• Andrea Bell was appointed this week by Gov. Kate Brown as director of Oregon Housing and Community Services, effective Friday. Bell, who came to the agency two years ago, had served as acting director since February, when Margaret Salazar left to become regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

• Dr. Ruarri Day-Stirrat also begins work Friday as the state geologist and director of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. He previously was employed by Shell Research in Houston, Texas. Sarah Lewis, who served as interim since September, will continue leading DOGAMI’s Mineral Land Regulation and Reclamation program.

•  Toc Soneoulay-Gillespie has begun work as director of the new Governor’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, which was created by the 2021 Legislature. She previously was director of community health for Health Share of Oregon and serves on the state Commission on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs.

• Shannon Singleton left the Governor’s Office and began this week as interim director for Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services. Singleton was hired in September 2019 as Brown’s housing policy adviser and became her director of equity and racial justice in February 2021.

• Susan Peithman begins Monday as policy and implementation manager in ODOT’s Public Transportation Division. She succeeds Marsha Hoskins, who is retiring. Peithman joined the Oregon Department of Transportation in 2016. ODOT’s Kathy Holmes has been named Intercity Passenger Rail Program manager after serving as interim for the past year.

If you have an update on who’s coming or going – or taking on a new assignment – in state government or organizations involved with it, email Dick Hughes at thehughesisms@gmail.com.