Preston Mann joined Oregon Business & Industry last week in the new position of political affairs director. Mann is vice president for public affairs at Oregon Manufacturers and Commerce, a role he will continue part-time through the 2023 legislative session.

Charles Boyle, who was Gov. Kate Brown’s deputy communications director, is now a senior principal communications consultant at Portland General Electric. (PGE’s vice president of public affairs is Nik Blosser, Brown’s former chief of staff, who joined the utility last summer.)

Anna Braun, a longtime top aide to Senate President Peter Courtney, has gone out on her own as a lobbyist with Braun Law LLC. When Courtney retired this year, Braun had joined Dalton Advocacy Inc. as a lobbyist. 

James Schroeder, whom Gov.-elect Tina Kotek chose in December as interim director of the Oregon Health Authority, is leaving as of March 17. Kotek’s press secretary said the governor did not seek his departure. In his March 2 resignation letter, Schroeder wrote: “I have decided I will not pursue the permanent director position. My family is the center of my life and I recognize the demands of this role are not compatible with the focus I want to give to them.” He previously was CEO of Health Share of Oregon.

Two influential political organizations are changing leaders. Doug Moore is stepping down after 11 years as executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. Laurie Wimmer, who was a longtime lobbyist for the Oregon Education Association, was elected as executive secretary-treasurer of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council. 

Gina Firman Nikkel, executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties, has been appointed to the National Association of Counties’ 14-member Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Her background includes being a therapist and program manager in rural mental health and crisis work, Tillamook County commissioner, AOC mental health program director, and president/CEO of the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Care.

Chris Lehman, a longtime Oregon Capitol reporter for OPB and president of the Capitol press corps, has been promoted to full-time news director at KLCC. He joined the Eugene public radio station in 2018.