Willie Chambers

Willie Chambers is a prominent leader in the african-american community of East Multnomah County. He leads several initiatives and networks that are all focused on rebuilding the food systems of our area. Mr. Chambers is the president of food company NOLA Nuggitz.

Vanessa Chambers

Vanessa is currently a Community Health Worker serving African American families. She operates a community program specifically for grandmothers called Grandma’s Hands.  Vanessa greatly enjoys assisting families in having a healthy life. Mostly, “I like to see people enjoy a healthy lifestyle which includes experiencing and eating special healthy foods. Her favorite pastime is playing tennis.

Melisa Crosby

Melisa Crosby has been teaching English as a Second Language to immigrant, refugee, and international students for over two decades. At last count, she has worked with students from over 65 countries, from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As the ESL instructor for the Rockwood English Language Institute (RELI), she strives to build a warm, connected community where adult students develop their English proficiency in basic literacy, communication, reading, writing, and computer skills. She is empowering adult students to participate more fully in work, community life and family literacy.

Elaine Edrington

Elaine is an active member of several community organizations and a long time Gresham leader.

Joe Enlet

Joe is the Consul General, Consulate General of the Federated States of Micronesia in Portland.  He is a long-time advocate, teacher, board member and speaker for the Micronesian communities in Oregon.  He is currently pursuing a PhD in Law and Policy from Northeastern University, and holds an MDiv from Multnomah University.

Marc Gale

Marc comes from a background in banking, human resources, church administration, and he concluded his career as the manager of a national commercial insurance program. Once retired Marc began looking for some meaningful work that could use his 40 plus years of experience. Because of their 20-year friendship Brad and Lynn asked him to come and serve part-time at the Rockwood CDC in 2018.

Marc has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Idaho and a master’s in business administration from Portland State University. He was married to Diana in 1976 and they have a blended family with five children and twelve grandchildren. They have lived in Gresham all but six out of the last 30 years.

Rev. Dr. Valerie Holmes

Dr. Holmes brings over 25 years of experience in grant writing and management, nonprofit management, event management, and community outreach. She worked extensively with the NAACP in Maryland and served with the Developing Communities Project (DCP) in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Holmes is a holder of a PhD from the University of Chicago, a graduate of Howard University, and a credentialed minister in the United Church of Christ.

Carrie Harris

Carrie was most recently the CFO of Wallace, which is a federally-qualified healthcare center (FQHC) that is located in Rockwood.

Lynn Ketch

Lynn has had a life-long passion for healthy communities. Raised by a father who was a pioneer in public health, she lived in first-nation communities in Alaska, New Mexico and North Carolina. She holds graduate certificates from Oregon Health Sciences University and Multnomah University, and a BS from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2011 Lynn relocated to The Philippines with her family to become the Director of ICM’s seven medical clinics. In 2013 she returned to Rockwood and joined the board and staff of the Rockwood CDC.

Brad Ketch

Brad was born and raised in East Portland, Brad has personally experienced the decline and rebirth of the Rockwood area.  He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business. For twenty-five years, Brad developed products and companies in the telecommunication hardware industry.  He has served as CEO and CFO of a publicly-traded company; and, has served as CEO of a $90 million manufacturer.

From 2007 until 2014 he chaired the board of My Father’s House.  My Father’s House, which is located in Rockwood, is the US’s largest shelter for homeless families (other than those that are funded by government).

In 2011, Brad relocated to The Philippines with his wife Lynn and youngest son to become CEO of International Care Ministries.  ICM taught 100,000 people per year to create micro-enterprises; ran 85 kindergartens; served 400,000 meals each month; gave scholarships to 6,000 students per year; ran six medical clinics which see 20,000 patients per year; and offered micro-credit to 3,000 borrowers.  In 2012 Brad and his family returned to Portland and founded the Community Development Corporation of Oregon, which currently does business as the Rockwood CDC.

Bill Kieselhorst

During Bill’s active years, he led relief and development efforts in Nigeria and the Philippines, and then broader efforts for the entire African continent.  He has been a member of boards of directors for investment funds, various non-profits and faith-based organizations.

