Senator Margaret Carter: Margaret Carter is a former Democratic member of the Oregon State Senate, representing District 22 from 2000 to August 31, 2009, when she took the position as Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services. Carter served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1984 to 1998. She had served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate from 2005 to 2009. Carter earned her B.A. in education from Portland State University and her M.Ed. in Psychology from Oregon State University. Her professional experience includes working as a former prison counselor, as the President/CEO of Portland Urban League, as a counselor at Portland Community College and as the Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services. She currently manages a small business for Governmental and Public Affairs/Public Speaking.
Senator Susan Castillo: Was born in East Los Angeles and moved to Oregon in the mid 1970's. I graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Speech Communications. I worked as a television reporter for over 14 years, reporting on state government, Legislature, Education and politics. Was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Oregon Legislature. Was a State Senator for six years before running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2002. Served in that office for 9 and a half years before joining Project Lead The Way in 2012. I live in Eugene with my husband, Paul Machu.
Commissioner Melissa Cribbins is in her second term as Coos County Commissioner. Melissa graduated from Coquille High School, then went on to get Bachelor's degrees in microbiology and biochemistry from Portland State University and a Juris Doctorate from Gonzaga University. She is an attorney and is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. Melissa serves on the Land Conservation and Development Commission, the Energy Trust Board, the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Board, the Siskiyou National Forest Resource Advisory Council, and is the Chair of the Rural Development Initiatives Board of Directors. Melissa is married to Troy, a Physical Therapist who owns his own staffing company. They have three children, Chase, Taylor, and Cullen, a Labrador, Indie, and a cat named Chloe.
Tom Fuller: I grew up on a family farm between McMinnville and Sheridan in Yamhill County. We raised wheat, barley and other grains plus crimson clover and alfalfa. We had sheep, Herford and Angus cattle, dairy cows, chickens, pigs and a horse. I was very a very good hand-milker of cows! I graduated from McMinnville High School (1965) and Yale University (1969); I graduated from the Pacific School of Banking at the University of Washington (1982),. In high school I played football and ran track, I rowed lightweight crew at Yale. I was a football official for 12 years; I was a rowing official for 32 years at the local, regional, national and international level; I was an official at the 1996 Olympic Games for rowing. I spent 19 years in banking at the Oregon Bank/Security Pacific Bank of Oregon. I rose to the level of Senior Vice President; I was a lender and "fixed" things. In 1998 I left to go to work for Neil Goldschmidt when he was Governor. I worked for Michael Franke in the Department of Corrections where I was in charge of building and siting prisons, then went to work for Bob Buchanan (Class 5?) at the Oregon Economic Development Department and ran the Business Resources Division. I joined Shiels Obletz Johnsen in 1991 as a Project Manager and have been here even since.
Commissioner Simon Hare: Southern Oregon native, Simon Hare and his family have a long history and deep roots in Josephine County. His grandfather, Edward Hare, moved the family to the Illinois Valley and the "Oxbow Ranch" from the Napa Valley in 1958. He spent his childhood on the family's cattle ranch with his parents, Denny & Evie and his brother David and sister Maria. Starting with 4-H and later in high school with FFA, he cultivated a connection to the land and a love for farming and agriculture. He continues to spend much of his free time replacing fences and keeping things running on the family farm. This fondness for a rural lifestyle played a significant role in his decision to attend Oregon State University... not their history of winning college football games. While in college he was able to pursue one of his lesser-known talents as a singer in OSU's Chamber & Jazz Choirs. During his Junior year he was honored to lead the prestigious choral department by being elected President. In 2002 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business. After spending the summer working on the ranch he traveled east to fill a position as a legislative intern in Senator Gordon H. Smith's Washington, D.C. Office. His desire to make a difference in rural America, lead him to a position with the Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He spent 6 years with NRECA's government relation's office, working on rural electric cooperative legislative issues. In 2008 he returned to Oregon looking for a change of pace and to be closer to home. The degraded state of the community was the inspiration that moved him "off the couch" and into the arena of local politics. Commissioner Hare took office after winning the general election for position #1 in January 2011. Since that time he's piloted very challenging times in Josephine County. He continues to be a proponent of small, fiscally responsible government, a long-term funding solution for the county.
