. The terms are staggered so that only 2-3 board members are elected in any given year. The board and other active volunteers conduct their business at monthly business meetings that generally occur on the second week of the month. The current board members are:
- Phil Lew, President & Treasurer
- Moss Drake, Vice President & Program Chair
- Dr. Gwen Avington, Board Member
- Ying Ki Kwong, Secretary
- John Cvetko, Board Member
- Heather Wilcox, Board Member
- Kathleen Hess, Board Member
In addition to the board, there are a number of committees that are responsible for defining and running various aspects of PNSQC.
Board Biographies
Philip Lew
President & Treasurer
Philip Lew has spent most of his career asking one question: how do you actually know if software is good? Not good enough. Good. That question led to a PhD, a company, and eventually to PNSQC, where he first presented a paper in 2012 and never really left.
He served as Program Chair before taking on the presidency, which means he has seen PNSQC from most angles: as a presenter, as the person shaping the program, and now as the person responsible for the whole thing.
He took on the role because he believes PNSQC fills a gap that almost nothing else does. It is the only peer-reviewed professional software quality conference in the US, which means the ideas presented here have been tested before they reach the stage. In a field flooded with vendor pitches and hype cycles, that still matters.
His goal is straightforward: make PNSQC the place where serious practitioners come to think, not just to network. He wants the 2026 conference to surface the real tensions in how AI is changing quality work, not paper over them with optimism.
He is also CEO of XBOSoft where he has worked with hundreds of organizations on software quality. He holds a PhD with research published in IEEE and ACM journals.
Email the PNSQC President, connect with Phil on LinkedIn, or Twitter/X @philiplew
Moss Drake
Vice President & Program Chair
Moss Drake has over three decades of experience developing professional software with a focus on healthcare and insurance. He has a passion for discovering innovative ways to deliver software, using agile methodologies, and improving team communication. Moss has been attending and volunteering with PNSQC since the 90s. In his spare time, Moss enjoys playing music, travel, and drawing.
Dr. Gwen Avington
Board Member
Dr. Gwendolyn Avington - Founder/CEO of CLATAK Consulting has honed her ability to work with diverse groups and individuals. She helps organizations and individuals see and remove barriers to effective communication. Dr. Avington started her own business after enjoying 32 years as a healthcare professional. She is adept at using her transformative leadership style to help others grow and reach their full potential. She has worked as a volunteer for the last two years with the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC). She is thrilled to join the PNSQC Board of Directors.
Dr. Avington brings a robust educational background that compliments the work at PNSQC from the end user software quality perspective. She has a Doctor of Health Administration, Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management, Bachelor of Science in Business Communications, and Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology.
Ying Ki Kwong
Secretary
Ying Ki Kwong is an independent consultant. In the public sector, Dr. Kwong was the Oregon E-Government Program Manager responsible for websites, online payments, and custom apps statewide. Also with the state of Oregon, he was Statewide QA Program Manager, IT Investment Oversight Coordinator, and Project Office Manager of the Medicaid Management Information System Project. In the private sector, he was CEO of a Hong Kong-based internet B2B portal for trading commodities futures and metals. He was program manager in the Video & Networking Division of Tektronix, responsible for worldwide applications & channels marketing in the video server business.
In these roles, Dr. Kwong managed software-based business operations, systems, products, and business process improvements. He received the doctorate from the School of Applied & Engineering Physics at Cornell University and was adjunct faculty in the School of Business Administration at Portland State University. He holds certifications in project management (PMP), ITIL, and IT Service Management.
John Cvetko
Board Member
As a Principal at TEK, John Cvetko works with companies and government agencies to improve their organizations by helping them manage the IT challenges they face. He focuses on applying state of the art solutions that support business goals and objectives. For the last 12 years he has primarily worked with state governments assessing and modernizing large enterprise software systems. He has worked with the state governments of Washington, Oregon, Colorado, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Utah. He has consulted for firms such as Gartner, Boeing, and MAXIMUS, and earlier in his career he has held program and systems engineering management positions at Tektronix, PGE/Enron and ASCOM.
Heather Wilcox
Board Member
After leaving a potential career in Anthropology in1994, Heather Wilcox has spent over 25 years working and learning in the software industry, choosing to focus primarily on start-up and small companies. As a result, she has had a broad range of job descriptions which include, but are not limited to: Technical Support Engineer, IS Manager, Technical Writer, QA Engineer, Staff Quality Engineer, QA Manager, and Configuration Management Engineer.
More recently, Heather has moved into a more permanent relationship with NWEA - a mid-sized educational company where she's been for the last 11 years. This has given Heather a wide range of experiences to draw from in her current role as Engineering Manager, QA and Reliability. In her spare time, Heather enjoys fiber arts, equestrian sports, and training donkeys.
Kathleen Hess
Board Member
Kathleen Hess is an experienced Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) at Act-On Software in Portland, OR. With a proven track record in quality assurance, test automation, and security testing, she combines technical expertise with a forward-thinking approach to problem-solving. Kathleen is highly skilled in agile methodologies and excels in driving robust software testing processes to ensure product excellence. Beyond her professional accomplishments, Kathleen is an active volunteer, serving as the photography superintendent at the Clackamas County Fair. She is also a passionate hobby farmer and enjoys sharing stories about her flock of chickens, turkeys, and more.
Kathleen's technical skill set includes proficiency in C#, SQL, Java, Oracle, REST API testing, and JSON. She is adept with tools such as Selenium, SoapUI, Ranorex, Burp Suite, and Postman. Her expertise encompasses test planning, manual and automated testing, regression testing, and comprehensive quality assurance processes.