2018 Year in Review

Immigration, #metoo, the economy, protests, wildfires, the election—what were the issues that you followed this year and what needs another look now that it's almost 2019? Let's reflect on the events that shaped 2018 and think about what might be ahead in the coming year.

Panelists

Rukaiyah Adams is the Chief Investment Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust. She is responsible for leading all investment activities to ensure the long-term financial strength of the organization. Before joining Meyer, she ran the $6.5 Billion capital markets fund at The Standard. Ms. Adams is also the Chair of the Oregon Investment Council, the board that manages approximately $90 Billion for the State of Oregon and PERS.

Ms. Adams holds a BA with academic distinction from Carleton College and a JD from Stanford Law where she was on the Law and Policy Review and the Co-President of the Law Student Association. Ms. Adams also has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Portland is Ms. Adams' hometown. She learned to read at King school. She learned to communicate at Harriet Tubman Middle School. She learned to embrace her shine playing in the Walnut Park neighborhood in Northeast Portland.

Patrick Criteser currently serves the dairy families of Tillamook County as the president and CEO of the Tillamook County Creamery Association (“Tillamook”). Tillamook is a more than century-old farmer-owned cooperative with a leading premium dairy brand and a commitment to providing real food that tastes great.

Criteser is an experienced executive with a track record of leading growth and positive transformation at companies large and small. Before joining TCCA as president and CEO in 2012, he spent eight years as president and CEO at Coffee Bean International and one year as co-CEO of Farmer Brothers. Prior to his role at Coffee Bean International, Criteser held management and strategic development roles at some of the world’s most respected brands, including Nike, The Walt Disney Company, and Procter & Gamble. He also spent time as a principal at SmartForest Ventures, a Portland-based venture capital fund, where he led the firm’s investments in several successful technology companies.

Criteser was raised in Oregon and serves on the boards of The Oregon Food Bank, The Oregon Community Foundation, and The Oregon Business Council.  He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. 

Andrew DeVigal is the co-director of the Masters in Multimedia Journalism program at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication here in Portland. He's also the associate director of the Agora Journalism Center, UO's gathering place for innovation in communication and civic engagement. Before coming to Oregon six years ago, he was the multimedia director at The New York Times, where he helped guide the newspaper’s print-driven format into the multimedia era and integrated new approaches to interactive storytelling into The Times’ long tradition of journalistic excellence to help shape the industry with techniques still in use today. With Laura Lo Forti, DeVigal co-founded A Fourth Act, an interdisciplinary collective of storytellers, facilitators, researchers, designers, and technologists using stories and technology to empower audiences in becoming agents of change in their communities.

Mat dos Santos is the legal director of the ACLU of Oregon. He currently oversees the legal program which includes a docket of about 30 pieces of impact litigation and about 3,000 requests for legal assistance per year. He also oversees the ACLU of Oregon’s amicus program, which routinely files briefs in state and federal court on important issues of civil rights and civil liberties. Mat regularly appears in state and national media to comment on legal issues involving significant constitutional concerns and has published numerous articles and contributed to text books on a wide variety of legal issues.

Prior to joining the ACLU as the legal director, he was a litigator at the San Francisco-based firm Morrison & Foerster, where he worked as pro bono counsel with numerous organizations including the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Immigration Equality and the Transgender Law Center and represented a wide variety of clients in varying areas of civil rights litigation. His cases included successfully securing hormone treatment for transgender inmates in state custody; assisting with 9th Circuit appeals of refugees seeking asylum based on HIV status, gender identity, and sexual orientation; the representation of a Guantanamo Bay detainee held without charges; and, he contributed to amicus briefs in the same-sex marriage cases in state and federal court.

Mat also worked as in-house counsel at Jazz Pharmaceuticals where he managed litigation and provided advice on a variety of issues including global privacy, compliance, and data security. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mat worked as a biologist for Foster Wheeler where he negotiated with federal and state environmental agencies and oversaw on-the-ground regulatory compliance on a number of significant power and telecommunications projects.

Moderator

Kerry Tymchuk serves as the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society. Founded in 1898, OHS is the designated steward of Oregon's history. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the Oregon Historical Society houses the Oregon History Museum, a world-class research library, and it hosts a wide array of educational programs. Kerry has been named by the Portland Business Journal as “The Most Admired Non-Profit Executive in Portland,” and in 2018 received the “Statesman of the Year Award” from Oregon Business Industry.  

Originally from Reedsport, Oregon, Kerry is a 1981 graduate of Willamette University and a 1984 graduate of Willamette University College of Law. Prior to assuming the helm at OHS in April 2011, Kerry earned a reputation as one of Oregon's most respected public servants. His career included service as a Marion County Deputy District Attorney, Director of Speechwriting to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole, Director of Speechwriting and Legal Counsel to U.S. Senator Bob Dole, and Oregon Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Gordon Smith. 

A four-time champion on the popular television game show "Jeopardy," Kerry is active in the community, serving on the boards of AAA-Oregon, Willamette University, the Oregon State Fair Council, the Oregon Community Board of Wells Fargo, and the Oregon Community Board of Regence/Blue Cross. Kerry and his wife, Becky, reside in Beaverton, and are the parents of two children.