1000 Friends Board of Directors
President
Tom Keffer
Community Activist, Hood River
Tom represents the fourth generation of Keffers to live in the Northwest. He received a BA in Biology and Physics from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from Oregon State University. From 1980 to 1985, he worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, first as a postdoctoral Fellow, later joining the faculty. In 1985, he taught at the University of Washington. In 1989 he co-founded Rogue Wave Software, Inc., becoming its Chairman, President, and CEO. By the time he retired as CEO in 1998, the public company had grown to nearly 300 employees with revenues of over $44M. He was selected Oregon Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997.
Vice President
Nolan Lienhart
Urban Designer, Portland
Nolan is an Urban Designer with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, where he specializes in mixed-use and transit-oriented development. He left Portland to attend Colgate University, where he developed a passion for urban planning, and a desire to return to help protect Oregon's world-renowned reputation for livable communities and environmental stewardship. On the way home, he stopped to work as a policy assistant to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in Washington, DC, and earned a Master of City Planning and a Certificate of Real Estate Design and Development at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. Nolan also serves on the boards of the Bus Project and the Center for Innovative School Facilities.
Secretary/Treasurer
Kurt Koehler
Business Owner, Hillsboro
Kurt is CFO and co-founder of Kryptiq Corporation, the leading provider of next generation connectivity solutions for healthcare. Prior to Kryptiq, Kurt spent 20 years at Intel in a variety of roles including finance, product marketing, general manager, plant manager and director of internal application development. Kurt received a BA from Stanford in 1977 and an MBA from Wharton in 1981. Kurt and his wife Mary live in downtown Hillsboro where they raised seven children. Kurt is a founding board member and past president of the Hillsboro Schools Foundation and a board member of the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce.
John V. Allcott III, MD
Physician, Eugene
John and his wife, Beth Hunt, arrived in Oregon “for 8 months” in 1978, and never left. He has practiced internal medicine in several Lane County communities, now with offices in Eugene and Veneta. Opposed to the West Eugene Parkway, John created a non-profit to study threatened plant and butterfly species in the path of the proposed road. Failure of that road project gave birth to the West Eugene Collaborative, a group which seeks to address transportation issues; he is a member. John also serves on the boards of Lane Independent Private Practitioners and Cease Fire Oregon.
Steve Gutmann
Portland
Steve spent his early years in Switzerland and Quebec, and was 8 years old when his family moved to Oregon. One of four children, he spent many summer vacations camping and hiking throughout the Pacific Northwest. Since earning his BA from Dartmouth College, he has helped grow several businesses that are both profitable and environmentally beneficial. He has held business development roles for ShoreBank Pacific, Flexcar, Green Leasing, LLC and EcoSecurities. Steve is married with two young daughters, lives in Portland, and also serves on the board of Focus the Nation.
Eric Lemelson
Vintner, Dayton
Eric moved to Oregon in 1979 from the East Coast to attend Reed College. It took two years to realize that Oregon was his permanent home. After a series of political jobs, he attended Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College studying environmental and natural resources law, obtaining his J.D. in 1992. In 1995, he planted several acres of Pinot noir and Pinot gris on his small farm, becoming a full-time winegrower and winemaker several years later. Lemelson Vineyards owns and manages 115 acres of wine grapes at six sites in Yamhill County; the winery is located three miles east of Carlton.
Elisabeth Lyon
Portland
Elisabeth received a BA in Art History from Mt. Holyoke College and a Masters in City Planning from the University of Pennysylvania. She has worked as a professional planner in North Carolina, Maryland, and Oregon. In the non profit sector she has served on boards that include Pathfinder International, the Dean's Advisory Council of the PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs, the PSU Museum of the City, The Library Foundation, Saturday Academy and Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette. She is married and has two adult children.
Mike McCarthy
Farmer, Hood River
Mike was born and raised on a small farm in Roseburg. After obtaining both a BS and MS in agriculture from Oregon State University, Mike went on to earn his a PhD from the University of Michigan. He and his family returned to the Hood River Valley in 1980 to expand the family farm that his grandfather settled in 1910. Mike has served on the 1000 Friends of Oregon Farm Advisory Committee before joining the board of directors in 2010. Mike has also served on the Hood River Valley Residents Committee, the Hood River Grower Shipper Association, the Crystal Springs Water District Board of Directors, and Middle Fork Irrigation District Board of Directors. He is also currently serving on the Parkdale Valley Land Trust Board.
