Colbrese to step down as head of the WIAA

Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive director Mike Colbrese plans to retire following the 2018-19 school year.

“I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to serve as WIAA’s executive director for the past quarter century,” Colbrese said in a news release. “I have dedicated my professional life to furthering high school activities, and I will end my career with the same passion and enthusiasm I brought to this position 25 years ago. Though we still have much important work ahead of us, we have accomplished a great deal over the past two and half decades. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the students, teachers, coaches and parents of Washington state.”

Colbrese, who is currently in his 25th year with the WIAA, served as the commissioner of the Wyoming High School Activities Association from 1987-1993 and as an assistant to the executive director of the Montana High School Association from 1982-1987.

“Mike has been a strong advocate for all students and WIAA programs and has guided the WIAA into being recognized as one of the top Associations in the country,” WIAA executive board president Lori Wyborney, the principal of Rogers High School in Spokane, said in a news release. “He has been a leader on so many levels, from growing the WIAA into an organization that now serves more than 500,000 students and 400 high schools statewide, to implementing the first concussion management and transgender policies in the nation. He will be sorely missed.”