GOV. KATE BROWN'S OFFICE - Oregon Business Association co-founder Nik Blosser has been hired as Gov. Kate Brown's new chief of staff.

SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown has hired a co-founder of the Oregon Business Association as her new chief of staff.

Nik Blosser, a co-founder of the prominent business organization and CEO of Celilo Group Media, will succeed Chief of Staff Kristen Leonard, whose resignation takes effect Jan. 31. Celilo promotes businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“Nik embodies a key priority for my administration, the creation of economic opportunity that goes hand in hand with making Oregon a great place to live,” Gov. Brown said in a statement. “Nik’s experience as a leading voice in Oregon’s business community will be an integral perspective as my administration takes on the challenges that families face across the state.”

Blosser takes his new posiition on Valentine’s Day.

The businessman, who is married to Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, also serves as chairman of Sokol Blosser Winery, a family business in Yamhill County founded by his parents, Oregon wine industry pioneers Susan Sokol and Bill Blosser.

Blosser has been active in business and public policy in the setate for more than two decades, according to a news release by the governor’s office.

After co-founding the business association, he went on to serve in multiple roles, including co-chairman of the economic development and environment committee, association chairman and executive committee member.

He serves on the board of the Regional Arts and Culture Council and has served on the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission, the boards of the Oregon Environmental Council and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, and most recently co-founded and served as president of Renew Oregon.

Blosser holds bachelor’s degrees in aeronautical engineering and English from Stanford University.

Leonard resigned as Brown’s chief of staff after 14 months on the job.

The resignation followed a series of articles by Willamette Week revealing that Leonard had failed to disclose at least two actual or potential conflicts of interest with the governor’s office, though Brown’s spokesman said the resignation was unrelated to the alt-weekly’s revelations.

Chris Pair, Brown’s interim communications director, said Leonard’s condition for accepting the job had been to serve for only year but had stayed on longer at the governor’s request to help complete Brown’s proposed budget and inauguration.

WW reported in October that Leonard and her husband, Kevin Neely, had a stake in a bookkeeping firm that worked for Brown’s election campaign. Two months later, the newspaper revealed that Leonard had failed to disclose two conflicts of interest: Neely’s software company had a $214,000 contract with the state that was up for renewal and Neely works as a lobbyist for the Oregon District Attorney’s Association. She later disclosed those conflicts in writing, the newspaper reported.

Leonard had a filed a required statement of economic interest with the state ethics commission in April related to her stake in the software company. But she did not disclose that conflict of interest in writing to the governor’s office, WW reported. The statements of economic interest are available to the public through a search on the ethics commission’s website.

Blosser will be Brown’s third chief of staff since she took office in February 2015. Her first pick was Brian Shipley.