Jean Pekarek
Community Activist, Wallowa County
Jean has lived in Wallowa County for thirty years and splits her time between running the family business and coordinating services with the County Developmental Disability Program. She has been an active volunteer in various community groups and local non-profit organizations ranging from the Wallowa County Economic Action Team to Fishtrap, Inc., and co-founded the Wallowa Land Trust in 2004. Her involvement in land use planning spans 20 years and focused primarily on protecting resource land and the Wallowa Lake Basin.
Lou Pepper
Business Owner, Bend
Lou is a partner in the Seattle-based real estate development company, Pine Street Group LLC, which develops and manages commercial properties in downtown Seattle. He has over 25 years experience in commercial real estate development including office, retail, mixed use, hotel and apartment projects. His career has focused on large, urban projects. Lou has a degree in English from the University of Washington and is an avid skier and cyclist.
Sally Russell
City Councilor, Bend
A fifth generation Oregonian, Sally Russell has worked for many years to protect Oregon’s land use legacy. Sally has extensive planning experience in the public and private sectors, having served on the Bend Planning Commission for eight years, supporting the development of the innovative Old Mill District and Northwest Crossing projects. She has also worked as a Project Manager at Pennbrook Development Company, as Director of Marketing at the Broken Top Limited Partnership, and as executive director of the Cascade Festival of Music. Current civic engagement includes membership on the Galveston Corridor Revitalization Committee and membership on Senator Ron Wyden’s Deschutes County Committee on Recreation Assets. In 2012, she was elected to the Bend City Council. Sally is an avid mountain biker and lives in Bend with her two daughters.
Charlie Swindells
Attorney, Portland
Charlie is a third generation Oregonian and long-time Portland resident. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific and his J.D. from Northwestern School of Law. Charlie was a staff attorney for 1000 Friends from 1993 to 2002. Now in private practice, he specializes in land conservation and development law, and is an active member of our Cooperating Attorney Program. He is also a small woodlands manager. Charlie serves on several social service, conservation and arts boards.
Ben Unger
State Representative, Hillsboro
Ben Unger has a record in politics that stretches back to his days in student government at the University of Oregon. After a stint in Chicago working with the Student PIRGS (Public Interest Research Group), Unger found his way back to Oregon to face a battle that hit close to home – and his family’s farm in Cornelius. Unger jumped at the chance to become field director for the Yes on Measure 49 Campaign, an effort that successfully scaled back Measure 37 by prohibiting large-scale development claims. Measure 49 provided appropriate relief to those eligible for Measure 37 claims while also protecting Oregon’s farms and forestland from claims to build massive subdivisions, shopping malls, billboards and – in one notable case – a pumice mine. Unger didn’t rest for long after the Measure 49 victory. He then went on to manage John Kroger’s successful campaign for Attorney General then served as Kroger’s Chief of Staff at the Department of Justice, and later as Executive Director of the Oregon Senate Democratic Leadership Fund. In November 2012, he was elected to represent House District 29 in the Oregon Legislature.
Sally Weston
Land Use Activist, Eugene
Sally Weston has lived in Eugene since 1970. Before coming to Oregon, She taught school for five years in Virginia and Connecticut, and lived with her spouse in London, UK, and Cleveland, Ohio. During her time in Eugene she have been an involved member of the community. She has held leadership positions in the League of Women Voters of Lane County, the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, served on Lane Community College Budget Committee, the Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission eight years, the Eugene Performing Arts Center Commission during the design, construction and first years of operation, the UO Chamber Music Series board. Presently she enjoys volunteering with SMART and Habitat for Humanity. Recently she and her husband, James Weston, worked with five other couples to build a 46 unit condominium building in downtown Eugene, the first "medium rise" condominium in the city. Their participation was motivated by a desire to leave their four bedroom home of thirty-six years to a young family again and to be downtown where walking is the preferred transportation mode.
