Oregon Business Development Commission

The Oregon Business Development Commission oversees the agency's activities to ensure a coherent, integrated approach to economic development and a continuous policy direction that can transcend changes in executive and legislative leadership.

2010 Meeting Schedule
January 29		July 12		Agendas are posted on the calendar of events as they become available. Members of the public who wish to comment should contact the department at least one week prior to the meeting so that written comments may be included in the meeting materials.
March 19		September 24
May 7		November 19

E. Walter Van Valkenburg     

Chair
Appointed Sept 2003, reappointed 2009
Term expires 2013

Wally Van Valkenburg is the Managing Partner of the Portland office of Stoel Rives LLP and is a past member of the firm's Executive Committee. He practices in the firm's Technology and Intellectual Property Group, where he focuses on transactions and business counseling. Wally has represented technology companies for more than twenty years as well as clients in other industries such as footwear and apparel, sports and entertainment, health care, electric utilities, retail and wood products.

He was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America and is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. Wally was appointed by Governor Kulongoski in 2003 to chair the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission. He also is a board member for the Oregon Sports Authority, the Portland Center Stage and a member of the Oregon Innovation Council.

Chandra Brown

Appointed March 2010
Term expires June 2011

Chandra Brown has worked for Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (OIW) for more than 15 years and has held a variety of positions during her tenure with the company. She is currently President of a newly created subsidiary of OIW called United Streetcar, dedicated to offering American built streetcars throughout the United States.

As OIW's Vice President, Brown is responsible for overall business development and marketing activities. She also is the primary point of contact for government policy and contract matters and she leads marketing efforts on behalf of OIW in the Pacific Northwest and Washington, D.C. Brown was one of two Oregonians to attend President Obama's Job Summit in December 2009. In July 2010, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke appointed Brown to serve on the national Manufacturing Council.

In addition to her work at OIW, she serves on many non-profit boards and does community volunteer work. She is on the board of directors and Chair's the Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition (PNDC), which is a non-profit for the advancement of defense work in the region. In 2005 she also was appointed to the Oregon Innovation Council (OR InC) by Oregon's Governor, Ted Kulongoski. She was most recently appointed to the Oregon Business Development Commission in February 2010 by appointment of Governor Kulongoski and approval of the Oregon Senate. She is a founding member and on the board of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET), a non-profit with the goal of promoting the emerging wave energy industry to create jobs and opportunity in Oregon. She also serves on an arts advocacy board, the Creative Advocacy Network, created in 2008, the Oregon Women MBAs board and has served on OMSI's gala committee.

Brown received a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and an M.B.A. in International Marketing from Miami University. She successfully completed both degrees in four years and was a distinguished academic member of the Honors College.

Steve Emery

Appointed April 2007, reappointed 2009
Term expires 2013

Steve Emery is the President and Chief Executive Officer of EARTH2O, a privately owned company that bottles natural spring water in Culver, Oregon. EARTH2O is the top retail selling spring water in the Pacific Northwest and the third largest selling branded water. Formerly, Steve was the Vice President/General Manager for Columbia Distributing in Portland from 1994 to 1998. He has more than 11 years of experience working in regional and international sales and marketing for wine distributors.

Emery served as the past Chairman of the Governor's Small Business Council and acted as the director of two non-profit organizations: Oregon Trout and the National Spring Water Association. He currently serves as a Technical Advisor for the Oregon Innovation Council. He was appointed by the Governor to oversee the Oregon Nanotechnology and Microtechnology budget converting University research into commerce.

Tony Hyde

Appointed April 2004, reappointed February 2008
Term expires 2012

Tony Hyde is a Columbia County Commissioner and has been serving since 1996. Tony spent more than 20 years in the forest industry.

Hyde has an extensive economic development background including Mayor of the city of Vernonia; he's served on the boards of the Columbia Pacific Economic Development Council, Northwest Oregon Economic Alliance and Association of Oregon Counties; and served on the Governor's Community Development Forum, Council of Forest Trust Lands, Forest Trust Lands Advisory Committee and the National Association of Counties Economic Development Steering Committee. Additionally, Hyde has been involved in the arts, both as a working artist and art instructor for more than 30 years.

Anne Root

Appointed February 2008
Term expires 2011

Anne Root is the co-owner and general manager of Eden Valley Orchards, an historic orchard property, and EdenVale Winery located in Medford, Oregon. Prior to acquiring Eden Valley Orchards, Anne was in the fields of business and real estate management and wireless technology products and services.

Root serves on the Asante Finance Committee, Southern Oregon University Foundation Board of Directors, the Medford Parks Foundation and other various community projects. Anne is a native of Montana having grown up in Wyoming before moving to Southern Oregon to pursue higher education. She is a 1990 cum laude graduate of Southern Oregon University. She specialized in global marketing and competitive strategy as a Rotary Fellowship Scholar in the Master of Commerce program at Wollongong University in Australia.

Gregory Semler

Appointed March 2010
Term expires June 2013

Gregory Semler is the co-founder of the first clean technology venture fund in the Northwest. Portland, Oregon-based Pivotal Investments is the first venture capital firm in the Northwest focused on delivering superior financial return through investments in companies that will be leaders in the emerging sustainable economy.

Prior to founding Pivotal Investments, Gregg was a clean technology entrepreneur with more than 20 years of chief executive experience at advanced technology companies. His experience includes successfully financing high-growth companies, executive recruitment, management of product development efforts, acquisitions, strategic alliances, OEM partnerships and direct-to-consumer marketing and distribution.

Semler has been operating clean technology companies since 2000, most recently as president and CEO of ClearEdge Power, a Portland, Oregon-based privately financed company creating fuel cells for industrial and residential power applications. Before that, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of PolyFuel, a Silicon Valley company creating fuel cells for portable, and consumer electronics applications.

Semler earned a Master of Business Administration from The Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in New York.

Junki Yoshida

Appointed February 2008
Term expires 2011

Junki Yoshida formed his first company in 1982 selling a "secret recipe" for a teriyaki-based cooking sauce. Since then, Junki has established a powerful conglomerate of 17 diverse companies with more than 300 employees under the Yoshida Group umbrella. In 2000, Junki sold the name and distribution rights for the Yoshida line of sauces in North America to Heinz USA. Yoshida Food Products became Yoshida Foods International, which continues to produce and package all Yoshida products with a major focus to international growth.

Yoshida is a member of the International Trade Commission, Children’s Cancer Association, Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature, a trustee of Ronald McDonald House Charities NW and board member of Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation. He has won numerous awards, generously supports an endless list of community and charitable organizations, and travels the globe as an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker.

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