Oregon Senate Democrats this week chose Kathleen Taylor, D-Portland, as their new majority leader. Taylor will take over July 15 when Majority Leader Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton, becomes co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Ways & Means Committee. The other caucus officers remain the same, including Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, as deputy majority leader.

Serena Stoudamire Wesley will join the Oregon Department of Transportation on July 1 as assistant director for equity and civil rights. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging professional, most recently as director of community engagement and impact for Portland General Electric.

Her previous state roles include deputy director, Early Learning; director of diversity, equity and inclusion for Gov. Kate Brown; director, Youth Development Division; and chief cultural change officer, Department of Administrative Services. She also is a Prosper Portland commissioner. Leah Horner, ODOT’s assistant director of operations, had been serving as interim assistant director of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights. Erika McCalpine, who was the assistant director heading the Office of Social Equity, left ODOT last year.

Nik Blosser, who left PGE in December as a vice president, was named executive director of the new federal interagency Columbia River Task Force. Blosser was chief of staff for Gov. Brown, part of the Biden-Harris transition team and then served in the Biden White House. He decided against running for the Portland City Council this year after learning he would have to relinquish his role in Sokol Blosser Winery, where he is board chair and an owner.

Rebecca Craven is modernization director at the Employment Department. She previously was a senior IT investment oversight analyst and portfolio manager at Enterprise Information Services and modernization director at the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Craven is pursuing a doctorate in public affairs and policy at Portland State University, where she is an adjunct instructor in public administration. 

Jack Patterson is the new communications officer for Paid Leave Oregon at the Employment Department. He previously led media relations and strategic communications for American Oversight and for candidates and ballot initiatives in Oregon and Washington.

The State Land Board appointed the first voting members of the Elliott State Research Forest board: Melissa Cribbins, Coos Bay; Peter Hayes, Portland; Haley Lutz, Coos Bay; Mike Kennedy, Siletz; Bob Sallinger, Portland; and Keith Tymchuk, Reedsport. The Land Board consists of Gov. Tina Kotek, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and State Treasurer Tobias Read.

After a 38-year career in state government, Lauren Henderson is retiring Sept. 30 as deputy director of the Department of Agriculture. He was the first acting director after Alexis Taylor resigned in 2022 to join the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Henderson was followed by Bill Ryan before Kotek appointed Lisa Charpilloz Hanson as director last year.

New members of the State Board of Agriculture, appointed by Kotek, are Tyrel Kliewer, a third-generation Klamath Basin farmer, rancher and part-time brewer, and Ellie Norris, a second-generation blueberry farmer with Norris Farms in the Umpqua Valley. They fill the unexpired terms of Shantae Johnson and Randi Svaty, who resigned.

Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, appointed Sens. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, and Lynn Findley, R-Vale, to the Task Force on Improving the Safety of Behavioral Health Workers. House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, appointed Reps. Travis Nelson, D-Portland, and Cyrus Javadi, R-Tillamook. 

Wagner and Fahey jointly appointed task force members Stacy England, crisis program supervisor, Clackamas Behavioral Health Division; Eric Sevos, chief strategy officer, Cascadia Health; Sommer Wolcott, executive director, OnTrack; Devarshi Bajpai, CEO, Fora Health; Alexander Mackaben, overnight shelter staff, All Good Northwest; Jeremy Lankenau, crisis counselor, Cascadia Health; Anna Pena, AFSCME; Matt Swanson, SEIU; Clay Cruden, peer support specialist, NAMI; Dave Boyer, managing attorney, mental health project, Disability Rights Oregon; and Dr. Ryan Bell, chief of psychiatry, Oregon State Hospital.

Fahey appointed Rep. Charlie Conrad, I-Dexter, to the Improving People’s Access to Community-based Treatment, Supports and Services Grant Review Committee, replacing new House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard. Conrad was a Republican but switched to the Independent Party of Oregon after being defeated in the May primary.