Charles Hudson is the Director of Government Affairs for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, where he has served since 1999. In this role Charles manages Congressional relations and facilitates the Federal-Tribal relationship. Charles, a member the Mandan/Hidatsa tribe of Fort Berthold, North Dakota, has spoken throughout North America on treaty rights, natural resource management and environmental justice. His passion for tribal issues is derived from his family's multi-generational fight for treaty rights and justice on the Missouri River, a fight chronicled in the 2004 novel "Coyote Warrior" by Paul Vandevelder. He currently serves on the Oregon Community Foundation’s Metropolitan Leadership Council and Board of Directors of the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership. Charles is the founder and administrator of the Many Dances Family Fund, a charitable fund within the Oregon Community Foundation. Charles’ hobbies include hunting, fishing, hiking and gardening. He is a 1984 graduate of Washington State University. Charles has three sons, and two grandchildren.
Valeria Pimentel: Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, Valeria has been living in Baker City, Oregon, since 2006. She received her bachelor’s degree in Economics in Brazil, an MBA from Eastern Oregon University, and is currently working on an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice. In Brazil she worked for eleven years at one of the country’s largest financial groups acting in many capacities, the latest as Direct Marketing Manager. In the United States she has worked for the City of Baker City in various jobs: evidence technician, assisting the city manager and directors, and coordinating IT projects. For the last 3 ½ years she has been working for the Oregon Department of Corrections at the Powder River Correctional Facility as the Inmate Work Program Coordinator. Valeria enjoys travelling, learning new things, meeting new people, fitness, and living in a small community where she appreciates the opportunity to positively impact the place she calls home.
Kelly Poe: Kelly has lived and worked in the western Treasure Valley since 1995. Her community service career began early as an AmeriCorps VISTA member and leader; she is currently the Director of Community Based Services with Malheur Education Service District serving Baker, Malheur, and Wallowa Counties. Kelly was instrumental in helping to establish a system to serve runaway and homeless youth, a Regional Food Bank, a Boys & Girls Club and a Relief Nursery. She is currently working within a regional hub of services that benefit children and families. She has worked with local communities to establish Cradle to Career Partnerships in Baker, Malheur and Wallowa Counties. She is a member of the Malheur County Poverty to Prosperity team dedicated to economic recovery and Four Rivers Healthy Community committed to community vitality. Kelly is a graduate of the Ford Institute Leadership Program, an active Ford Community Ambassador, Ford Community Fellow Alumna, and an American Leadership Forum Fellow.
Connie Saldaña has worked in the Southern Oregon human service community since 1990—as an employee, active participant, and leader in community networks: Jackson County Community Services Consortium, Hispanic Interagency Committee and Homeless Task Force. As a volunteer she has served on many boards and volunteered as a board trainer for others. Connie has statewide collaborative experience, as well. She initiated and staffed for nine years a statewide networking group of human service providers and emergency responders, called Vulnerable Populations Emergency Preparedness Coalition. The mission was to ensure—through special programming, sharing of best practices and collaborative projects—that all rural and urban people who would need special assistance during a disaster should be kept safe. VPEPC met quarterly via video conference. Since the main meeting site rotated to different counties, Connie was able to explore the entire state over the years. As a long-time Board member for the Multicultural Association of Southern Oregon, she volunteers with its small radio station, KSKQ Community Radio. That work leads to additional service on a statewide Board –this one a coalition of sister stations, called Oregon Community Media. Connie lives in Ashland with her significant other, Don Senter, and has worked for Senior and Disability Services of Rogue Valley Council of Governments for 24 years. She has two wonderful grown daughters.
Steve Schulz is the Executive Director of Cycle Oregon. Prior to joining Cycle Oregon he was in the fitness and adventure industry for over 20 years as the founder and owner of STRADA, in Portland, OR. Steve’s first Cycle Oregon experience was in 2001, taking a group of cyclists he was training on the week event – from then on he was hooked. In 2003 STRADA partnered with Cycle Oregon to provide training resources for Cycle Oregon participants and in 2008 Steve joined the Cycle Oregon staff and sold STRADA shortly after. As soon as Steve was walking, he was backpacking, fishing, playing sports and music, and riding a bike – it was all about adventure and discovery. Being active and exploring the outdoors have always been a part of his life. Growing up in a small town in Wyoming, Steve understands the challenges of rural communities and the opportunity for Cycle Oregon to not only provide economic impact, but to help facilitate constructive change for years to come. Steve’s greatest reward in his professional career has been being able to help transform people’s lives. When not traveling throughout the beautiful state of Oregon looking for areas and communities to visit, Steve enjoys spending time with his family and trusty Labrador, playing music, riding his bike, overlanding through the back-country and wetting a line in any available body of water.
