After an extensive recruitment, Gov. Tina Kotek hired Shana McConville Radford as tribal affairs director. Until May, Radford was deputy executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She also was superintendent of the Flathead Agency in Montana for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, worked with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and was a tribal consultant on energy, education and health. An American Australian Association Education Fellow, she holds a master’s degree in international law and international relations from the University of New South Wales, along with degrees from Portland State University and Blue Mountain Community College.

Continuing with a career change, Tom Powers will leave as Senate President Rob Wagner’s chief of staff but has not set a departure date. The job opening was posted Nov. 10 with an application deadline of Nov. 27. The annual salary range is $125,160 to $187,728. Last year, Powers left the Senate Democratic Office, where he was caucus administrator under Wagner, to pursue a career in government relations and public affairs. After five months as Washington County’s government relations manager, he returned to Wagner’s staff in December 2022 as Wagner prepared to become Senate president.

After 23 years working for members of Oregon’s congressional delegation, Suzanne Kunse has moved to the Legislature, where she is chief of staff for Rep. Daniel Nguyen, D-Lake Oswego.

Hannah Osantowske won’t be joining the Oregon House Republican Office as spokesperson after all. Instead, she accepted a role with a high-profile national officeholder.

Rep. Lily Morgan, R-Grants Pass, is resigning from the Legislature on Dec. 3 to become city manager in Gold Hill.

House Speaker Dan Rayfield appointed Reps. James Hieb, R-Canby, to the Willamette Falls Locks Authority, replacing House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich, Hood River; E. Werner Reschke, R-Klamath Falls, to the Task Force on Alcohol Pricing and Addiction Services, replacing Helfrich; Ed Diehl, R-Stayton, vice chair, House Interim Committee on Economic Development and Small Business, replacing vice chair Lily Morgan; Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, to Business and Labor, replacing Mark Owens, R-Crane; David Gomberg, D-Otis, to the Joint Committee on Transportation Special Subcommittee on Transportation Planning, replacing Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland; and Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, to the House Interim Committee on Climate, Energy, and Environment, replacing Jason Kropf, D-Bend.

Senate President Wagner appointed Sens. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, to the Joint Special Subcommittee on Transportation Planning, replacing Brian Boquist, I-Dallas; and Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, and Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, to the Education Commission of the States.

Dana Hittle, who was the state Medicaid director, moved to the Oregon Department of Human Services. She is senior adviser on Medicaid policy and systems integration and the interim deputy developmental disabilities director. Acacia McGuire Anderson, who was interim deputy director, now is health and housing system integration program supervisor at Clackamas County.

Samantha Byers is the new Adult Behavioral Health Services director at the Oregon Health Authority. Since spring, she had served as interim director. Beau Rappaport is interim director of the Office of Recovery and Resilience after serving as program lead.

Jaime Alvarez was promoted to director of debt management for the Oregon State Treasury, a role that includes overseeing programs responsible for issuing state bonds and managing the state debt. He succeeds Jacqueline Knights, who took a job with the federal Treasury Department.

Gov. Kotek has several judicial vacancies to fill:

—Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael S. Loy is retiring Nov. 30. His replacement will be assigned to the Family Law Department.

—Jackson County Circuit Judge Timothy C. Gerking is retiring Dec. 31.

—Judge Christopher R. Brauer is retiring from the Umatilla and Morrow County Circuit Court, also on Dec. 31.

—Another vacancy is pending in Multnomah County Circuit Court. President Joe Biden this week nominated Judge Amy M. Baggio for a federal judgeship in Oregon, pending U.S. Senate approval.

Kotek appointed Joshua Pond, a prosecutor in the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office, as the county’s district attorney. He fills the vacancy created by the departure of Jeff Auxier.