Tobias Read, Chair

Oregon State Treasurer, Serves by position

Tobias Read took office on Jan. 2, 2017 as Oregon's 29th State Treasurer. He previously worked in the U.S. Treasury and as a liaison between designers, engineers and manufacturing units for Nike Inc. Prior to being elected Treasurer, he served a decade in the Oregon House of Representatives and championed legislation to invest in public education, improve state financial management, finance critical infrastructure improvements, and to help Oregonians save for more secure futures. As Treasurer, he oversees Oregon's financial services agency.

The State Treasurer is a voting member of the Oregon 529 Savings Board per 2017 ORS 178.310.

Attorney, Watkinson Laird Rubenstein, PC, Appointed June 25, 2024

Cathy’s primary areas of practice are business law and estate planning. In her business practice she focuses on contracts, leases, and entity formations. With respect to her estate planning practice, she advises clients on wills, trusts, probate, and trust administration. Cathy’s tax background and experience serves as a complement to both her business and estate planning practices.

Cathy also represents clients who are seeking to grow their families through adoption or Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), which includes surrogacy with the use of sperm, egg, and/or embryo donors. She works with all family types including: single parents, married or unmarried couples, same and opposite sex couples, and transgender clients.

Cathy is a Midwest native who has lived in Oregon for over 10 years. Since moving to Eugene, she enjoys volunteering at the Oregon Community Foundation and rooting for the Ducks. Cathy also devotes her time to her two teenage daughters, keeping up on local and Midwest sports teams, and continuing to explore the nature and beauty of Oregon.

Brett Turner

Advocates for Life Skills and Opportunity (ALSO), Appointed March 1, 2024

Brett Turner has dedicated his entire life to serving people who experience developmental, intellectual, and other disabilities. He is the CEO of Advocates for Life Skills and Opportunity (ALSO), an Oregon nonprofit that support hundreds of people throughout Oregon. ALSO is headquartered in Portland and serves 9 frontier, rural and urban counties. He is deeply passionate about ensuring people with disabilities live, work, play and thrive in our communities. Brett started his career as a Direct Support Professional in a pivotal time in Oregon when our state institution (Fairview) for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities was downsizing and eventually closed. He is excited about the possibilities of ABLE and 529 Savings plan can do for people with disabilities furthering possibilities for people to increase independence, education, and financial growth for ALL.

Brett holds a bachelor’s degree from Linfield University in Business Management, Minor in Environmental Studies, and a master’s in business administration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Portland.

Dr. Robin Holmes-Sullivan

President - Lewis & Clark College

Dr. Robin Holmes-Sullivan is Lewis & Clark’s 26th president, and the first female and person of color to serve in this role in the institution’s 155-year history. She will take the helm in June 2022, after three years serving as L&C’s vice president for student life and dean of students. Holmes-Sullivan has been credited for her pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic of devising creative approaches that helped keep students safe and progressing toward their degrees. Her leadership in campus engagement efforts to enhance the student experience at L&C has resulted in a $17 million capital project commitment to renovate and expand Templeton Campus Center, and secured funding to support the First-Year Experience effort to strengthen and enhance that critical entry into college. Holmes-Sullivan also played a key role in the development of the new Center for Social Change and Community Involvement, and completed a student life division-wide five-year strategic plan, among many other accomplishments.

Holmes-Sullivan came to Lewis & Clark in 2019 from the University of California, where she served as vice president for student affairs overseeing the undergraduate admissions process and other student-related issues for the 10-campus, 200,000-student system. While at the University of California, Holmes-Sullivan co-led an effort to improve student affordability, helped develop a coherent sexual assualt policy for all UC campuses, assisted in crafting a new policy to streamline transfers to the university from the state’s community colleges, and played a lead role in crafting new policy around free speech and demonstrations.

Prior to her time at the University of California, Holmes-Sullivan spent 27 years at the University of Oregon, working her way up from a position as a clinical coordinator in the counseling center to vice president of student life. Holmes-Sullivan served nine years in the latter role, leading a division that addressed student needs and concerns from pre-enrollment through graduation. Some of Holmes-Sullivan’s accomplishments in the VPSL role at the UO include raising money to renovate and construct the new ERB Memorial Union and the new Recreation Center, playing a key role in raising philanthropic dollars for various health and wellness initiatives, and developing a strategic plan to renovate and improve campus housing and residence life.

For more than 20 years, Holmes-Sullivan has maintained a clinical psychology practice, and consults on issues of diversity and multicultural organizational development for higher education institutions and private corporations. She has taught classes and workshops on multiculturalism and cross-cultural dynamics in conflict mediation as well as identity formation and development.

Holmes-Sullivan earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University at Fullerton in 1986. She received a master’s degree in experimental psychology from California State University at Fullerton in 1990, and a second master’s in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology that same year. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology two years later in 1992.

Holmes-Sullivan and her wife, Kathy, have two grown sons, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson.

Melissa (Missy) Olson

Umpqua Community College, Public Member, Appointed November 18, 2020

Missy Olson is the Assistant Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services at Umpqua Community College (UCC). She has spent over 20 years in higher education working to promote equal access. Missy started her career at UCC as the Adult Basic Skills Coordinator, helping students throughout Douglas County earn their GED and transition to employment or postsecondary education. After eight years, she transitioned into the role of Director of Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search. These federal TRIO programs help low income, first generation middle and high school students learn about college, access the college of their choice, explore careers, access financial resources, and prepare to meet the academic rigor needed to succeed. In 2016, she moved into the role of UCC’s Director of Educational Partnerships and eLearning before taking on a new division of Enrollment Management in 2017. Her work in these areas covered all aspects of student onboarding, including recruitment, admissions, financial aid, and testing, as well as accelerated learning options for high school students. In 2020, Missy became the Assistant Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services for UCC. Missy believes in improving processes to make college access easier for all students, as well as providing quality student supports for students on their academic path. She has worked with students and parents on college affordability and knows the issues students face in meeting the financial obligations of college. Missy has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Oregon and a Masters in Adult Education from Oregon State University.