Kristin Steele is the co-owner of Swaim Strategies, a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in events. Since 2004 the firm has helped hundreds of clients raise crucial funds for their great causes by elevating how those organizations tell their story. Kristin works with clients to think about how the structure of their event and the stories they share can more deeply connect their audience to their mission. As Director of Operations + Communications she also provides all of the internal infrastructure for the company, serving as the hub for human relations, sales and business development. Kristin has always been a volunteer and her work in nonprofits is fueled by the desire to create solutions. She has also always been a writer and reader, believing that storytelling is a crucial vehicle to connect people and communities to facilitate understanding. As a Portland-based writer she has taught playwriting to at-risk youth, and led creative writing workshops for adults in domestic violence shelters, public housing projects, county jail and community spaces. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College. Her stage work has been produced in Los Angeles and New York, and workshopped at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Her fiction and non-fiction works have appeared in magazines, newspapers and literary anthologies. When she’s not working, you’ll find her on her bike soaking in as many Oregon roads as possible.
Facilitator/Faculty Biographies
Jake Gibbs (Co-Facilitator): I grew up in St. Louis, MO, went to college in southern Illinois, followed my wife to Atlanta for grad school and followed her again to Roseburg, OR after school. We have lived in Douglas County for over 20 years starting our family and raising our daughters in the first home we ever owned. I am now the first non-family President and CEO of Starker Forests, Inc. a family owned forest owner/management company based in Corvallis. I have worked in the forest industry since 1996 starting as a tree planter on a company crew eventually working my way to a leadership position. I have served on several industry boards and associations at the local, regional and national level. I served on the Oakland School District Board of Education for 9 years, several as its chair. I have a strong commitment to public education, especially rural public education and continue to seek opportunities to engage in this space. I am an ALF Fellow, Class 28 grateful for the opportunity my classmates provided me.
Cliff Jones (Faculty): Cliff has over 25 years of experience in social service, community education, and human rights advocacy. He is co-founder of Tools for Diversity, a multi-cultural team that addresses problems caused by discrimination and prejudice and supports building culturally competent organizations. Cliff's professional capabilities include skill-building for boards and supervisors, planning, mediation, workplace diversity, multicultural alliances, conflict resolution, and group facilitation. He has consulted for a wide range of nonprofits, and has experience as a frontline staff, supervisor, project manager and executive director. He is now a partner and consultant at Capacity Building Partnerships.
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Mariana Lindsay (Project Coordinator): Mariana Lindsay was the Urban Rural Connection Coordinator at the American Leadership Forum of Oregon during the first year of the Project and now serves at the Project Liaison. Before joining ALF, she was Interim Executive Director at the Center for Women's Leadership, where she helped create and implement leadership development programs for women and girls across Oregon. Prior to joining the Center in 2012, Mariana was Associate Director of The Bus Project, an organization focused on engaging Oregon's next generation in grassroots civic engagement. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Oregon and the Advisory Board for the Rural Resiliency Research Project. She formerly served on the State of Oregon Construction Contractors Board. Mariana is a lifelong Oregonian, but moved to a small town in Southern Wisconsin to attend Beloit College. Upon graduating with her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science she returned home. Mariana lives in North Portland with her family and enjoys almost anything that gets her outside (especially if it involves her bike or running shoes), new travel destinations, and experimenting in the kitchen.
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Vicki Nakashima (Co-Facilitator): Vicki enjoys her retirement from the State of Oregon where she served as the Director of Multicultural Health for the Department of Human Services. Previous employment included; Assistant Administrator, Recruitment and Career Services, State of Oregon, Civil Rights Manager for the Department of Transportation and Children's Services Division, Organizational Development Manager for NIKE U.S. Customer Service. In addition, Vicki was the volunteer Executive Director for Partners in Diversity and has served on the PID Leadership Council member since it was founded in 2005. Vicki also served on the Marylhurst University Board of Trustees. In her spare time she volunteers as a player assistant for Camas Meadows Golf Club and a TAG Team member for the Oregon Golf Association where she helps with golf tournaments for youth and adult competitors. Vicki also chairs the City of Portland Golf Advisory Committee which advises on the operation of five City golf courses. Other volunteer activities include; Public Relations and Membership Chair for Western States Golf Association, an African American focused Association made up of 33 clubs located in the Western U.S. She is also involved in activities related to the Oregon-Toyama Sister State Relationship and City of Portland Minority Evaluator Program.