Rebecca Wright will take over as chief of staff for the Oregon House Republican Office once members are sworn in. She has been district director for Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-5th District, after serving as deputy manager of Christine Drazan’s gubernatorial campaign and working in the Legislature for Drazan, who is returning as House Republican leader.

Emory Mort, chief of staff for retiring Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, will become chief of staff for newly elected Portland City Councilor Tiffany Koyama-Lane.

Antonio Martinez is the new legislative aide for Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem.

Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, hired Calvin Bennett as chief of staff.

Rep. David Gomberg of Otis, the only Democrat in the Oregon Legislative Coastal Caucus, will continue as chair. Vice chair is Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford.

Secretary of State-elect Tobias Read appointed a bipartisan five-person transition team:

— Max Williams was head of the Oregon Community Foundation, director of the state Department of Corrections and a Republican legislator.

— Dr. Robin Holmes-Sullivan is president of Lewis & Clark College.

— Cory Streisinger led the state Department of Consumer and Business Services and was the Port of Portland’s general counsel.

— Charles Wilhoite, managing director of Willamette Management Associates, was board chair for Oregon Nature Conservancy and other organizations.

— Kerry Tymchuk, who will focus on the Archives Division, is executive director of the Oregon Historical Society and former state director for U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

Staff are Dmitri Palmateer, chief of staff for State Treasurer Read; Michael Kaplan, deputy treasurer and former state Department of Energy director; and Grace Roth, director of executive services at the State Treasury.

Lauren Dressen joined the Department of Land Conservation and Development as one-stop coordinator in the Housing Accountability and Production Office. She has worked for the state since 2015, starting at the Department of Education followed by three-plus years at Oregon Housing and Community Services. Most recently, she has been designing and implementing programs to rebuild housing after the 2020 Labor Day fires.

Cassidy Kotter, who was assistant director of government relations at Oregon Institute of Technology, started work this week at the Oregon School Employees Association as a government relations specialist.

Patrick Allen, who ran the Oregon Health Authority for five years before Gov. Tina Kotek took office, is stepping down Jan. 3 as New Mexico’s secretary of health.

Gov. Kotek appointed Jeffrey D. Auxier to the Multnomah County Circuit Court. He fills the vacancy created when Judge Amy Baggio resigned to become a U.S. District Court judge.

Modesta Minthorn is Portland State University’s first executive director of tribal relations. She was director of education for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Bo Brinson is the new executive director of Oregon Recovers, having served as interim development director.

New leaders of the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide are Charlette Lumby, chair, and Don Erikson, vice chair.