Patrik McDade

Patrik McDade works to help local and small-plot farmers find new customers, expand into the Sunrise Center Kitchen, or gain new business and language skills.  He is also the founder and program director for People-Places-Things, building language and culture bridges in our communities. He received a Teaching English as a Second Language certificate from PSU in 1996 and has taught in several countries, and estimates more than 1000 English classes in more than 300 locations, from public schools to universities to basements and living rooms. He has facilitated language skills development in immigrant and refugee communities since 1996. People-Places-Things was recognized with a Spirit of Portland award for Best Business in 2016 by the Portland City Council.

Carla McMahon

Carla is from Cali, Colombia. She has lived and worked in the Rockwood community since moving to the United States in 2000. Carla enjoys being part of the community and learning about the various cultures within Rockwood. It has driven her love of traveling and being able to experience firsthand the culture, people, food, traditions among many other extraordinary things each cultural community has to offer.

Marcel Newsome

Marcel is an instructor of Entrepreneurship, Economic Development and Applied Field Research Methods at Oregon State University and Multnomah University. He has been the technical and operational led for economic development initiatives in over 20 countries, on behalf of the United Nations, national governments and non-governmental organizations.

Hai Nguyen

Hai, along with his parents and siblings left Vietnam and came to the United States in 1991.  After receiving his Bachelor and MBA in Seattle, he moved back to the Portland Metro area.  His professional background is in Operations, Financial and Risk Management.  Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children.

Dr. Amos David Sahu

Dr. Amos David Sahu comes from a humble background in a town called Dehradun, India. Born to Christian evangelist parents, he was instilled with compassion for the underserved and grew up aspiring to be a Medical Doctor. After graduating high school life took him to Russia to pursue Medical School. Throughout medical school, Dr. Sahu was able to experience life and overcome many barriers like culture and language.

After graduating, he returned to India to work as a doctor. He had the opportunity to manage his father’s church & non-profit organization.

In 2018, he moved to the United States to pursue a medical residency.
He founded and is President of BIRDS (Blessing for Integrated Rural Development Society) in Portland, Oregon. His focus since his early days in medical school has been to serve the urban poor, people who are caught up in life and struggle to find time or resources to take care of themselves.

He aspired to bring meaningful change in educational access and meeting grassroots medical needs among local communities of color and immigrants through his profession as a doctor and the scope of work of BIRDS.

From the years of traveling and being an immigrant, while living in diverse communities all over the world, Dr.Sahu learned that communication, optimism, and pragmatism is the most effective form of care.

He speaks Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Marathi apart from English fluently and is actively learning Spanish.

His father, his role model, instilled a passion to look out for the ones who were in most need due to their situations in life and bring positive change to achieve holistic outcomes for society.

When not studying or taking care of patients, he loves to cook, read & research, volunteer, and play soccer.

Christine Sanders

Christine holds a Masters in Social Work degree and is a practicing Clinical Social Worker Associate working on her Clinical Therapist license. Living and working in the Rockwood Community for almost 20 years, has been extremely rewarding for her. Throughout various non-profit roles and positions in East County, she always intertwines her work to be inclusive of this community. Her commitment and dedication to serving others is a lifelong journey she embraces every day. During her personal time she enjoys playing with her dogs, spending time with close family and friends, and gardening.

Eugene Wallace

Eugene J. Wallace has been called a, “Strategic Advantage,” by many of his clients. As founder and president of Family Business Advisers and owner of Excell Oregon, Eugene has integrated his experience as a husband, father, successful business owner, and his understanding of business and organizational theory, to forge a highly effective practice advising business leaders in the success and succession of their businesses. He works with clients as they discover where they want to take the business, determine, with candid clarity, what the current state of the business is and then to develop an intentional and wise plan in the pursuit of success and succession. He actively assists clients as they do the work to actually pursue excellence in business.

Eugene has invested more than 15 years of his life working in the field of education, as a faculty member, administrator and coach. He has earned three Masters Degrees focusing on Counseling, Human Development, and Philosophical and Theological Studies. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of the Columbia-Willamette.