Our Staff | Defensive Driving School

J.C. – President and Instructor/Examiner

JC has been teaching Traffic Safety since 1997. He’s also a private pilot. He’s married with two daughters and a son. He enjoys coaching his kid’s soccer teams and playing pickleball with his family.


Bridget – Administrator and Instructor/Examiner

Bridget joined Defensive Driving School in 2001. She has a BA in English and TESOL certificate from Western Washington University. She began teaching English overseas in 1995 and loves working with young people. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her children.


Brett – Marketing Director and Instructor/Examiner

Brett does all the graphic design and marketing for the company. His latest project was the full color student workbook and is currently working on putting the classroom presentations in Flash. He and his wife Katie love spending time with their five kids. Brett graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Music in 2002.


Katie, Human Resources Director of Defensive Driving School

Katie – Human Resources Director

Katie is originally from West Linn, Oregon. She grew up in a large family of ten children. She enjoys dancing, music, sewing, photography, and spending time with her family and friends. She was married to her husband Brett in 2007. They have five kids. Katie received her undergraduate degree in finance from Brigham Young University in 2006. She went on to receive her Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Seattle University in 2009.


Kristal – Instructor Manager

Kristal handles all the instructor and class schedules.  She enjoys spending time with her husband and son. Her hobbies are photography, drawing, sewing, walking, hiking, reading, and traveling.


Tina – Operations Manager, Instructor/Examiner

Tina enjoys the Pacific Northwest and exploring the outdoors with her family.


Sue, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Sue – Lake Stevens Administrator,

Instructor/Examiner

Sue has been with Defensive Driving School in Lake Stevens since 2004. She has three children who have all learned to drive defensively with Defensive Driving School. Sue enjoys reading, traveling, Sudoku puzzles, and spending time with her grandkids.


Jason, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Jason – Lake Stevens Administrator,

Instructor/Master Examiner

With 15+ years experience in driver training and 7+ years as a Master Examiner, I really enjoy that “aha! moment” that allows a student of any age, background, or skill level to succeed. I’m excited when I see students develop the habits that will keep them safe on the roads.


Dave – Kitsap Administrator,

Instructor/Examiner


Bonney – Kitsap Administrator


Verla – Lead Instructor/Master Examiner

Verla is the mother of five grown children and has been married to her husband Richard for nearly two thirds of her life. She has experience with the Mukilteo School District as a teacher’s aid in the special education program. Verla started teaching driver’s education in 1998 and has been with Defensive Driving School since 2000. She enjoys teaching the teenagers and meeting the adults that come here from all over the world to learn to drive. Verla teaches out of our Lynnwood 196th location.


Isaac H. – Driving

Instructor/Examiner

Isaac has been teaching driver’s education since 2012 and works out of our Monroe location. He enjoys helping novice drivers and has taught students from all over the world.


Christian – Driving

Instructor/Examiner

Christian teaches out of our Seattle location. He also is a pilot and teaches sailing lessons as well.


Tessie, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Tessie – Driving

Instructor/Examiner

Tessie is teaching out of our Bremerton location.


Kit, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Kit – Instructor

Kit began teaching traffic safety in the 1990s. He is a full time teacher for the Marysville School District. He teaches at our Snohomish location and enjoys riding his bike.


German –

Instructor/Examiner

After 25 years in the jewelry business, German retired, only to make a comeback as a driving instructor. For the past 11 years, he has been coaching youth sports and three years ago he began refereeing youth soccer games. In his free time he likes to play soccer and spend time with his wife, daughter, and son. He works out of our Mercer Island, Factoria, and Redmond locations.


Bryan –

Instructor/Examiner

Bryan teaches out of our Seattle location.


Bill –

Instructor/Examiner

Bill has been with Defensive since January 2011. He has been teaching teens and adults for 20 years. He has a Masters Degree in Theatre Arts and Drama, as well as a degree in Music. He loves helping people learn, Acting and singing as well as proper driving techniques.


Isaac K, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Isaac K. –

Instructor/Examiner

Isaac teaches out of our Issaquah location and is also our instructor trainer.


Rick –

Instructor/Examiner

Rick has been teaching traffic safety since 1988. He has a Master of Science degree from the University of Idaho in Sport Science. He stays active by being a Boy Scout leader in his boy’s troop and an avid bicyclist. He is married with 3 children.


Tyson –

Instructor/Examiner

Tyson spent ten years in the US Army, training soldiers how to drive military vehicles. He left the service to pursue a career in law enforcement. After five years he found that law enforcement wasn’t as rewarding as teaching and needed a change. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his military/police service to teaching people how to drive. Tyson enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. His wife Jeanne is glad Tyson traded in his gun for a brake pedal. Tyson works out of our Snohomish location as well as helps out with drives in Seattle, West Seattle, and Issaquah.


  Stephen, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Stephen – Stanwood Administrator,

Instructor/Examiner

Stephen teaches out of our Stanwood location. He enjoys fishing and spending time with his family.


