March 07, 2023

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State University Board of Trustees Tuesday approved a slate of potential future at-large board members to recommend for consideration to be appointed by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek.

Trustees also approved a temporary change to the board’s bylaws to permit the vice chair of the board to serve a six-month appointment.

The board approved recommending nine potential candidates who could fill five at-large board positions that become open July 1. The candidate names will be submitted to Kotek, who is anticipated to make final appointments by May. Appointments made by the governor are subject to confirmation by the Oregon state Senate.

The potential candidates are:

  • Stephanie Bulger, president, Lane Community College, Eugene.
  • Karla Chambers, vice president and co-owner of Stahlbush Farms, and a professional artist, Corvallis.
  • Jon DeVaan, retired corporate vice president, Microsoft, Seattle.
  • Gayle E. Fitzpatrick, vice president of global technical support, New Relic, Inc., Lake Oswego.
  • Grant Kitamura, owner, managing partner and CEO/CFO, Baker & Murakami Produce Co. Fruitland, Idaho.
  • Henry Lorenzen, partner, Corey, Byler, Rew, Lorenzen & Hojem law firm, Pendleton.
  • Gregory H. Macpherson, retired attorney and former state representative, Lake Oswego.
  • Elise McClure, former vice president of tax and customs, Starbucks Coffee Company, Portland.
  • John Stirek, president, strategic account development, Trammell Crow Company, Lake Oswego.

Following the board’s policy on recommending candidates for at-large positions, which includes a needs assessment of board representation, OSU President Jayathi Murthy made the candidate recommendations to the board seeking to meet qualifications and criteria that the trustees had previously said were important for board appointment consideration. Those candidate criteria included experience within Oregon agriculture; ties and residence within rural and Eastern Oregon; experience in financial management or oversight; experience in innovation or technology industries; legislative experience; experience in higher education, including community college leadership.

Murthy and trustees also took into account consideration of gender, race and ethnicity, age, geographic location of residence and other expressions of diversity.

 “All of these individuals would serve the university well as trustees,” Murthy said. “They each bring significant skills and competencies that would benefit the Board of Trustees and the university.”

The board also approved a temporary amendment to its bylaws to elect a vice chair to serve six-month appointments from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, and from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2024. The decision follows a January board vote for the vice chair position that resulted in a tie.

Upon approving this bylaw amendment, trustees unanimously elected Julie Manning of Corvallis to serve as vice chair beginning July 1 through Dec. 31, 2023, and Román Hernández of Portland to serve as vice chair from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2024.

General OSU

About Oregon State University: As one of only three land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the nation, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today’s most pressing issues. Our more than 35,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county. Oregon State receives more research funding than all of the state’s comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, marine research center in Newport, OSU Portland Center and award-winning Ecampus, we excel at shaping today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.

Story By: 

Sean Nealon, 541-737-0787, [email protected]

Source: 

Steve Clark, 541-737-3808, [email protected]

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