 

Julie –

Instructor/Examiner

Julie began working for DDS in 2017. She enjoys camping and hiking with her family.


  Katrina, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Katrina –

Instructor/Examiner

Hi, I’m Katrina! I love to teach new drivers to be safe and confident on the road. It’s fun and rewarding to see students succeed. Come drive with me!.


Joe –

Instructor/Examiner

Joe works out of the Lake Stevens location.


Becky, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Becky –

Instructor/Examiner

Becky works out of the Mill Creek location. When Becky is not working she is enjoying the beautiful outdoors with her family. She really enjoys camping. Go Hawks.


Dave, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Dave –

Instructor/Examiner

Growing up in Alaska taught me a lot about different drivers and conditions. I love God, my beautiful wife, and instilling life-changing habits and attitudes into my students at Arlington Christian High School and Defensive Driving School.


Cathy, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Cathy –

Instructor/Examiner

Cathy works out of the Smokey Point location.


Ken, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Ken –

Instructor/Examiner

Ken teaches in Marysville and other locations. He loves his wife of 48 years…and his dog!


Julia –

Instructor/Examiner

Julia works out of the Marysville and Smokey Point locations.


Trever –

Instructor/Examiner

Trever works out of the Marysville, Lake Stevens, and Mukilteo locations.


Alena, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Alena –

Instructor/Examiner

Alena works out of the Lake Stevens location. She speaks English and Russian.


Yurii –

Instructor/Examiner

Yurii came to the USA from Ukraine in 2022 with his family. He is a certified teacher who enjoys teaching in English and Ukrainian out of our Lake Stevens location.

Mara –

Instructor/Examiner

Mara loves to teach! Whether she is teaching new drivers or new musicians, Mara loves to see her students learn and grow. Mara works out of our Lake Stevens location.

Nataliya –

Office/Instructor/Examiner

Nataliya has been with Defensive Driving School since 2022. She has three children, two of whom proudly went through Defensive Driving School. Nataliya has 10+ years of experience working as a teacher of all grade levels. She enjoys helping students become better every day! Nataliya works in Lake Stevens and Smokey Point, and speaks fluently in English and Russian.

Rob –

Instructor/Examiner

Rob works out of our Mill Creek location.

Maria –

Instructor/Examiner

Maria works out of our Marysville and Smokey Point locations. She speaks Spanish and English.

Willow –

Instructor/Examiner

Willow works out of our Mercer Island location.


Mitch, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Mitch –

Instructor/Examiner

Mitch works out of our Silverdale location.


Marty –

Instructor/Examiner

Marty works out of our West Seattle location.


Charlene –

Instructor/Examiner

Charlene works out of our Lynnwood 196th location.


Anna –

Instructor/Examiner

Anna works out of our Redmond location.


 Pam –

Instructor/Examiner

Pam works out of our Bellevue location.


Marc –

Instructor/Examiner

Marc works out of our Kirkland location.


Lincoln –

Instructor/Examiner

Lincoln works out of our Kent and Bonney Lake locations.


Josh J. –

Instructor/Examiner

Josh works out of our Redmond and Woodinville locations.


Jimmy –

Instructor/Examiner

Jimmy works out of our Seattle location.


Glenda –

Instructor/Examiner

Glenda works out of our Bonney Lake location.


Erin –

Instructor/Examiner

Erin works out of our Issaquah location.


Clay – Instructor

Clay works out of our Kirkland location.


Josh K. –

Instructor/Examiner

Josh works out of our Issaquah and Kent locations.


Steve –

Instructor/Examiner

Steve works out of our Mercer Island, Factoria, and West Seattle locations.


Becky  – Instructor

Becky works out of our Bonney Lake location.


Amani –

Instructor/Examiner

Amani works out of our Kent location.


Kate –

Instructor/Examiner

Kate works out of our Seattle and Mercer Island locations.


Paul –

Instructor/Examiner

Paul works out of our Woodinville location.


Andrew –

Instructor/Examiner

Andrew works out of our Woodinville location.


Vincent – Online Instructor

Vincent is an online instructor for our zoom classes.


Ahmed – Instructor

Ahmed works out of our Seattle and Bellevue locations.


Tony –

Instructor/Examiner

Tony works out of our Mercer Island location.


Lukas –

Instructor/Examiner

Lukas works out of our Seattle location.


Akmal –

Instructor/Examiner

Akmal works out of our Kirkland location.


Glenn –

Instructor/Examiner

Glenn works out of our Everett location.


Baillee –

Instructor/Examiner

Baillee works out of our Factoria location.


Anjah – Kirkland Office Staff


Desiree, Instructor of Defensive Driving School

Desiree – Kirkland Office Staff

Desiree is a cheerful mother of three boys, and loves spending time with family and friends.


Leesa – Lake Stevens Office Staff

Leesa works at the Lake Stevens office.


Natalie – Lake Stevens Office Staff


Braunwyn – Lake Stevens Office Staff


Anna – Marysville Office Staff


Shane – Lake Stevens Office Staff